Hugo Gordon writing in the National Post doesn't need Mel Brooks for America has escaped the UN's snare:
Things are going splendidly at the United Nations -- splendidly, that is, for those of us keen to see the organization debunked and diminished, and not sure it wouldn't be best demolished altogether.
...
As this happy prospect was unfolding this weekend, the Washington air softened, birds at last began to sing, and once-massive piles of snow that have kept the U.S. capital in frigid stasis for weeks suddenly trickled away down the drain. Winter is over at the White House and it's springtime for Saddam.
No matter what happens at UN headquarters in New York, Mr. Bush is ready to roll. It's true, as Charles Krauthammer mentioned last week, that it's absurd to be waiting with baited breath to see if countries such as Guinea support or oppose the war on terrorism. But we should exhale, because ultimately it makes no difference. U.S. officials are letting it be known that if there are not enough Yes votes in the bag by Friday next week, Washington will skip the vote and move directly to war.
Whichever way the Security Council swings, the UN is finished as a snare for the legitimate exercise of American power. If the Council rejects the new resolution, it will be ignored. If it votes Aye, it will do so -- in plain view of the world -- only because it prefers to hang on to Mr. Bush's coattails than eat his dust.
In neither case, however, will it be plausible to argue that the exercise of American power in U.S. national security interests is subject to UN approval. Mr. Bush, gent that he is, has given the UN the face-saving opportunity to come along for the ride. But the disposition of real power amounts to this: Security Council members can take it or leave it, while Mr. Bush can take or leave them. There is a world of difference.
We have waited a long time -- much too long -- for this blessed outcome.
