And of course, in this physical casualty figure, one is not counting the estranged relationships, broken marriages, lost careers and various other social costs for the people involved. Understandable is, therefore, the reluctance of the US Congress to commit any more men, money or material in the cause of democracy in the Middle East.

If planting democracy in one country is so costly, will the total cost of democratic initiative in the whole region be estimated as twenty-one times -- the number of Arab countries -- the above tally?

Promoting democracy in the whole bloc could be easier. The dilemma is that democracy in Iraq is unsustainable and untenable in a sea of despotism. Trying to hold an ice cube in a pot of boiling water not only melts the cube but burns the hand as well.

And a related issue is that forcing democracy through arms and army is never the best option. The US has enough leverage in the region, so that if it only uses its moral weight against naked use of force by the local thug-like rulers a gradual transition to responsible government will be the order of the day.

One must underline that the United States is in Iraq, not by choice. By the time of the invasion such a situation had already arisen in Iraq, not the least because of the US's earlier tolerance of Saddam Hussein, that the cost of inaction -- for the US in particular and the world in general -- surpassed the cost of military intervention. Hence, the US decision, even flouting UN reservations.

The US system of governance has so many and so effective checks and balances that one expects it to be difficult to make a thoughtless mistake of such magnitude. The misrule and despotism by other local vampires has been lost sight of in the media hype created by the war.

Seldom is the danger appreciated that, just as Washington's calculations in 2003 in not dislodging a docile and tamed Saddam posed greater risk to her regional interests, it is a matter of time that other dictators could become liabilities in the not too distant future.

Take, for instance, the Mubarak family in Egypt who have nearly taken their country to the precipice where Iraq was just before the invasion. If the US policy of pampering Mubarak as an ally, to the extent of abetting his brutal reign, is not reversed, it may not be too long that Egypt explodes.

If Mubarak is replaced in a coup, or thrown out in an "orange revolution," anarchy may prevail in the largest and most powerful of Arab nations. Nobody can miss the point that Egypt lies just next door to Israel, and has a history of hostilities with it too. The Americans will, perforce, need to sacrifice men and money in Egypt.

The so-called constitutional referendum last month was the last nail in the coffin of the prospects of a freer Egypt that the nation has long been dreaming of. Most of the 34 or so amended articles, set for the dummy public approval, were tailor-made to suit the interests of the ruling family.

After the previous referendum fraud of 2005, when thousands of judges refused to vouch for the cooked up ballot results, it was now time to get rid of their supervisory powers too. Other amendments foreclose competition from leading opposition parties, and some aim at making parliament redundant in blocking succession to his son.

Some cosmetic changes like giving some semblance of power to the puppet office of prime minister, and minor improvement in parliamentary power of debating the budget, are aimed at giving it a façade of reform.

Nobody is duped, not even the United States. Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, has also expressed mild concern over the turn of events. It is probably because of her that this time, unlike two years ago, the government did not let loose its goons to beat the men and grope the women protesting against the referendum fraud.

The government was more subtle this time, and potential protestors were already locked in jails where the beating and raping took place at leisure behind walls. So, at least, there was no public humiliation for those who called for democracy.

This time, the government also avoided the joke of claiming 80 percent turnout and 95 percent yes vote. A modest figure of 25 percent turnout, with 75 percent of them endorsing the proposed changes, was announced by the rubber stamp electoral commission.

This comes down to 18 percent of the Egyptian electorate whose support Mubarak officially claims. Even this is a tall order in a country where hatred for the regime and its (mis)rule is writ large on every face. If the same referendum had been held under the UN or any other international body, even a five percent affirmative vote would have been a distant possibility.

The political dissidents are not the only ones to be electrocuted and raped. Thanks to the emergency law in force for half a century -- the recent referendum has only replaced it by a more draconian anti-terror law -- the security services are at liberty to play with the life, honour and property of any citizen.

The least the United States could do in the wake of recent video footage leakages showing the most brutal forms of torture in Egypt was to send a strong signal of disapprobation.

In one incident, in Cairo, a bus driver is shown being sodomized with a stick by the police, for the only "offence" of intervening in a brawl on the street in which two policemen were also involved. In another clip flashed around the world, a man is being ceaselessly slapped on the face by a policeman.

In one, a woman's legs are tied to separate chairs that are being pulled in opposite directions by policemen. The woman, in agonizing pain, is "confessing" a murder. All the scenes were recorded secretly on mobile cameras and then smuggled to international news channels or uploaded to internet blogs.

Thanks to technology, the long held suspicions of international human rights groups of, what they aptly call, an "epidemic of torture" across Egypt stands obscenely exposed. Not an eye blinked in Egypt, for what could have been a national scandal even by African standards, barring probably Libya and Morocco. Egyptians are used to it, and the rulers are shameless in the extreme.

Hosni Mubarak is one of those tyrants who never made any pretence of democracy, He brutalizes his nation, and does so with remarkable temerity and shameful impunity. With the world rapidly embracing democracy with ex-despots reaching, or being on way to, the gallows, Mubarak and his clique are behaving as the proverbial cartoon, seeing nothing, hearing nothing!

Mubarak never fails to mention that "nobody can stop him from serving the nation" (read: I will not quit as long as I live); "The pace of reforms will continue" (I will make sure that whatever legal gimmickry is still needed for smooth succession of my son, will be done); "enemies of Egypt will be brought to justice" (read: anyone questioning the political dispensation favouring me will be murdered or tortured).

Torture, as noted, is not and never was reserved for political dissidents, but it has come on them with so much vengeance that even the "Kifaya" movement that had surfaced with a big bang just two years ago, arranging massive demonstrations calling for democracy, has all but fizzled out.

In a recent demonstration, there were hardly a few dozen ideologues there to receive the punches and kicks from the police. It was a sad anti-climax to the hopes generated when, on the eve of the 2005 referendum, thousands would respond to the calls to gather in the main streets of Cairo, to demand justice and freedom.

The only veritable opposition is the "Muslim Brotherhood," which has been banned since 1954 following an abortive assassination attempt on President Nasser. Nowadays the horrors shown in Hollywood blockbuster "Black Hawk Down," of treatment of political prisoners in Egypt under Nasser, are being re-enacted. So, most young men have lost interest in politics, or are too scared of acquiring this interest.

On the eve of Eid ul Fitr, October 23, young loafers on the streets of Cairo chased, harassed and even stripped, some women as part of merry making during the festive occasion. Does it not show a fall in national moral standards?

It is because of the lack of political will, pitiable state of economy, widespread joblessness, the preoccupation of police with political opposition only, that the youths find nothing else worthwhile.

The situation is such that if the United States and the West do not focus immediate attention on abolition of torture and promotion of fundamental freedoms in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, for instance, where they enjoy political leverage, then they should be prepared to intervene in these countries in conditions that may be worse than those in present day Iraq.

The writer is an Oxford-published Cambridge-educated widely-read analyst on politics of the Muslim world.