Iraq

IT IS TOO SOON to start debating the fortunes of war, in a military sense. The conflict has barely begun. American and British forces have driven deep into Iraq, have run into some resistance, have paused. More soldiers are on their way in. It's not at all clear whether this is a momentary catching of breath, or the edges of the bog. But in just the first week, the nature of this war has revealed itself, and that's not likely to change. Iraqis have greeted American troops with what seems like studied ambiguity.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's statement to the U.N. Security Council was a compelling case for intensifying international inspection, but not war. There is no question that the Iraqis are in material breach of more than a dozen U.N. resolutions, including Resolution 1441, and that they husband stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons. But it is also true that Mr. Hussein is in no position to further develop, let alone deploy, these weapons so long as international monitoring and U.S.-British military forces remain active.

I was pleased when the U.S. won its war against Iraq, which hopefully meant the establishment of the first democratic nation in the Middle East. That would be an accomplishment for the whole world to behold. The outcome placed Iraq in the category with earlier battle victims — Germany after World War I, Japan after World War II and South Korea after the Korean Conflict — where she was subject to having a U.S. standing army to assure and protect the establishment of a government by and for the people.

Iraq is rapidly disintegrating and Republicans are suddenly outdoing themselves trying to imply that their hearts are in the right place on this war and they're prepared to do what needs to be done. No specifics, of course, but that doesn't really matter - because their credibility on this is in tatters anyway. October was the deadliest month for American troops since January 2005, when the typical monthly toll was elevated by a plane crash. A Pentagon assessment reported in The New York Times says the country is slipping toward chaos with each passing week.

BUREAUCRATS who stuff their pockets with money intended to mitigate the suffering of the hard-pressed Iraqi people are a disgrace. It was true when Saddam Hussein was in power and the United Nations was directing the oil-for-food program - and it is true today. The latest investigative report into the United Nations' aid project - which was designed to cushion ordinary Iraqis from the effects of U.N. sanctions - provided dismaying new evidence of criminal conduct. That the United Nations should prove so susceptible to corruption is bad enough, but that the corrupt officials were essentially in cahoots with the Iraqi regime is despicable.

In reference the events of April 19, in which an explosion in Iraq killed at least 30 people, according to media accounts, it brought much sorrow to my heart. In my opinion, it could have been avoided if President Barack Obama had not withdrawn all of our troops from Iraq by the end of 2011, which was obviously a political ploy to please the general public in order to strengthen his position in the upcoming election of 2012. I strongly believed the U.S. should maintain a standing military force in Iraq to assure that a people's democracy would remain in operation there to prevent civil wars, and to eliminate the creeping influence of Iran, al Qaida, and the Taliban.

Gov. Martin O'Malley called a press conference from an unexpected location Friday: Baghdad, Iraq, where he arrived on an early morning flight as part of a Pentagon-sponsored tour. In a conference call with reporters, the governor said he spent the day meeting and dining with troops and gaining insight into the war-zone lifestyle that should be useful in his role as leader of 6,300 troops of the Maryland National Guard. "The reason I'm here is because it's important to the Department of Defense and it's important to our country that our governors stay engaged, given the number of National Guard troops" who are deployed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, O'Malley said.

U.S. officials expect a new Iraqi government to be in place within days to guide the country through the decisive selection of an interim government. Here are the five Iraqis who will likely lead that effort.

Iraq has admitted for the first time that large quantities of germ warfare agents were produced in 1989-1990.A high United Nations official in charge of scrapping Iraq's weapons of mass destruction said Baghdad had disclosed its secret program and maintained that the materials were destroyed.Article, 3A

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said today all foreign hostages in Iraq and Kuwait were to be freed, the Iraqi News Agency reports.The agency quoted a letter addressed by Saddam to the country's parliament ordering the removal of all travel restrictions on foreigners.Saddam had said that foreigners would be allowed to leave in batches over three months from Christmas Day.Earlier story on Page A8.