CALL EUROPE'S BLUFF :

Go on, call Bush's bluff : If Iraq lets the arms inspectors back in, America's case for war will be exposed as fiction (Hans von Sponeck, July 22, 2002, The Guardian)

Is it really too far-fetched to suggest that the US government does not want UN arms inspectors back in Iraq? Do they fear that this would lead to a political drama of the first order since the inspectors would confirm what individuals such as Scott Ritter have argued for some time, that Iraq no longer possesses any capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction? This indeed would be the final blow to the "war against Iraq" policy of the Bush administration, a policy that no one else wants. The Iraqis would be well advised to seize this opportunity and open their doors without delay to time-limited arms inspectors, thereby confirming that they indeed have nothing to hide.

Why don't we offer to let Saddam have a free and open election--with a free press, opposition parties, universal suffrage--and if he's elected we'll leave him alone. What European can oppose that idea? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 21, 2002 10:49 PM