At this point Iraq is, for each of us, a gut call. We probably
have as much information and hard data as we're going to get.
There are different ways to interpret the evidence, to
understand the peril. No one can prove containment will work in
the future, for instance, and no one can prove that it won't.
There will be a price to pay if we invade. There will be a price
to pay if we don't. And ultimately you have to go with your
instinct, your gut sense of the world and of men.  George W.
Bush looks at fact patterns, as they say, and does not shrink
from coming to conclusions if he thinks the facts demand them.
This can't be said of all political leaders. Coming to a
conclusion means having to take a stand. Taking a stand is
dangerous. They would rather observe the drama from a distance
(a distance that may not hold, for the drama may come to them)
and, if it ends happily, come forth to say this is indeed what
they hoped for, what they quietly helped. The success of the
American operation was, we feel, partly t