Bob Kerrey: “the world witnessed a diplomatic success in United Nation's Secretary General Kofi Annan's trip to Baghdad last weekend.…”

“the world witnessed a diplomatic success in United Nation's Secretary General Kofi Annan's trip to Baghdad last weekend. We saw a successful conclusion to an episode that has been and probably will continue to be a very long drama of confrontation with Iraq. This success is not due solely to Mr. Annan's considerable powers of persuasion. Mr. Annan's mission was backed by force--by the real, credible potential for violent punishment from U.S. forces if a diplomatic solution was not achieved. He said this about his successful negotiations: ``You can do a lot with diplomacy, but of course you can do a lot more with diplomacy backed up by firmness and force.'' It takes nothing away from Mr. Annan's success to note he shares star billing as a peacemaker with the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines of the United States. The smile of diplomacy combined with the force of the gun has produced an offer from Baghdad to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into sites previously denied to them by the Iraqi government. For the moment there is hope that air strikes to reduce Iraq's capacity to use weapons of mass destruction will not be needed. Gratefully, for now, we will not again be witnesses to the necessary violence of combat. The images of war, which increasingly shape and limit our national tolerance for war, will thankfully not supplant Seinfeld on our TV screens this week. And yet our gratitude for peace is not entirely satisfying. A sour taste remains in our mouths.…”