The Middle East can greatly benefit from the re-entry of Iraq into the international community under a new leadership. The United States should take the lead in making this happen.
The tragic events of September 11 changed much in Washington. The debate on US policy toward Iraq was about to be joined at the highest levels of the administration. The destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon raised the intensity of arguments both for seeking a military confrontation with Iraq and for building an international coalition to deal with the potential threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists.
Coalition partners already either opposed to US policy towards Iraq or growing weary of its demands, became essential both to the war effort in Afghanistan and in dealing in an effective and pro-active manner with terrorist cells and money conduits elsewhere.
