Reply #90: Yes and no

[kiahzero]

Actual WMDs would be violations of the ceasefire that the Iraqis signed that ended Gulf War I. And I'm sorry, but Iraq does not have the authority to do "as it pleased within its own borders." Binding international law supersedes national sovereignty. Otherwise, what would be the point?

I agree that this was a ass-backwards method of enforcing UN policy, and I never liked that angle. But the unfortunate fact is that the UN is not as powerful as it should be, and it doesn't always act when it needs to (Kosovo comes to mind, as does Rwanda). If I were writing the legislation, I probably would not have included that passage... with that being said, given the fact that it is juxtaposed with a position that the Democrats were taking at the time (that war should only happen as a last resort), I feel comfortable speculating that the two were added as a mutual compromise.