Powell's delivery
The melodrama of Colin Powell's speech about the threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to al Qaeda has broadened American support for war against Saddam Hussein.
But the cost, from the point of view of the hawks in Washington, is that it has given added credibility to the UN inspectors and their investigations.
It is only a year since Paul Wolfowitz, a leading hawk at the Pentagon, was ordering the CIA to investigate Hans Blix, the chief inspector, in the hope of discrediting him before the UN weapons inspections got off the ground. When the CIA came back empty-handed, Wolfowitz reportedly "hit the ceilingî according to a former State Department official.
Powell's support for the inspection process yesterday made it easier for the US to gather an international coalition in support of a war. But it also reduced the likelihood that Washington could launch a unilateral attack. It will have to wait to see what Dr Blix says when he reports to the UN Security Council on 14 February. If he believes that he is making significant progress in Baghdad then Washington will not be easily able to disregard him.
It may be that it is all too late. President Bush has invested so much of his political capital in the overthrow of
