A reader writes:

You wrote: “If only such an offer had been possible in Iraq in 2003.”

Not only was it possible but it actually happened. I’m astonished at how many people forget that In late 2002 Saddam Hussein, in a letter to Hans Blix, invited UN weapons inspectors back into the country. I remember thinking at the time that we didn’t have to go to war and that this had been all brilliantly played by the Bush administration. This turned out to be quite a naive thought.

Then we went to war anyway.

If Obama exercises restraint here, then we have insight into how he would have handled Iraq in 2003 and it would have been taking yes for an answer when Saddam Hussein capitulated.