From the WSJ Opinion Archives
France
to U.N.: Drop Dead
It appears increasingly likely that when an American-led coalition liberates
Iraq, it will do so under the authority of 17 U.N. Security Council resolutions
rather than 18. As a matter of international law, this will not make a difference, but
as a matter of international politics it could prove to be a very big deal.
France may have destroyed the U.N. as a serious institution.
Just to review the events of the past few months, in November the Security Council passed Resolution 1441, which demanded that Saddam Hussein comply "immediately" with the 16 preceding resolutions, declared it his "final opportunity" to do so, and promised "serious consequences" if he failed to do so.
The French, in an expression of sheer contempt for the United Nations, are sticking to the position that 1441 doesn't mean what it says. Presented with ample evidence that Iraq has fallen short of the full compliance the U.N. demanded, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin made news excuses for delay: "The option of inspections has not been taken to the end." Never mind that Resolution 1441 plainly and repeatedly states that compliance must be "immediate." Instead of sticking to the letter and the spirit of 1441, the French ask us to take seriously such nonsense as an Iraqi "presidential decree" "banning" weapons of mass destruction. No wonder, as Daniel Henninger points out, Paris is now the laughingstock of the world.
An 18th U.N. resolution would have been worthwhile, if we could have gotten one. It would have pre-empted the false argument we will soon hear that America is acting in defiance of the U.N. In fact, it is France and its minions that are defying the U.N. by insisting that its resolutions be ignored for the sake of keeping Saddam in power. But the contrary argument will carry some weight, especially among those, both here and abroad, for whom resentment of America's power is their highest political principle.
Does this mean that President Bush's strategy of going through the U.N. was a failure? Not necessarily. The perfidious French and Germans were probably never going to be persuaded, but by making a show of his respect for international opinion, Bush probably made it easier to build an extensive alliance in support. And if the French want to destroy the U.N., is that really such a bad outcome? Last September the president issued a challenge:
All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?
It appears that France, which holds a veto on the Security Council, has boxed itself into a corner. There's still a possibility that it could back down and support an 18th resolution, but given French obstinacy to this point, it's getting hard to imagine a circumstance in which it could do so without looking even more ridiculous than it already does.
In effect, President Bush posed two questions to the world last year: Can the U.N. be saved? Is it worth saving? It appears now that, thanks to the French, both questions have been answered in the negative. It is a clarifying moment.
Whose
Side is Carl Levin On?
Michigan's Sen. Carl Levin, ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee,
is blaming America for Saddam Hussein's defiance of the U.N. London's Independent
reports that a group of Democrats led by Levin "accused the CIA of making
an assessment that the inspections were unlikely to be a success and then ensuring
they would not be. They have accused the CIA director of lying about what information
on the suspected location of weapons of mass destruction had been passed on."
Levin "said it was clear the CIA had not shared information with the inspectors about a 'large number of sites of significant value.' " Well, let's hope he's right. Resolution 1441, after all, demands that Iraq disarm. If the CIA knows where some of his prohibited weapons are, it would be wise to withhold it so as to test whether Iraq actually is complying. The resolution does have a provision that "requests all Member States to . . . [provide] any information related to prohibited programmes" (italics in original). But this is a request America is well-advised to politely decline.
Weasel
Watch
Look closely at the photo on the front page of today's New York Post. The scrappy
tabloid appears to have uncovered a giant media conspiracy: In every other photo
we've seen of the U.N. Security Council (and even in today's live coverage on
Fox News Channel), the images of the French and German representatives have
been airbrushed or digitally altered to make it appear as if they have human
heads.
London's Guardian reports on what the left-wing paper calls the latest "Berlin tirade." Germany's Defense Minister Peter Struck "reignited his government's simmering dispute with Washington, lashing out at his US counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, for remarks he described as 'un-American' and 'more than impertinent.' " Apparently the Germans are still steamed over Rummy's remark last week that besides Germany only Cuba and Libya had flatly ruled out any participation in the liberation of Iraq. We'd fire back by calling Struck "un-German," but that wouldn't be an insult, would it?
Reuters reports that Austria, the country that gave the world such great statesmen as Adolf Hitler, Kurt Waldheim and Joerg Haider, has joined the axis of weasels by refusing to let American troops travel by train across the Austrian Alps, the fastest route from Germany to Italy. The country's foreign minister also says she sympathizes with the efforts of France, Germany and Belgium to prevent NATO from making plans to defend Turkey in the event of an Iraqi attack. Austria at least is not a NATO member, so this isn't a stab in the back from a purported ally.
The Voice of Vietnam reports (last item) that Belgium--the country Richard Perle calls the "caboose" of the Franco-German train--is seeking to "bolster comprehensive relations" with Hanoi. King Albert II, in a farewell visit with Vietnam's departing ambassador to Brussels, told the departing ambassador that, in VOV's words, he "appreciated Vietnam's renewal achievements as well as its regional and international integration." Well, when it comes to making friends, beggars can't be choosers.
In the latest example of weasel unilateralism, the Associated Press reports today that "13 nations seeking to join the EU were excluded from a summit in Brussels on Monday to seek a common position on Iraq. The move came from Germany and France because the candidates mostly back the United States on Iraq, according to British diplomatic sources."
So what accounts for the behavior of this tiny pack of feral weasels? We've raised the possibility that France and Germany seek to maintain Saddam in power because they're afraid documents found in liberated Iraq will find evidence of systematic violations of U.N. sanctions. Mark Steyn offers a less sinister view:
Saddam is what Alfred Hitchcock called the MacGuffin. Like the top-secret formula in The 39 Steps or the uranium in Notorious, he's the pretext for the movie, but he's not really what the movie's about. . . . For M. Chirac, Herr Schroeder and their little Belgian chum, it's not really about Saddam, either. . . .
No, for them what this movie is about is much closer to home. To the dozy "experts" on this side of the Atlantic, the notion of a "split" between America and "Europe" is so appealing they don't seem to care that the only real split is between Chirac, Schroeder and Belgium's Manekin Pis, on the one hand, and everybody else. . . .
To the French, something very astonishing has happened: "Europe" was supposed to be France writ large, a "union" built in France's image. To that end, they took it for granted that the entire Continent would inevitably come to be as semi-detached from NATO as the French have been since 1966. To M. Chirac, Tony Blair is the odd man out, with his strange Anglo-Saxon hang-ups about the transatlantic alliance. But, as has become obvious, to the Czechs, Poles, Bulgars, Romanians and everybody else, it's Chirac who's the misfit.
Steyn's theory is that Chirac's obstructionism aims at toppling Tony Blair, who has been steadfast in his support for liberating Iraq despite skeptical, even hostile, public opinion. Blair does appear to be in some jeopardy; on Tuesday the Times of London published a poll showing that his Labour Party "has fallen to the lowest level for more than a decade" over the Iraq issue. Our read of this is that it reflects prebattle anxiety; assuming Blair can survive until the alliance has won in Iraq, he should be able to recover. That, Steyn says, would be a disaster for Chirac: "Let Blair emerge from an Anglo-American war on Iraq with his worldview resoundingly confirmed, and it's possible that Europe will develop in ways that are not in France's interest." What could be better for America?
Gosh,
That's Reassuring
The Times of London reports that Tariq Aziz is denying that the weapons inspectors'
recent missile find actually constitutes a violation of the U.N.'s disarmament
demands. "Our missiles have a much shorter range and don't have a guidance system.
Therefore they sometimes fall 5 to 10km beyond their target. That's not dangerous."
We
Impressed With This Headline
"Bush Tells Troops They Ready if War Comes"--Reuters, Feb. 13
Is
Nothing Sacred?
As if France and Germany's treachery weren't disheartening enough, now comes
word that captured al Qaeda terrorists have been--get ready for this--lying
to investigators. ABCNews.com reports that "a key piece of information"
leading to the current orange alert was fabricated:
The officials said that a claim made by a captured al Qaeda member that Washington, New York or Florida would be hit by a "dirty bomb" sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination.
The informant described a detailed plan that an al Qaeda cell operating in either Virginia or Detroit had developed a way to slip past airport scanners with dirty bombs encased in shoes, suitcases, or laptops, sources told ABCNews. The informant reportedly cited specific targets of government buildings and Christian or clerical centers.
"This piece of that puzzle turns out to be fabricated and therefore the reason for a lot of the alarm, particularly in Washington this week, has been dissipated after they found out that this information was not true," said Vince Cannistraro, former CIA counter-terrorism chief and ABCNews consultant.
This comes a week after Slate's Timothy Noah awarded Saddam Hussein the influential "whopper of the week" designation. Wow. If you can't trust an insane terrorist and a brutal tyrant, who can you trust?
Another
Brilliant Strategy
CNN reports on Bill Clinton's latest advice for dealing with Iraq: "We should
let [Hans] Blix lead us to come together," he told an Atlanta synagogue. "Everyone
knows Saddam needs to disarm or get out of town . . . [but] he won't
do it unless the world is united."
Hmm, here's an idea: How about we let the president of the United States lead? We suppose we can imagine why Clinton would find this idea uncongenial.
Coming
to Iraq: Stagflation and Malaise
We sure hope this headline in the London Independent isn't accurate: "U.S.
Seeks 'Someone Like Jimmy Carter' to Oversee Administration After Overthrow
of Saddam."
You
Don't Say--I
"Iraqi Parliament Backs Saddam"--headline, AFP dispatch, News.com.au,
Feb. 15
You
Don't Say--II
"Iraq Opposition Wants Say After Invasion"--headline, Associated Press,
Feb. 13
You
Don't Say--III
"Suit to Block Iraq War Likely to Fail"--headline, Washington Times,
Feb. 14
You
Don't Say--IV
"Gun-Toting Police Patrol Capitol Grounds"--headline, Houston Chronicle,
Feb. 13
Department
of Silly Walks
We know we shouldn't mock other people's faiths, but this report from the Arab
News really reads like something out of Monty Python. Prince Naif, the Saudi
interior minister, is discussing logistical problems with the hajj, the
annual pilgrimage to Mecca:
Referring to the overcrowding of pilgrims at the Jamrat in Mina, he called upon Islamic scholars to find a practical solution to the problem and said they should issue a religious edict allowing pilgrims to stone Jamrat during the morning hours.
"On the 11th of Dul Hijjah there is enough time, and there is then the whole night, to stone at Jamrat. But the problem is on the 12th of Dul Hijjah when most pilgrims rush there in the afternoon before leaving Mina," he pointed out.
There are pilgrims who stone at Jamrat before noon and we don't interfere in that matter and we don't prevent them. "But having an edict to be followed by all pilgrims will make them start stoning from morning hours or after the Fajr prayers and then leave Mina. I leave this matter to Islamic scholars to decide," he added. . . .
He also stressed the need for Tawafa organizations to send their pilgrims in batches to stone at Jamrat to avoid accidents and stampedes.
You Don't
Say--V
"Shuttle Suffered Major Breach"--headline, MSNBC.com, Feb. 14
Great
Moments in Public Education
Forty-one-year-old Evelyn Peralta-Tessitore had a run-in with police in the
Bronx on Tuesday:
Cops said they spotted Peralta-Tessitore squatting and urinating beside the open door of her 2003 Mercedes-Benz about 2:40 p.m. Tuesday. Her car was stopped at a red light at 254th St. and Broadway.
Peralta-Tessitore admitted she had been drinking, according to the criminal complaint. Cops said she reeked of liquor and her speech was slurred.
She refused to get out of her car and started flailing her arms at officers when they tried to arrest her, police said.
Peralta-Tessitore's occupation? She's the principal of a public school in Harlem.
Not
Too Brite--LVI
"A lovesick 58-year-old German man was sentenced to seven years in jail
after attacking a factory worker with a pair of bull castration tongs in the
western town of Duesseldorf," Reuters reports from Berlin. Oddly Enough!
You
Don't Say--VI
"Big Users of Gasoline Hurt Most by Price Spike"--headline, Wausau
(Wis.) Daily Herald, Feb. 13
Crackdown
on Cupid
"Conservative forces in the Middle East and South Asia have cracked down
on shops marketing Valentine's Day," the BBC reports. "Right-wing
militants" in Delhi, India, attacked stores selling romantic cards and
gifts:
An eyewitness told the French news agency AFP: "They came in two cars and began shouting anti-Valentine's Day slogans before entering the shop. They smashed the glass windows, lights and other fixtures, and tore the cards."
No word on just what "anti-Valentine's Day" slogans they were shouting. Police in Iran, not surprisingly, also shut down shops selling Valentine's Day items. Agence France-Presse also reports from Peshawar, Pakistan, that Islamic fanatics there are also denouncing the day:
"This is a shameful day. The people in the West are just fulfilling and satisfying their sex thirst on this day," Khalid Waqas Chamkani, a leader of the Islami Jamaat Talaba in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan, said this week.
"Celebrating Valentine's Day is against our Muslim traditions."
You can see why the Islamists would be hostile to this holiday. How would they ever persuade anyone to become a suicide bomber if martyrdom meant having to buy 72 valentines every year?
The North Korean "news" agency KCNA reports that two days before Valentine's Day "the 7th Kimjongilia Show was opened in Pyongyang today on the occasion of Kim Jong Il's birthday. Large posters were seen standing in front of the Kimilsungia-Kimjongilia exhibition, its venue." Kimsungilia and Kimjongilia are types of flowers named after North Korea's wacko dictator and his late father. " Put on display in the hall were more than 17,000 potted Kimjongilias presented by ministries of the cabinet, national institutions, armed forces organs and working people from all walks of life from all provinces, foreign guests and overseas Koreans." We're still awaiting word from Ashgabad on the annual Turkmenbushi show.
You
Don't Say--VII
"Survey: Men Spend More on Valentines"--headline, CNN.com, Feb. 12
You
Don't Say--VIII
"Secret to Romantic Intimacy: Skip the Nagging"--headline, Reuters,
Feb. 14
You
Don't Say--IX
"Men hugely value having erections."--"sexologist" Barnaby Barratt,
founder of the Midwest Institute of Sexology, quoted in Cincinnati City Beat,
Feb. 12
Passionate
Conservatism
Nature magazine reports on a new study by a German-based Turkish neuroscientist,
Onur Gunturkun. Gunturkun "recorded 124 scientifically valid kisses in
public places across the United States, Germany and Turkey." He wanted
to find out which way people turned their heads when they kiss. Result: "They
turn to the right twice as often as to the left."
Passionate
Liberalism
Here's a joke that writes itself: The Clinton Presidential Center is looking
for interns. Atop the application brochure (link in PDF form) is a quote from
a former intern--no, not the portly pepperpot but one Jean-Paul Tremblay, who
boasts of his "passionate interest in making a difference." The brochure
also promises prospective interns "a unique opportunity for . . .
meaningful service" and quotes the center's director of operations, Hannah
Richert, as saying: "In this environment, each intern is vitally important."
"Is" vitally important? What does that mean?
Editor's Note
This column won't be published Monday, Presidents Day. But tune in to OpinionJournal
anyway for a new Peggy Noonan column and more.
(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Yehuda Hilewitz, Barak Moore, Raghu Desikan, Damian Bennett, Will Hinton, Vlad Kogan, Pete Freeman, Dave Hannold, Glenn Taubman, Ed Dressel, Marc Whinston, Jerome Marcus, Natalie Cohen, John Hartness, Jeffrey Shapiro, Jonathan Rothernberg, Marie Bourgeois, Thomas Linehan, Edward Himmelfarb, T.A. Young, Aaron Gross, Lawrence Weiss, Paul Niehaus, Urbach Yehudah, C.E. Dobkin, Michael Segal, Michael Paranzino, Robert LeChevalier, Rosslyn Smith, Rob McCann, William McConaghy, John Vecchione, M.M. Quinn, Trisha Compton, Paul Civiletto, Ellen Dieleman, Chris Rudek, Brian Dawson, Jim Haffemann, Kevin Dietrich, Lewis Berk, Rosanne Klass, Erik Fortune, Eric Levitt, David Bebee, Henry Stern, Nancy Zimmerman, Anthony Gill, Jim Orheim, Monty Goolsby, Julie Beck, Mara Gold and Tom Crittenden. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Are Saddam and Osama enemies? Not if you ask Saddam.
- Daniel Henninger: France liberates Poland from the grip of mockery.
- Pete du Pont: The Democratic presidential candidates are out of step with America.
- John Fund: Milwaukee County's sheriff stands up to racial mau-mauing.
And on the Taste page:
- Review & Outlook: Will the National Endowment for the Humanities make history?.
- Tony & Tacky: Some hate crimes are more equal than others.
- Barbara Phillips: Terror has us on edge--despite the low odds.
- Dave Shiflett: Valentine's Day gets religion.
