One Hopes the End Is Truly Near

At this point, the biggest remaining question about the Persian Gulf War is whether the United States and its partners can nail down their indisputable military victory without having to fight a costly land battle.

Little else about this apparently brief but intensely destructive conflict is still in suspense. Its outcome, never in doubt, is assured. Iraq has lost. Its war industries and much of its infrastructure lie in ruins. Thousands of its people, soldiers and civilians, have died to satisfy the hegemonic ambitions of Saddam Hussein.

Gone now is the pretense that Kuwait had been integrated into Iraq forevermore. Forgotten now is the sophistry that the conquest and pillage of Kuwait were intended to advance the political goals of the Palestinians.

Speaking through the Soviet Union, Iraq has agreed to withdraw its army from Kuwait, ending the brutal occupation that began last Aug. 2. Moscow describes this agreement as unconditional. Maybe, if only in the sense that Iraq has no other choice.

But Iraq still seeks to retreat on its own terms. It wants a stretched out withdrawal--21 days against the seven called for by President Bush--and an end to U.N.-approved sanctions as soon as the last Iraqi soldier is back across the border. The coalition’s view, and it is the right one, is that so long as Iraq presents a military threat to its neighbors, sanctions on its war-making ability must remain firmly in place.

This prudent concern for the future is what makes the argument over the timetable for Iraqi withdrawal important. The longer the grace period, the more tanks, artillery pieces, munitions and chemical warfare equipment Iraq can bring back home to be held against the day when Saddam Hussein or his successor again feels strong enough to launch aggression. And the longer the period, the greater the wanton destruction Iraq can continue to inflict on Kuwait.

The United States and its partners shouldn’t hesitate at this eleventh hour to press their advantage to the fullest, and to insist that the war end on the responsible conditions they have set. Nothing should be done, because nothing need be done, to let Saddam Hussein salvage any shred of political victory or personal dignity from his military defeat.

This doesn’t mean launching an all-out ground war if he continues to try to stall or quibble. Given Baghdad’s implicit acknowledgement of defeat, that ground war appears less necessary. It does mean keeping up the pressure from the skies, and politically. The war against Iraq is very nearly at an end. It would be folly not to insist that it end on terms that fully comply with U.N. resolutions, and that give good promise that Iraq’s ability to commit aggression will be curbed for a long time to come.