War at last? Cold war

War at last? The headlines from summer 1914 have not reappeared, not even in the United States. The “old“ Europe feels far superior to the United States without being able to forget about its own minimal political and military power. The bitter reaction to President Bush's relentlessness feeds on two sources. The anti-war Europeans' reproach that the United States is breaking away from the rule of sole international law with its war against Saddam Hussein cannot be cast aside that easily. But it also includes an admission of the Europeans' own defeat.
War is now a reality, and liberals must immediately begin campaigning for a more ambitious, comprehensive and compassionate reconstruction of Iraq than the one the Bush administration is likely to embrace.
· Preemptive war [FAZ]