AFTER A ROUGH 10 days of public squabbling sparked by Anthony Zinni’s public criticism of administration policy, the Bush administration is once again on track in its effort to effect regime change in Iraq. This is due, in part, to the president’s assurance that he will seek congressional approval before undertaking a military campaign in Iraq, and, not insignificantly, to Colin Powell’s suspicion of the effectiveness of weapons inspections.
Administration and Capitol Hill sources say that the administration will go to Congress before that body leaves in early October, meaning the president will have the approval he wants–but doesn’t need–in less than a month. Top administration officials will blanket Capitol Hill to present Congress, in both classified and unclassified sessions, with the evidence of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction program and his long involvement in international terror. Tony Blair, on the heels of his excellent speech Tuesday, will consult with President Bush at Camp David this weekend. His government is now putting the finishing touches on a “dossier” that will help formally establish the casus belli for the coming war. Blair expects to release that version of the “public case” against Saddam within the next two weeks–not coincidentally within days of President Bush’s September 12 address to the United Nations General Assembly.
Meanwhile, reports continue to trickle in about troop and equipment build-up in the Middle East. France, long an Iraq appeaser, has begun to position itself to have input in a post-Saddam Iraq. And Kuwaiti officials reversed course and publicly invited U.S. intervention in Iraq.
Taken together, these developments suggest that serious planning for the war with Iraq continues at a brisk pace.
Americans already support efforts to remove Saddam. Indeed, polling has consistently demonstrated strong voter approval for regime change in Iraq. Even the much-ballyhooed CNN poll of two weeks ago, showing that support for a war was slipping, had 53 percent in favor of ground troops. (A Los Angeles Times poll asking a similar question put that number at 64 percent.) And 65 percent of Americans surveyed in the Gallup poll thought the United States was morally justified in removing Saddam. These numbers came as opponents of regime change dominated the public debate. They will almost certainly rise with the administration’s coming PR offensive.
Administration officials tell THE DAILY STANDARD that the case against Saddam will be “detailed and overwhelming.” The truth is, the case for removing Saddam is compelling even if it’s based only the information already in the public domain. It has been for years. If the administration provides additional details, including evidence about the advances in Saddam’s WMD program, the problem for the administration shifts. Delaying a war with Iraq becomes more difficult. After being presented with compelling information about the nature and immediacy of the Iraqi threat, American citizens, members of Congress, and would-be allies might reasonably ask, “what are we waiting for?”
Vice President Cheney forcefully argued last week that, “time is not on our side.” He’s right.
Stephen F. Hayes is staff writer at The Weekly Standard.
