NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Thank God for those phantom Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Politically, they are a nonissue. Morally, they are an amazing piece of luck. Strategically, they are a guide to the future. The missing WMD were not merely an honest mistake; they were a providential mistake.
Saddam Hussein was the slaughterer of his own people, benefactor of Palestinian terrorism, enemy of the United States. But political realities here and abroad meant that all we could do was draw a bead on the man and tell him, in effect: Make our day. And he was so stupid, he did.
When do the informal, uncodified rules of international politics allow a foreign nation to invade, occupy and rebuild a monstrous tyranny? How does a dictator qualify for mandatory relocation? Not merely by unspeakable savagery to his own people. Not even by posing a threat to the prospective invader. He must be seen to pose a threat.
Truth is invisible without marketing, and WMD were Saddam's idea for an advertising theme. He had used poison gas to great effect, murdering Kurds and Shiites by the thousands. And now, thanks to WMD he seemed to have but didn't -- perfect justice! -- Saddam qualified for invasion. We took him out, Iraq rejoiced and the world breathed easier. Without those phantom WMD, he would still be lording it over his helpless, bleeding people, still be bribing Palestinians to murder Israelis, still have his blood-filthy sadist's hands at humanity's throat.
"But the administration's 'honest mistake' duped us into thinking there was some sort of urgency to this war." Perhaps, but are you examining things from the standpoint of a macroeconomist or a human being? No doubt "urgency" takes on a new coloration when you are next in line to be fed into the wood chipper. When congressional Republicans finally get around to holding hearings on Iraq under Saddam, when the broken survivors of his regime talk to us day after day, BBC-style sneers will disappear from all over the planet.
The president has a political problem, I guess, but he will handle it easily. Yes, I can hear him saying, I was wrong -- the buck stops here; I told you there were WMD in Iraq and there aren't. I'm not going to blame the CIA or its director, George A. Tenet, or anyone else. It was an honest mistake, and I made it in good faith. I'm sorry. I apologize. And now some questions for my Democratic opponents. Are you glad we freed Iraq? Or do you wish we hadn't? And those phantom WMD let us do it, right? And that's the real issue, isn't it? -- not WMD; the ex-tyranny of Saddam.
