The central fact is that the work against proliferation was already proceeding quietly along a broad front when the war began. It would not be surprising if, in historical perspective, this broader anti-proliferation struggle came to be identified as the true purpose of the war. It is a struggle with which the allies can identify: the UK and EU have come to play essential roles in it.

The war in Iraq makes sense once seen as a move in this global struggle. But the global non-proliferation struggle will itself make unambiguous sense only when it reaches fruition in an integrated, unipolar community of the main nuclear powers, working together to undo past proliferations and prevent new ones. This underlines how much remains to be done. What has meanwhile been accomplished makes it realistic to suggest that the rest could soon be under pursuit.

Ira Straus is U.S. coordinator of the Committee on Eastern Europe and Russia in NATO, and a lecturer in Atlantic studies for universities in Europe and Russia.