| Insecurity Counsel |
24 February 2003
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Bush, Blair Swallow Pride on 2nd Iraq Resolution
When the UN weapons inspectors went back into Iraq at the end of 2002, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair told the world that they did not need to get another resolution from the UN Security Council to bolster their authority to wage war. Here the world stands as march 2003 approaches, and it appears not only will there be a second resolution, but Bush and Blair will introduce it. Such duplicity is normally a French trait.
The initial resolution, UNSC 1441, gave the Iraqi's no wiggle room, according the the Anglo-American leaders. Cooperate fully or face the consequences. The ground has shifted over the last few weeks, and now, a resolution declaring Iraq in material breach of 1441 may not get the votes needed to pass the Security Council -- forgetting the possibility of the French, Russian or Chinese veto.
Bush and Blair, if they really meant what they said in November, should forget about another resolution. If they introduce it, they are tacitly admitting that they were wrong in the first place. Moreover, it will encourage the Franco-German bloc to become more difficult; having forced Foggy Bottom and Whitehall to shift some, they may well demand more.
Nonetheless, containment is a preferable policy anyway, and this second resolution is a quagmire far preferable to the one President Johnson found in the Mekong Delta. Better to fight on East 42nd street in the UN than in the deserts of Iraq for the right to misadminister that sorry nation for the next 25 years.