by the Economist

About the author: The Economist is a weekly newspaper that provides analysis of world business and current affairs.

Patience is a special virtue if you are searching for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. For months, [British prime minister] Tony Blair and George [W.] Bush have urged the world to wait for the findings of their weapons sleuths before accusing them of making a dishonest case for ousting Saddam Hussein. That team, it now seems, has found, well, not much.1 No matter, some British and American officials imply: the war is won, and there are bigger things to worry about. They are wrong: on the vindication of the pre-war claims about Iraq's illegal arsenal hangs public trust in government; the practicality of the doctrine of pre-emptive war; and much...