THEY DON'T CALL IT SOFT FOR NOTHIN':

Failed Preemption (Washington Post, June 18, 2004)

NINE MONTHS AGO, as a confrontation loomed between Iran and the United Nations over Iran's illicit nuclear programs, three European governments staged a preemptive operation. Flying to Tehran, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany struck a deal with Iran's Islamic regime: The Europeans would block a referral of Iran's violations to the U.N. Security Council and provide technical cooperation, and in exchange Iran would stop its work on uranium enrichment, fully disclose its nuclear programs and accept a new U.N. protocol giving inspectors greater access. The Bush administration was upstaged; some in Paris and Berlin smugly suggested that it had been given an object lesson by the Europeans in how "soft power" could be used to manage the rogue states in President Bush's "axis of evil."

This week, with the world's attention focused on the troubled situation in Iraq, the European version of preemption is yielding its own bitter -- if less bloody -- result.

Of course the biggest difference between the two attempts at pre-emption has nothing to do with bloodshed. The fact is Saddam is gone, so our military solution worked. The mullahs still run Iran and have their nuclear program, so Europe's jaw-jaw solution failed. Lucky they can fall back on us and the Israelis.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 18, 2004 7:55 AM