Issue date: 2/12/03 Section: Opinion

Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the most articulate case yet against Iraq and for this he should be lauded. He had much to show and even more to tell. His presentation was intelligent, engaging and further proof that not only is Iraq not complying with the U.N. Resolution 1441, but the time for action is now.

"I cannot tell you everything we know," Powell was quoted as saying according to Fox News. "But what I can share with you is deeply troubling." Indeed it was. Powell unleashed his evidence in a brutally revealing look at the current Iraqi regime. Tape recordings, satellite images and intelligence from clandestine sources formed the brunt of his presentation.

U.N. Resolution 1441 requires Iraq to grant unlimited access to any and all buildings and facilities that the U.N. Inspection Team wishes to examine. However, Iraq is not complying.

Satellite images substantiated the United States charge of Iraqi non-compliance. Powell pointed to certain signs on close-up photographs of Iraqi munitions, factories and bunkers. "The two arrows indicate the bunkers are storing chemical munitions. The truck is a decontamination vehicle in case something goes wrong," he said.

But why did the U.N. inspection team not find this? Powell showed a later picture -- the image of the bunkers as they were on Dec. 22, 2002. The signature items of a chemical munitions plant were gone, including the truck. Clearly visible, however, were U.N. vehicles driving up to the gates of the facility. Coincidence? According to Powell, this phenomenon was repeated at nearly 30 different sites. All of this is, of course, in clear violation of U.N. resolution 1441.

Like a teenager in a furious and panicked state stuffing his Playboys under the bed as he hears the turn of the doorknob to his room, Powell revealed that Iraq moved damning materials outside the back door as inspectors walked through the front. Juvenile antics merely prolong the inevitable. Eventually, mother will discover Miss December; eventually, the United Nations will discover stashes of chemical and biological weapons. One hopes that the United Nations will realize that resolutions, like rules, are worthless without consequences for noncompliance.

Powell revealed, in detail, the extent that Iraq and al-Qaida are associated. According to detained members of the terrorist group, Iraq and al-Qaida have been conspiring for the past several years. Their strength has been building, and their resolve has been growing.

Powell made it clear that time has become too expensive for anyone to buy. "Given what we know of his terrorist associations and given his determination to exact revenge on those who oppose him, should we take the risk that he will not some day use these weapons at a time and the place and in the manner of his choosing at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond," Powell said.

The promises of President George W. Bush's State of the Union were not empty. Powell engaged the world and presented the strongest case yet for forceful action in Iraq. His evidence was irrefutable; his poise, honorable. It is with great optimism that one hopes his words did not fall on deaf ears.

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