A Good Example

Bill Safire explains why war with Iraq makes war less likely elsewhere:

Kim Jong Il may be crazy but he’s not stupid. With one end of the axis down, his father’s many heroic statues look a little shaky. His South Korean counterpart, Roh Moo Hyun, whose own attitude toward the U.S. has undergone an after-Saddam epiphany, says that Kim was “petrified” by the speedy U.S. victory.

Yesterday, a Washington Post headline read “North Korea Drops Its Demand for One-on-One Talks With U.S.” Although derided as bellicose by Democrats, President Bush’s insistence on Kim’s dealing with a coalition of those concerned may be working out peacefully. Different strokes for different dictators.

Thus may the credible threat of pre-emptive war obviate its carrying-out. Bush officials say that Syria has chemical weapons, has been warehousing Iraqi weapons and