Excellent post by Arthur Silber here at L&P. I really do appreciate Kenneth M. Pollack's new discussion of the Iraq situation. It's better than what one reads from most of those on the"pro-war" side of this debate who are still trying to justify the means by the end of Hussein's reign, as if Hussein's regime was, in itself, an imminent threat to the security of the United States.

And yet, I couldn't help but be amused by this comment of Pollack's:

What's more, we should not forget that containment was failing. The shameful performance of the United Nations Security Council members (particularly France and Germany) in 2002-2003 was final proof that containment would not have lasted much longer; Saddam would eventually have reconstituted his WMD programs, although further in the future than we had thought. (emphasis added)

"Containment was failing"??? What a splendid failure! Where are the nuclear weapons, Mr. Pollack? Where are the tons of chemical and biological agents, Mr. Pollack? Where are the ties between Hussein and Al Qaeda, Mr. Pollack? Is it possible, Mr. Pollack, that"the threatening storm" was not actually in Iraq, after all?

The only thing that was failing was the Bush administration's intelligence. An oxymoron if ever there were one.