Better without France

Saul Singer of the Jerusalem Post makes a point in this National Review Online piece that I’ve been pushing off-and-on since I started writing for Power Line, but that I haven’t seen elsewhere — the fewer nations that support our military action against Iraq, the better. As Singer explains, “the war in Iraq is about smashing a particular gang, which will send a powerful message to the other gangs that the U.S. is no longer going to tolerate gang rule.” Proceeding only after securing a broad international consensus weakens the message because it suggests a reluctance to smash other gangs without international consent. Since the U.N. has long tolerated gang rule, a better approach would be to take actions that, in Singer’s words, “fly in the face of U.N. capituation to gang rule.” Instead, we will have wasted half a year cajoling the U.N. to agree to end its capitulation to the rule of only one gang.