One of the loopier tropes we keep hearing from critics of the Bush Administration’s Iraq policy is how Bush had to change direction and go crawling back to the UN for help. Um . . . no. Asking for UN help was in no way a flip-flop or admission of failure. Let’s review:
1. Fall 2002: We ask the UN (i.e., France/Germany/Russia) to agree with us about the problem with the Iraqi regime. The UN agrees.
2. Early Spring 2003: We ask the UN to help us solve the problem. We make clear that we’re not asking permission; we’re going to fix the problem, we’ve got some allies, but we want more help. The UN refuses.
3. Late Spring 2003: We take care of the problem without the UN’s help, but with the help of a number of allies.
4. Fall 2003: We come back to the UN, even after it pissed in our face, and ask for help again with the aftermath. This time, at least some of the nations involved appear more conciliatory.
How exactly have we admitted failure? We said we could and would do this with whatever allies we could get, but we always wanted more allies and more help than we got. This is like asking out the same girl who stood you up once before; if anything, it shows the Administration’s humility in being willing to ask again rather than say, “they didn’t get on the boat when it sailed, screw them.”