TURNING THOSE SMILES UPSIDE DOWN

-ESSAY: U.N. Blessing Is Just a Frill for a U.S. War in Iraq (Walter Russell Mead, February 23, 2003, LA Times)

Is the postwar world breaking up? The U.S. drive to war in Iraq has divided the U.N. Security Council, caused one of the bitterest transatlantic rows in living memory and even split the European Union into pro- and anti-Bush wings.

The hullabaloo has left four people smiling. French President Jacques Chirac is thrilled to see Paris at the center of world power politics; Russian President Vladimir V. Putin is busy calculating his country's gains if the United States and the Franco-Germans get into a bidding war for his support; Saddam Hussein is overjoyed to see the international coalition against him fragmenting; and Osama bin Laden no doubt rejoices to see disarray among a group of countries he wishes to destroy.

But how bad is it, really? Will U.S. defiance damage the Security Council if America goes to war without a second U.N. resolution? And will the transatlantic partnership splinter under the threat?

Let's hope the breach stays this way. Osama is dead, Saddam soon will be, and the new Iraq can repudiate the debts that Saddam ran up, especially with the French, Germans, and Russians. Win, win, win. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 2, 2003 6:57 AM