TWO MORE WEEKS?

TWO MORE WEEKS? Fred Kaplan has a piece in Slate endorsing Canada’s proposal to give Saddam two more weeks to comply before going to war with him. His logic is rather silly:

Substantively, the Canadian proposal does not harm U.S. interests; putting off war another two weeks (the end of March instead of mid-March) will not hurt the mobilization. Diplomatically, the proposal gives the United States a chance to clean up its global image—which, whether justifiably or not, is terrible. It gives us at least the appearance of meeting the French halfway. More important, it puts us behind a proposal that belongs to an outside party. It makes it look like we’re going along with someone else, not just demanding that everyone go along with us. It endows us with an attitude of cooperation, which we will need reciprocated from others if the war, or peace, goes badly.

No, it doesn’t. Another two weeks will do nothing to change world public opinon. Nothing. If the UN issues a “second” resolution, it would mean France, Russia, and China went along by at least not vetoing it. That will be as true two weeks from now as, well, now.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.