| UN Dog and Pony Show |
10 January 2003
|
Powell's Powerpoint Show Changes No Minds
The White House warned us long before Secretary of State Colin Powell sat down to brief the UN Security Council that there was no smoking gun that proved Iraq was cheating on its commitment of disarm. But even if there had been, a great many of America's allies -- a loose use of the term -- would still hesitate to go to war. The case Mr. Powell should have made had nothing to do with the fact of Iraqi cheating and everything to do with the consequences of cheating.
France, Russia, China and other states reluctant to send infantry and armor into Iraq do not dispute that Saddam Hussein is a vile dictator, murder, and certainly not someone one would put up for membership at the Atheneum. Indeed, the fact that he is playing silly buggers with the UN weapons inspectors is so broadly known, that many could say that Mr. Powell said nothing new, he just added details.
Instead, the case that Saddam's actions merit attack has yet to be made by the Bush administration. Here's a hint for the striped-pants crew at Foggy Bottom -- most Americans don't care about Hussein's weaponry. They do care, passionately, about the people who brought war to American soil in 2001. Powell made a case that Al-Qaeda operatives are in Baghdad. Mr. Bush must say it himself -- what applied to Afghanistan applies to Iraq, turn over the terrorists or the US will come and get them. And if the French complain, remind them that they already approved of invoking Article 5 of the NATO charter in response to the Al-Qaeda attacks; Mr. Bush already has their approval.