Chicao Tribune editorial: Will the world blink again?

[Martin Eden]

The Chicago Tribune has steadfastly supported Bush and the war in Iraq, but today's editorial almost made me choke on my pancakes:

--snip--
Faced with criticism that it had excluded the UN from securing and rebuilding Iraq, the Bush administration last week circulated a draft Security Council resolution that would urge UN members to pledge troops and money for Iraq. The initial response from France and Germany, both high on the list of countries that shamefully declined to enforce the UN's edicts against Hussein, is much the same now as it was then: Who? Us? Do something?

We are learning just how sincere some of Europe's leaders are in their chronic insistence that complex problems invariably demand multilateral solutions. That noble sentiment, repeatedly voiced before war in Iraq as a challenge to U.S. and British determination to hold Hussein accountable, looks today like a fig leaf shielding a firm commitment to inaction.

Remember, what the French and Germans all but dismissed last week wasn't some Bush administration fiat. It was a draft resolution, a proposal from Washington, subject to whatever changes other members of the Security Council might impose. The administration has swallowed its pride and asked for help. But evidently the mere possibility of being asked to do something other than sit idle while claiming moral superiority has hit several council members like a bad case of the vapors. They can't be bothered.
--snip--
The response of the French and Germans doubtless has less to do with opinions about Iraq or multilateralism than it does with their displeasure with Bush. If in fact the French and Germans now spike the draft resolution at the UN, or attempt to drag it out with endless negotiations, that will be a gutless denial of the best, probably fastest means by which Iraqis truly can take control of their future.

for the complete editorial:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0309070399sep07,1,4813796.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed

Since this editorial nearly ruined my breakfast I just had to dash off a response, though I doubt they'll print it:

The Tribune’s Sept. 7 editorial "Will the world blink again?" is an incredible piece of blame transference. It characterizes France and Germany as "countries that shamefully declined to enforce the UN’s edicts against Hussein", and lambastes them for dismissing the Bush administration’s draft resolution for bolstering the US occupation of Iraq.

Let me get this straight. The Bush administration made false claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, launched an invasion in defiance of the UN, failed to adequately plan for postwar security, and now seeks help from the international body it derided as irrelevant. Yet shame on France and Germany for wanting to give the weapons inspectors more time, and for not accepting US terms to bail us out of the quagmire we created.

I’ve come to expect this kind of spin from the Bush neo-conservatives, but I am appalled to read it in a Tribune editorial.

[pretzel4gore]

1. the chicago trib is a criminally run organization...

enuff said...

[sonias]

2. Great response Martin

I think you summed up the problem quite nicely. That was a nasty editorial, something you think Karl Rove would write. Shameful. Let's just dare the Trib to print your letter.

Sonia

[tweekinnow]

3. Bravo! right to the point.

Sooo Bush's Alligator Mouth writes a check his Canary Ass can't cash and the U.N. is picking on him.Great! Has he ever done anything correctly?
With any hope, the bill for this war will demolish him politically and we will be done with him.Then, on to get the rest of his cronies out of office and into nice warm prison cells.