WASHINGTON -- Two big questions have dominated Washington this week. When will this horrible, cold winter end? And when will the war in Iraq begin? While they are different subjects with different consequences, they are getting about equal time in the capital's conversation content.
As of mid-February we had experienced the coldest winter since 1997 and the third coldest in the past 30 years. And the recent snowstorm must have set some kind of a snowfall record. The fact is, we have been spoiled by the recent pattern of warmer than normal winters. Clearly, the drought that had raised alarms last summer has been rained and snowed out by now. Weather is one thing that will always change with time.
But the important question of war and peace is not as easy to answer today as it might have seemed a month ago, or even a couple of weeks ago. Not long ago, it seemed that time was on the side of U.S. President George W. Bush as he continued to apply pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and world leaders increasingly insisted on a U.N. program of disarmament and rigorous inspection.