It’s not easy being the world’s policeman. Especially when the world aids and abets the bad guys.

So it is for the United States and Great Britain, two nations ready and willing to put its military personnel in harm’s way to eliminate Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Two nations, incidentally, not threatened by those weapons of mass destruction.

Here’s the gist of the Mother of All Repetitive News Stories: The United Nations says Saddam Hussein really ought to comply with the terms of the cease fire that kept his country from being turned into one big gravel pit seven years ago. The U.S. and Britain say they’ll use force if he doesn’t. Saddam says maybe he will, maybe he won’t. The United Nations says Saddam Hussein really ought…

Then there’s the exasperating sidebars. France wants to get tough with Iraq, as long as it doesn’t interfere with oil deals. Yeltsin, in a reverie about the days when Russia mattered and had its own oil, warns that the enforcement of U.N. sanctions could set off World War III (a comment surely clipped and saved by anti-U.N. head cases everywhere). Arafat suspends his worrying about the peace process to lead a down-with-Israel parade, complete with Scud missile floats.

And remember how the world chortled a month or so ago when Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz said the whole thing was just a big Anglo-Saxon conspriracy? Turns out not everyone thought it was goofy. Saudi Arabia now says it views Saddam with alarm, but it won’t allow any attacks to originate from its soil because of some Arab-Muslim unity thing.

In short, the prevailing global opinion is that something must be done about Iraq, as long as the blood ends up on the hands of the Great Anglo Satans. The U.S. and Britain, sensing an ambush, have backpedalled from planning to drop something large, heavy and highly explosive on Saddam’s head to destroying his chemical and biological weapons capabilities to merely denting them.

Perhaps it’s time to remind the Arab world that Saddam has used these hideous weapons twice before, both times against Arab people. Perhaps the oil-hungry should think about what the petroleum market would be like with a certifiable lunatic in control. Perhaps Washington and London should calculate the flight range of a Scud and tell those within reach to give a holler when they’re worried enough to do something.

Of course that won’t happen. The U.S. and Britain are far too devoted to duty, the uniform, the badge, to let to this homocidal maniac get away with it. The cops will move in and bust some heads. The world will breathe a private sigh of relief as it blubbers on in public about excessive force. It’s a tough job, but it’s not one somebody’s got to do. It’s one everybody’s got to do.