Bush resorts to rogue tactics

AMERICA LONG ago lost the war of world public opinion on Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of babies dying and millions of civilians suffering under economic sanctions saw to that, notwithstanding the argument that it's all Saddam Hussein's fault.

So botched has the American policy on Iraq been that, as hard as it is to admit, this two-bit dictator has outwitted not one but two presidents of the United States, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

With the rising buzz about a war against Iraq, American credibility is taking a beating, as Washington keeps shifting the reasons for "regime change" in Baghdad:
Saddam's supposed buildup of biological, chemical and, especially, nuclear weapons.
His unproven links to terrorists.
His proven dodging of United Nations weapons inspectors.
The failure of the inspectors to reach conclusions more acceptable to Washington.
The danger Saddam poses his own people (even if America has never cared for them), and to nations, including — the two latest additions — the United States, a la the Sept. 11 terrorists, and Iran (which he did attack once but with full American complicity, and which the U.S. itself now brands as evil). Any combination of all the above.

The American case for war has been so imprecise and propagandistic that it has convinced no allies in the Middle East, bar Israel, or Europe. Britain's Tony Blair faces a caucus revolt should he ignore majority public opinion and join the war. Canada, too, has begged off.

There is growing opposition within Republican ranks, and audible grumbling in the Pentagon.

Yet the Bush administration is plowing ahead, leaving itself no exit strategy out of its rhetorical bombast. It is hard to see how it can now not go to war.