On the Right

National Review, May 19, 2003 by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Mr. Bush has begun the trading, nodding to the U.N. to say it was now time to lift the sanctions imposed during the armistice. Their purpose was to deprive Saddam Hussein of all of the income he would have had from the sale of that much of his oil as he had not succeeded in burning up in the last, spiteful days in 1991 before the U.S. victory. What then happened, in the ensuing years, was a relaxation of the ban, designed to permit revenue sufficient to buy food and medicine -- the oil-for-bread program. There followed then an extravasation of Iraqi oil, via tankers and pipelines, with Syria a major purchaser and middleman.

We get to certain refinements of the question: What is to be done about contracts involving oil, or material for extracting and refining it? Many of these, we know inexactly, are obligations incurred by Saddam to Russia and France. France is a substantial creditor, shipping goods and materiel to Saddam, resulting in a debt. Of Saddam? Or of Iraq?

If there were a Solomon on the scene, he might decree that the cost of bringing Saddam down -- $50 billion, to use a round figure -- should be passed around with some reference to the per capita wealth of beneficiary nations, and to their proximity to Iraq. The closer you are, the greater your benefit from the neutralization of Iraq. "A" for close geographic propinquity -- Turkey, for instance; "B" if a nation is within 500 miles; "C" within 1,000 miles, "D" further away. As for relative wealth, put down "I" for Rich (Saudi Arabia), "II" for Moderately Rich (Iran), "III" for Poor (Egypt).

Thus Germany would contribute as a B-I nation, along with France; Russia, B-II, Saudi Arabia, A-1, Syria, A-2, the U.S. and Japan, D-1, Egypt, A-3. The exact classification of individual nations is a subject the United Nations could profitably study, using all its resources to calculate wealth, and a simple atlas to reckon proximity.

On the matter of Mr. Blix and his weapons inspection, the operation could now be cancelled, sparing the U.N. that expense. Mr. Rumsfeld put it wisely when he said we will no longer look for WMD sites, we will look for people who tell us where they are. Their location can then be relayed to the U.N., for their files.

-- Universal Press Syndicate