(Wall Street Journal) The majority Shiites are enjoying their first liberty in decades and have proven to be Iraqi patriots, not agents of Iran. No one has been more impressed by the U.S. invasion than the Saudis, who are finally cooperating seriously against al-Qaeda. Colonel Gadhafi got the message that playing with WMD is a bad career choice, while Iran is at least meeting with the UN again in order to dodge sanctions and to preserve its nuclear program. Much as Bernard Lewis predicted, in short, respect for America has only increased with this demonstration of strength and purpose. Another global benefit of the war is the end of illusions about the UN and a certain kind of "multilateralism." The UN couldn't enforce its own resolutions before the war, and afterward it fled Iraq the first time it was targeted by terrorists, a special insult to the brave UN officials who died trying to rebuild Iraq. The lesson of Iraq, as before in Kosovo, is that only the U.S. has the political will and military means to defeat global threats.
2004-01-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive