BRUSSELS -- The international community was deeply divided on how to effectively deal with the potential threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Evidence that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein continued to maintain such an arsenal has yet to emerge from the rubble of the recent conflict.
Now, beyond the challenge of restoring order and rebuilding a democratic Iraq for the Iraqi people, the challenge for the international community is to find new ways of dealing effectively with WMD elsewhere in the world, without resorting to the use of force.
Never before have so many fingers been poised to unleash nuclear weapons. In North Korea, the regime has thrown out International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). India and Pakistan, which have both carried out nuclear weapons tests, refuse to allow their weapons to be monitored. And in the Middle East, Israel must be convinced that its long-term interests lie in strengthening nonproliferation and should therefore sign up to the NPT. Moreover, a number of countries seem inclined to give nuclear weapons greater prominence in their military strategy. All these factors are a source of grave concern.