With the resumption of the UN inspections, the end-game begins for Saddam Hussein. After 10 years, 16 UN resolutions and the refusal to comply with required inspections, Iraq faces a Whitehouse intent on enforcing the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs). If not for President Bush, Iraq would have been left unmolested to continue on its path of treachery.

     On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraq invaded its southern neighbor, Kuwait. The United Nations Security Council and the Arab League immediately condemned the Iraqi invasion. Iraq did not respond to international pressure and annexed Kuwait on Aug 8th, thus began the course of events leading up to the present. Through this whole process, the United Nations has been nothing less than laughable. The Iraqi's were expelled from Kuwait only by the adroit political savvy of George Bush Sr. and the superior leadership of the United States military. Once the Iraqi's had been defeated and sent scurrying through the desert sands, back to Baghdad, the United Nations laid out strict demands in the form of UN Resolutions 686 and 687. This began the ludicrous decade of deceit and deception led by an ineffectual United Nations and the anemic foreign policy of the Clinton administration.

   Though both the Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations bear a burden of responsibility, the Iraq situation has come about more because of a reliance on the United Nations. The UN is marked by few successes, mixed with a procession of abject failures and has proven itself to be unwilling and ineffective resolving various regional conflicts. In matters of national security and self-defense, it is the wise nation that depends upon its own devices. In the aftermath of 911, the US is in such a position.

   Having declared war on terrorism, President Bush has begun what will be a long and protracted battle to effect the decline of organized terrorist activity. After the swift and sound defeat of the Taliban (much to the dismay of the 'chicken little' left), Bush turned up the heat and compelled the UN to once again enforce its own resolutions. All the while, Saddam Hussein spouted his bellicose bravado and made every attempt to stall the resumption of inspections. Finally, the pressure and diplomacy of the US prevailed and the inspections resumed. With years to prepare, one would have expected the UN inspection team would return to Iraq in force. This would be the logical assumption, had the UN ever intended to return, but it was not the case. It is our contention that the UN had neither design nor desire of ever enforcing the resolutions.

   In the post 911 world, it is more than evident the United Nation has become a hollow voice of unreason and a discredited paper tiger. It is the UN's noncommittal to enforcement of its own policy, impotence in the face of adversity (unless led by the USA) and its commitment to third world interests that have brought us to the prospect of the coming war. Reasonable minds will concur, that in all probability, Saddam Hussein has moved, removed or hidden any weapons of mass destruction that he still retains. The current Iraqi inspections, which have been disorganized and fruitless to this point, are needed to placate various nations with oil and economic ties to Iraq (i.e., France, Germany and Russia), even if they are now futile. Hans Blix and UNMOVIC (United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) were once the unwitting victims of Saddam's duplicity, now they are the means to an end; the end of Saddam's regime.