“In late May [22, 2003], the Bush administration persuaded the UN Security Council to end the economic sanctions that had been in place against Iraq for nearly thirteen years, and to grant the United States and Britain an international mandate to occupy and reconstruct Iraq. The administration saw this as a significant diplomatic victory, since France, Germany and Russia–the main opponents of the war, all of whom had long-standing commercial interests in Iraq–voted to support the measure.”
– Todd S. Purdum and The New York Times Staff, A Time of Our Choosing, Page 246