EDITORIAL: IRAQ: Tools for the Job.(Editorial)

Ahmad Chalabi, who led Free Iraq's delegation to the U.N. early in October, gave a notable speech to the body that did so little to liberate his country. He thanked those who did help: President Bush, the United States, Great Britain. He addressed the ongoing resistance of the losers: "We will not allow a gang limited to mercenaries and terrorists to deprive a person, a society, and a nation of a bright tomorrow." He outlined a vision of that tomorrow, which would not have sounded strange in Philadelphia in 1787: separation of powers, accountability, transparency, federalism, rule of law, and the eschewal of formalized ethnic or sectarian factions. He ended with a challenge: "To those who stood with the dictator and who continue to question the intentions of the American and British governments . . . we invite you to come and visit the mass graves where half a million of our citizens lie, come and visit the dried up marshes, come and visit Halabja where chemicals were dropped on civilians, come and examine the lists of the disappeared. . . . And we the Iraqi people will ask you why you chose to remain silent."

Good question, good hopes. How are the hopes to be secured?

In mid October the Security Council unanimously voted to set its seal of approval on the coalition's reconstruction of Iraq. The United States gave very little, conceding a small political role to the U.N. and requiring the Iraqis to present only a timetable for a new government by December 15, not a new government itself. The Security Council was as graceless as possible, Russia, France, and Germany announcing that "the pace of the transfer of responsibilities to the Iraqi people" should have gone faster. (A lot they cared about the Iraqi people when they were selling arms to Saddam.) The Axis of Weasel will not be sending troops, nor will Pakistan.

The U.N. vote might however shake loose troops from Turkey, as well as international money for reconstruction. Japan has ponied up $1.5 billion for 2004. It gives a symbolic inducement to some politicians in the ...