War, Come Hell or Highwater

As this story made crystal clear, the Bush administration has been consulting with the UN in order to stall for time and promote a facade of restraint and multilateral concern. It's all just window dressing to hide the fact that war has been a foregone conclusion for months now.

Quite blatantly, the war preparations are in full swing: troops are mobilizing, shipping containers have been booked, the suntan lotion's been ordered, carriers are moving into place, and now we hear, via today's NY Times, that the "American military is training furiously and polishing a plan for attacking Baghdad."

Do not be fooled: the appeal to the UN is a front; it's meaningless. If the Bushies can scare up more support, great. But that's largely irrelevant. The decision has been made and the policy has been put into motion: we're going to war, come hell or highwater.