Iraq Arms Hunt May Hinder Other U.S. Aims ( UN cheap effective sanctions?)

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3567810,00.html

Iraq Arms Hunt May Hinder Other U.S. Aims

Tuesday December 30, 2003 8:46 PM
By DAFNA LINZER Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - In nine months, not a single item has been found in Iraq from a long and classified intelligence list of weapons of mass destruction which guided the work of dozens of elite teams from Special Forces, the military, the CIA and the Pentagon during the most secretive, expensive and fruitless weapons hunt in history. <snip>

While some argue the Iraq war helped push open the doors of closed regimes such as Libya and Iran, others say it has only strengthened convictions that negotiations, U.N. inspections and sanctions work. <snip>

Since the war was launched, American allies and U.N. Security Council members have talked of bolstering the work of U.N. inspectors and have used negotiations with Iran and North Korea as a way of reducing the threats those country could pose.

The United States tried a different route, pushing to rebuke both Iran and North Korea's nuclear activities in the Security Council but found no support for the moves. "As long as the United States has a pre-emptive policy on the books, no one will pass sanctions against Iran or North Korea," said Hans Blix, the former chief U.N. inspector who will head a new nonproliferation center based in Stockholm.

That may be true, said William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, but he said the sudden attention paid to the issue of weapons of mass destruction is a tribute to the war. "I don't believe the Iranians feel more confident that they can get away with a nuclear program today than they did a year ago," Kristol said.

[Bandit]

1. No sanctions will be passed by UN because of US foreign policy

I think that says a lot about how the world feels about us. They no longer are willing to use coercion as a tool because the US will/may nullify it by force.