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Editorial: Buenos Aires, Cairo, London on U.S.-Iraq Egyptian Gazette, Cairo on Iraq ... In its frantic bid to drum up support for its anti-Iraq strategy, the U.S. cannot lose notice of the time factor. If there were war, March would be the last chance in terms of weather conditions in the Gulf. Searing desert temperature will be a significant obstacle to American servicemen clad in anti-chemical gear. In the run-up to a second resolution, Washington is intensifying its diplomatic offensive to win over skeptical allies and veto-wielding powers at the Security Council. Haunted by accusations of unilateralism, the Bush administration is at pains to convince a reluctant world that the coming war will be fought for its good and in its name. The Independent, London on Bush and the United Nations The Bush administration's attitude to the United Nations is extraordinary. We know that its more ideological members, such as Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, and the curiously invisible Vice President Dick Cheney, dislike the U.N. with an unreasoning venom akin to that shown by British Euroskeptics toward the European Union. They regard the U.N. almost as a socialist conspiracy, an alien supranational power planted on Manhattan as a standing affront to the values of freedom and democracy. It must be suspected that George Bush himself shares much of this view. Yet he is also a practical politician of some skill, and recognized that domestic opinion was allergic to the idea of the U.S. going into a war on Iraq alone. He realized that the U.N. was a way of mobilizing the "coalition of the willing" against Saddam Hussein. ... Over the next three weeks ... the member countries of the U.N., and especially those that are members of the Security Council, face a historic duty. They must decide how to respond to President Bush's challenge, issued repeatedly recently, to make the U.N. "relevant." They should ignore cheap insults accusing opponents of war of wanting the U.N. to be as ineffective as the League of Nations: Saddam is not Hitler and Kim Jong Il is not Mussolini. The test of the U.N.'s relevance cannot be the extent to which it comes into line with U.S. policy. On the contrary, the test must be the extent to which it encourages U.S. policy to come into line with the concept of international law. That is why those opponents of the war who accuse the U.N. of simply being a puppet of the U.S. are as mistaken as Mr. Bush. The U.N. may be imperfect, but it does embody the idea of international law. Last year, the U.S. dismissed the idea of restoring U.N. inspectors to Iraq as a waste of time. Now, the inspection regime has opened up the possibility of an alternative way in which the law-abiding world can restrain the threat from Saddam. Buenos Aires (Argentina) Herald on Iraq Perhaps it's time to let readers into a little secret about this whole Iraq thing - it's overrated. War against Saddam Hussein is neither as good nor as bad as friends and foes of conflict would have you believe. It is not as good because even its most fervent advocates could hardly present it as a war to end terrorism forever, but nor would it be a bad thing for a rogue state to be taken out in a short war. ... Is Iraq worth it? The very speed of the anticipated war should be telling George Bush that Saddam is a paper tiger ... yet those urging peace should realize that they are only encouraging Saddam to push his luck since the despot will only respond to force or its convincing threat. ... Both those for and against an Iraq attack owe the world some harder thinking - truth may be the first casualty of war, but logic and sanity are not far behind. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -