Cheat And Retreat, for The Umpteenth Time

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DEADLINE. AND ANOTHER backdown by Saddam Hussein, for what seems like the zillionth time. This time the Iraqi dictator had moved surface-to-air missiles into position to shoot down allied planes enforcing the no-fly zone established by the U.N. over southern Iraq. That provoked yet another Western ultimatum, this one joining the U.S., Britain, France and Russia. Its essence: get those missiles out by 5:30 p.m. New York time Friday (exactly 48 hours after the ultimatum was put in the hands of Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan), or else. The clear implication was that the...