In other Iraq news, the search for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction has officially come to an end. The United Nations has disbanded its weapons inspection unit in Iraq. The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, UNMOVIC, was a key factor in the lead-up to the Iraq War. The inspectors were effectively sidelined and forced to leave when a U.S. attack seemed inevitable. No weapons have been found. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad addressed the White House dismissal of the inspectors in the rush to war.

U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad: “We’ve all learned lessons in hindsight. One would have hoped to have had in both cases more precise information. We have to recognize this took place in the context of post-9/11, where concerns were heightened about the potential of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists.”