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To: Original Mad Dog who wrote (6718)	4/10/2003 12:16:27 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7689

From the Wall Street Journal Europe editorial page this morning: April 10, 2003 REVIEW & OUTLOOK Liberation Day Downtown Baghdad yesterday looked like Berlin in 1989. Jubilant Iraqis celebrated the demise of a hated regime. The picture of Saddam Hussein's statue falling to the ground was one for the history books, symbolizing his end, even as his whereabouts remain unclear. Now we'd think this would give France's Jacques Chirac, as the French president famously said not long ago, "a good opportunity to keep quiet." That sounds like good advice as well for Gerhard Schroeder, Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad. This self-declared "camp of peace" used every resource at its disposal to prevent the campaign that brought about these scenes in Baghdad, Basra, Nasiriyah and other Iraqi cities. If France and Russia had gotten their way, Saddam would be running Iraq now. Alas, unlike the coalition troops, Moscow, Paris and Berlin haven't had a good war. The coalition went to an unprecedented extent to spare civilian lives and infrastructure and by any standard, succeeded. Liberation inevitably carries a price. In Iraq, that price has been miraculously and thankfully low thus far. Without batting an eyelid, Mr. Schroeder yesterday hailed the "welcome victory" by U.S. and British forces, who must mop up throughout Iraq after the fall of Baghdad. Mr. Chirac's spokesmen were plotting their response last night when we called, and didn't get back to us. The pro-Putin United Russia party chose an unfortunate day Wednesday to hold the "biggest ever" anti-war demonstration in Moscow; only a few thousand Russians turned out. Mr. Chirac likes to tell others to "keep quiet" -- most recently future EU members from Eastern Europe who wanted Iraq liberated too -- but isn't exactly known for his humility. Unbowed by the turn of events, the French president on Tuesday decided to pontificate about the fate of a postwar Iraq, no matter that France's only contribution to the entire venture consisted of raising the risks and costs for the Americans and British. The United Nations -- "and it alone" -- should run Iraq, Mr. Chirac said, aiming his sights at the White House, which wants to turn over the reins to the Iraqis themselves after the country settles down. The Chirac-Schroeder-Putin trio called their own summit for this weekend in St. Petersburg. Kofi Annan was set to round out the circle, but even the U.N. secretary general knew a lame party when he saw one and pulled out. These three leaders can protest all they want. The din from the celebrations in Iraq will inevitably drown out any further pronouncements they might make. That is as it should be. URL for this article: online.wsj.com