With Iraq’s well-documented history on biological and chemical weapons, why should any of us give Iraq the benefit of the doubt?” This is a question posed to the United Nations by Secretary of State Colin Powell in his Feb. 5 speech regarding Iraq.

Prior to his speech, the question certainly would have been: What well-documented history? However, for the first time, Powell and the Bush administration have produced a convincing case for future action against the Iraqi regime. Using satellite photos, recovered documents regarding nuclear programs and tape recorded transmissions of senior officials in Iraq’s elite military force, Powell finally outlined the reasons that Saddam Hussein is a threat and why Iraq is in violation of U.N. Resolution 1441 — a resolution that describes Iraq’s disarmament obligations.

The most substantial evidence Powell brought to the table was the recordings of various members of Hussein’s military force. Messages such as “make sure there is nothing there” and “we evacuated everything, we don’t have anything left” were intercepted by the American government. These messages make it apparent that there are things that the Iraqis do not want the U.N. inspectors to see, in all likelihood due to the items obvious violation of not only Resolution 1441, but also of the 1991 Resolution 687 that forbids Iraq to possess weapons of mass destruction.

Some of the more alarming evidence presented in the speech revolves around the harboring of chemical and biological weapons. According to Powell, Iraq admitted to producing four tons of VX, a nerve agent that can kill with a single drop in a matter of minutes. In addition, Iraq admitted to having 8,500 liters of anthrax in 1995, which again put them at odds with Resolution 687. Dr. Hans Blix, chief U.N. weapons inspector, says that Hussein has not produced this weapon nor has he offered convincing evidence that this biological agent was ever destroyed.

Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will return to Iraq this weekend for further inspections. They are scheduled to report back to the council on Feb. 14.

Powell’s argument before the council pushed the countries with veto power — France, China and Russia — to urge Iraq to fully comply with inspections. For its part, Iraqi presidential advisor Lt. Gen. Amir al-Saadi responded that the evidence sited by Powell was fabricated, according to the Associated Press.

Despite this unsupported contention, the United States has finally postured an articulate ground for pursuing the means necessary — military if must be — to disarm Iraq. Powell, easily the most level-headed member of the Bush administration, has made a veracious case for action.

Editorial Board: Cavan Reagan, Amber Billings, Ayrel Clark, Charlie Weaver, Katie List