The postwar era is suddenly upon us, arriving like a weekend guest on a Thursday train, sooner than expected. No longer are topics like collective security, political reform and assuaging popular fury in the Middle East the stuff of theoretical rumination. Instead, they are the pressing matters of the day, and their disposition will ultimately determine the region's shape far more than did last week's redrawing of the line that separates Iraq from Kuwait.
In the Middle East, political victories are as important as military ones, and often harder to achieve. Last week President Bush promised there would be "no solely...