Double-standard democrats. (Scan).(Democrats who oppose United States action against Iraq once supported action in Kosovo)

Democrats resisting President Bush's call to remove Saddam Hussein from power insisted we should not go to war with Iraq unless we had United Nations support. Their underlying principle seems to be that only the U.N. can bestow moral legitimacy on American military action against other nations.

Only a few years ago, however, amidst the war in Kosovo--which manifestly did not have the blessings of the United Nations--many of those same Democrats were gung-ho, the U.N. be damned. A friend in the White House recently put together this quick inventory:

* Senator Paul Wellstone favored the non-U.N. sanctioned war in Kosovo

* So did Representative David Bonior, who not only wanted to use air strikes, but also to deploy ground troops

* Senator Joseph Biden demanded an air campaign against Milosevic by a "date certain"

* Senator Barbara Boxer said, "I support the NATO action and I think we need to stick with it"

* Senator Tom Daschle told reporters "I think that military action and diplomacy sometimes work hand in glove"