o me of little faith

About ten days ago I lamented that the rope-a-dope strategy—which has served this President so well—had been effectively nullified for the present political season. Perhaps that remains true on the domestic front; but in the world of diplomacy it appears to still be working its magic.

Here's David Warren from last week:

Yesterday, in defiance of all pessimists, Iraq resumed its life as a sovereign country, in a manner no one outside Iraq has the right to gainsay. We have a secular Shia prime minister (Iyad Alawi), and a ceremonial Sunni President (Ghazi al-Yawar). Both are acceptable to all reasonable parties, including the United States. We have a ministry of all the talents, such as they are: with every available regional, ethnic, and religious affiliation. […]

No one else will say this, so I will. The Bush administration has handled the transfer of power in Iraq more cleverly than anyone expected, including me. The summoning of the U.N. envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, looked like very bad news (a poisonous old Arab League chauvinist who brokered the sell-out of Lebanon to Syria in 1982). In grim moments, I believed the Bush people were cynically using him to wash their hands of Iraq, and as it were, dump the quagmire back in the swamp of the U.N. Instead, they froze the ground beneath Brahimi's feet, and skated rings around him, haggling behind his back with Iraq's new political heavyweights to leave him endorsing a fait accompli. If it were not vulgar, I would say the Bushies suckered the U.N. into signing on to the New Iraq through Brahimi.

Even so, as recently as last weekend it appeared that Britain and the United States might be in for yet another tussle at the Security Council. But then the other shoe dropped.

The exchange of letters between Iraq's new prime minister Iyad Allawi and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell broadly outlines the relationship between Iraqi and U.S.-led multinational forces after the occupation of Iraq ends. The letters will be included as annexes to a U.S.-British draft resolution under debate in the Security Council that will endorse the handover of sovereignty and authorize the multinational force to remain in Iraq to help provide security.

Allawi told the U.N. Security Council that his government will retain sole control of the country's armed forces and work in “full partnership” with the multinational force to coordinate joint military operations and security policy through a variety of new bodies. Powell said U.S.-led troops “will coordinate with Iraqi security forces at all levels.”

In sum: First the UN's point man is persuaded to support an interim government not of his choosing. Then the prime minister of that new government signs a memorandum of understanding with the United States concerning the status of Coalition forces: another fait accompli. Under such circumstances, the dissenting powers within the Security Council (led by France, naturally) had little room to manuver; and late this afternoon it became official, when the Council passed the resolution 15-0.

A diplomatic tour de force. Or to put it another way: It's zen, man.

MORE: Before President Bush's trip to Europe last week, Stephen Den Beste worried that French President Jacque Chirac would use the occasion to embarrass his guest—justifiably so, as Chirac has pulled exactly this sort of stunt in the past.

It didn't happen. I watched Saturday's news conference with the two Presidents, and if Chirac was at some pains to portray the Gauls as champions of national sovereignty (so long as said nations are outside the EU, of course), he was nonetheless well-behaved. The old fox clearly knew which way the winds were blowing.

The most memorable part of the news conference was this:

QUESTION [from the French press]: Thank you, sir. I would have a question for Mr. Bush. Once, President Kennedy said, “Everyone has two countries, their own, and France.” And why is it that your policy tends to be pushing your country and France to divorce?

Second point, some in public opinion have accused you of state terrorism, and do you not believe that what has happened in Abu Ghraib has put you in the same basket, as it were, of Saddam Hussein, especially in the eyes of an international tribunal, and especially in light of the unfound weapons of mass destruction?

PRESIDENT BUSH: To paraphrase President Kennedy, there's America, and then there's Texas.

Reason #7,423 to vote R in November.