Leaders Declare That Diplomatic Effort at U.N. Ends on Monday

President Bush and the leaders of Britain and Spain issued an ultimatum to the United Nations Security Council today, declaring that the diplomatic effort to win support for disarming Iraq would end on Monday. They made it clear that they were ready to start a war to depose Saddam Hussein, with or without the endorsement of the United Nations.
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Let's see — if the diplomacy is successful, we will have a war. If the diplomacy is not successful, we will have a war. Am I missing something?

With Ears and Eyes Closed
Bob Herbert

The president's mind was made up long ago and all the chatter pro and con was just so much smoke in the wind. Mr. Bush will have his war.

Last night was a time of sadness around the world as people who think that war should always be a last resort lit candles to express their sorrow, their frustration and, however unrealistically, their last faint flickerings of hope.  
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Bush Has Audacious Plan to Rebuild Iraq Within Year

The Bush administration's audacious plan to rebuild Iraq (news - web sites) envisions a sweeping overhaul of Iraqi society within a year of a war's end, but leaves much of the work to private U.S. companies, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.
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This is complete lunacy.

Powell will take the rap for failed diplomacy

Recrimination at the failure of US diplomacy has begun in Washington, one source close to the administration admitting yesterday: "This has been the worst American diplomatic debacle of our lifetime."
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Let the blame begin.