The Menace That Won’t Go Away

Assuming that all the intelligence evidence, professionally gathered and painstakingly evaluated, is every bit as convincing as Administration officials say it is, President Clinton had little choice.

To ignore the provocation would have been ignominious. The only option that Saddam Hussein gave him was to retaliate in some proportionate measure. And so the cruise-missile attack on an Iraqi intelligence complex in Baghdad was ordered to respond to Iraq’s outrageous effort to assassinate former President George Bush during his April visit to Kuwait.

Bush no doubt deserved the many accolades he received in Kuwait city, but for his successor, Iraq is no more settled an issue than Somalia, another inherited headache.

Hussein is still on top and still making trouble. He defies U.N. Security Council resolutions, giving ground here and there only when pressure from the United States makes it absolutely necessary; worse yet, he seems impervious to logic.

For by any normal logic, the Bush assassination attempt made no sense. Even if Hussein’s revenge operation had been successful, U.S. public opinion would have required massive retaliation.

It made sense only if the Iraqi leader harbored a death wish; on the contrary, he seems very much alive, taunting Uncle Sam and flouting international norms and rules.

He remains a menace, no matter what pointed message Washington sends him, and promises to be a prominent and ugly part of the new world order Clinton has inherited.