A little bit of history from the time of the Iraq embargo. Note the interesting role of those nations who were so hard over on preventing regime change. We're learning more about the U.N. role every day.

A lot of people claim that the status quo before the war could have been stable and effective for many more years. Every piece of evidence I have seen says otherwise, including the recent reports of the weapons inspectors.

We are even now seeing harsh evidence of the complete impotence of the United Nations in keeping Iran from developing weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. is threatening to think seriously about taking up the subject of sanctions.

Maybe Bush could have stayed out of Iraq, and pulled back the troops. As with the Gulf War, a later president would have had to pick up the slack, and invading Iraq five or ten years from now, assuming Saddam did not have nuclear weapons by then, would not have been any easier.