IRAQ: Decision Time.(Brief Article)

Sen. Joseph Biden, Democrat from Delaware, says that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice promised him that there would be no "October Surprise." If Rice meant merely that the administration would not time an invasion of Iraq to influence the midterm elections, the promise is unobjectionable. If she meant that action against Iraq is being put off until after the elections so as not to influence them, the promise seems imprudent. Electoral considerations should not affect our military strategy either way.

The administration may fear that any strike on Iraq in September or October would be taken as politically motivated and that this perception would undermine bipartisan support for the war. No doubt the left-most elements of the Democratic party would accuse President Bush of using the military for base reasons. But the public would trust him to have done the right thing, and Democrats who made such charges would do so at their own political peril. If the administration moves against Iraq, it will have the congressional support it needs.

Should the administration get that support on record before taking any action? There are those who argue that it has no legal obligation to do so. The Gulf War never ended as a matter of law; there was a cease-fire agreement (which the Iraqi regime has violated) but no treaty. The law authorizing the Gulf War remains in effect. It was the basis for President Clinton's 1998 "Desert Fox" campaign of bombings, and it is the basis for the continuing American enforcement of the "no fly" zones over Iraq.

This is not merely a legal point. In considering whether to overthrow the Iraqi regime, it is important to remember that a campaign to do so would not be a move from peace to war. It would be a ratcheting up of our existing conflict. American fighter pilots fly daily over Iraq. Americans have already liberated much of northern Iraq. Recognition of this context makes nonsense of many of the arguments against regime change, such as the arguments based on the inviolability of Iraqi ...