Volker Destroys the Status Quo Ante

The opponents of the Bush reaction to 9/11 is twofold: first, Iraq did not attack the US; second, International pressure was keeping Saddam bottled up.

The first objection is true but irrelevant. During WW2 we attacked Italy while Italy did not attack us. It was, however, part of the problem, and we dealt with it.

The Volker report tells even the self deluded that the second proposition was totally false. Our “allies” were hip deep in helping Saddam escape the sanctions against Iraq.

Belmont club has some insightful commentary:The fundamental argument against international military action is the supposition that effective alternatives exist to containing rogue states and tyrants. But what if it does not? The Volcker Report essentially describes the history of the decade-long diplomatic battle to proscribe the movements of Saddam Hussein following the Gulf War. It is an account of the unmitigated defeat of the "international community" at the hands of Saddam; not only a defeat but a rout and a surrender. And although the surrender had already taken place, the world was told categorically by the capitulators themselves that they were fighting and winning the good fight against the forces of lawlessness. The problem with September 11 was not that it happened, but that it happened where it could not be ignored; this fact was the virtual third aircraft that crashed into Manhattan that day, striking somewhere in the vicinity of Turtle Bay.