Saddam Hussein has been in unending defiance of the United Nations since shortly after he invaded Kuwait. As part of a negotiated end to hostilities, he agreed to give up his ambitions to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. For over a decade, he has misled, lied, dissembled, distracted, evaded, and otherwise avoided meeting his reponsibilities under that agreement, all while running one of the most brutal dictatorships on the planet.

Last fall, the United Nations, with the acquiescence of France, Germany, Greece and Russia, gave him one final chance to meet his obligations and disarm. He has been in, and continues to be, in material breach of that commitment, in myriad ways, well documented elsewhere. He continues to, in the British phrase, “cock a snoop” at the United Nations.

So why, in defiance of the United Nations and the world, do France, Germany, Russia and Greece continue to help him delay and give him more time to achieve his foul ends?