In case anyone is confused, this is what a stunning diplomatic victory looks like. Notice that this was a unanimous vote recognizing the legitimacy of the Coalition in Iraq, with no requirement to stick to a specific timetable for withdrawal, only for the Iraqi Governing Council to have a plan ready by December 15:

The United States and Britain never wavered in their assessment that sovereignty can't be relinquished until Iraq drafts a new constitution and holds elections.

They agreed, however, to include new provisions urging the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority "to return governing responsibilities and authorities to the people of Iraq as soon as practicable" and calling on the Iraqi Governing Council to provide the Security Council with a timetable for drafting a new constitution and holding elections by Dec. 15.

In the end, there were no nays and no abstentions, not even from Syria, who must have figured that bucking the US so soon after the Gaza bombing would be a bad idea.

This represents an overwhelming victory for the Bush administration and will enhance its prestige both abroad and at home; it pulls the rug out from under those candidates who still talk about how "unilateral" Bush's foreign policy is. Not only did Bush go to the UN repeatedly -- something Clinton never did for any of his Balkans adventures -- but in the end he forced them to ratify the result of American-British policy, and unanimously at that. It is an utter defeat for Germany and France, whose pre-war strategy of setting themselves up as rival diplomatic power is in tatters, thanks to Bush's adept alliance with Putin. Most of all, it is a victory for the Iraqi people, whom the UN had cynically consigned as chattel to one of the world's worst dictators.

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