ONLY THE FIRST STEP:

America unmoved by Iraq offer: Inspections are only part of the solution for the US (Mike Wooldridge, 17 September, 2002, BBC)

Iraq's dramatic offer to readmit weapons inspectors is a climb-down by Saddam Hussein, but so far he has moved down only one step.

President Bush last week laid out an entire slope that the Iraqi leader has to go down.

Disclosing any weapons of mass destruction he has in his possession, or is developing, was only one item on the list.

Others included ending support for terrorism, ending repression of his own people and releasing prisoners still missing from the Gulf War.

Mr Bush has characterised Saddam Hussein as a tyrant.

And with regime change in Iraq the openly stated American goal, the pressure on Baghdad will clearly be maintained.

Here's a guy who listened to the President's whole UN address, not just the part on nuclear weapons. Far too many journalists are being betrayed by their own nuclear fetish into missing the broader implications of the speech. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 17, 2002 12:23 AM