WEEBLES WOBBLE, BUT... :

Don't Go Wobbly : Saddam must go. It's bad enough that India and Pakistan have nukes. (MARGARET THATCHER, June 17, 2002, Wall Street Journal)

The right strategy has been clearly enunciated by President Bush. America must speedily build a ballistic missile defense system which will afford protection against missiles launched from anywhere in the globe. The president has made progress in winning the argument for this policy. He deserves the fullest cooperation from all who stand to gain from it, including Britain.

We also have to isolate those rogue states that are seeking to develop (or have developed) WMD, and eliminate the threat they pose. Sometimes this will be possible by a mixture of diplomatic sticks and carrots. Iran, for example, was quite rightly classed by the president as part of the "axis of evil." It has a missile program which poses a threat to Israel's security--a threat that Iran's support for terrorism against Israel only magnifies. But this is part of a more complex picture. Iran is a theocracy which is edging toward democracy. At a certain point, the continuing growth of civil society in Iran may require its rehabilitation.

North Korea, on the other hand, is beyond reform. Diplomacy has little value. Indeed, North Korea has already been appeased too much. It is in the grip of a psychotic Stalinist regime whose rule is sustained by terror and bankrolled by those who buy its missiles. It is one of the few states that could launch an unprovoked nuclear strike. The regime must go, and I fear that it may not go peacefully.

Between Iran on the one hand and North Korea on the other, the list of rogue states will be the subject of continuing revision and debate. And in each case there will be a mix of policies appropriate to achieve our goal of removing the threat which these states pose.

That is also true of Iraq. I have detected a certain amount of wobbling about the need to remove Saddam Hussein--though not from President Bush. It is not surprising, given the hostility of many allies to this venture, that some in Washington may be having second thoughts. It is, of course, right that those who have the duty to weigh up the risks of particular courses of action should give their advice--though they would be better to direct their counsel to the president not the press. But in any case, as somebody once said, this is no time to go wobbly.

Saddam must go.

Much as we revere the Iron Lady, and as much sense as the rest of the column makes (particularly on Iran), there's something needlessly presumptuous about her implicit message that she needs to stiffen another Bush spine. Besides which, it's not terribly clear that it was a good idea that she got Bush pere to fight the first Iraq war. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 18, 2002 6:54 AM