Edgewise

"Kill It before It Grows"

David Kolodney

A BBC World Service poll that surveyed 23,518 people in 23 countries finds...

--"There is an extraordinary degree of consensus in favor of the UN becoming 'significantly more powerful in world affairs.'
--"This prospect is seen as 'mainly positive' in every country (21 a majority, 2 a plurality) and by an average of 64 percent. A mere 19 percent on average sees this prospect as mainly negative....
--"Six in ten Americans (59%) favored it, with only 37 percent opposed."

And...

--"In all countries but one, more people favor than oppose the idea of giving the UN Security Council the power to override the veto of a permanent member....
--"Respondents in the US, Britain, France, Russia and China were reminded in the question that their own country would lose the veto....
--"In the US, 57 percent favor giving up the absolute veto (34% opposed)"

What was the US really pre-empting with its pre-emptive war? Not Saddam, but effective UN sanctions and inspections. They had to be stopped before they could succeed and spread--metastasizing peace and eroding the diktat of the world's only remaining Great Power.