Get on with it

(Washington, D.C.): Six months to the day after President Bush offered not only Saddam Hussein but the United Nations one last chance to disarm Iraq, the verdict is in: So long as the former is in power, he will not voluntarily, fully and permanently surrender his weapons of mass destruction programs or credibly foreswear the aggressive ambitions that drive his desire for such arms. And the United Nations will be rendered -- as Mr. Bush warned -- just as ineffectual as the League of Nations in dealing with the security threats of our time, thanks to the determination of Saddam's friends in the Security Council to protect him.

The lead editorial in today's Wall Street Journal lays out succinctly the dangers associated with allowing the so-called UN diplomatic/inspections "process" to be strung out any further. It argues persuasively for President Bush to get on with the liberation of Iraq, without further ado. We can only hope he heeds this advice, cuts the considerable losses (both domestically and internationally) incurred by the Nation's long detour in Lilliput-on- the -East-River and begins forthwith the liberation of Iraq.

"The Bush Administration is putting a special focus on winning the support of Guinea..." --Yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

This latest delay is aimed at gathering the elusive but somehow "crucial" votes of "six swing Council nations." In addition to Guinea, those countries are Mexico, Chile, Angola, Pakistan and the always strategically vital Cameroon. The U.S. has already been reduced to bribing these countries with cash or other favors in return for their support. Yet they've all played hard to get, posing as Hamlet for their 10 minutes of fame on the world stage.
The Mexican and Chilean fandango is especially insulting given the preferential treatment their exports receive to the U.S. market. Maybe we should transfer to Bulgaria-- which is supporting us sans bribery--the trade benefits that these two nations apparently take for granted. These columns have long tried sympathetically to explain Mexican realities to our readers, but President Vicente Fox's U.N. war straddle will cost his country years of U.S. public goodwill.

"The always strategically vital Camaroon."
The reason is clear. Iraq participated in attacking our country.
They will attack again.
The U.S. has no friends. I can live with that. It's a better perspective anyway. We MUST take care of ourselves and our own interests.

That is the view of an adult in any case. Personal or national.

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