[jimbob]

Primitive said

AFAIK the inspectors was satisfied (not happy) with the progress made so far, and wanted to continue the search for WMDs. Finding anything in a country like Iraq where official records are sketchy at best, will always take time. Much more time than GWB was willing to give.

Hmm... but how much time is reasonable Primitive?UN checks over the period of several months is likely required for a good investigation, but does anyone think that the current government of Iraq would have cooperated over a period of months without the ready and apparent threat of force? Was GDubbyaB "unwilling to give this much time", or is it just too flipping expensive to give that much time when a lot of time had already been given i.e. about a decade.

1) Can anyone honestly believe that diplomacy could have worked without threat of force?

2) Does anyone honestly believe that Sadam's regime would disarm through diplomacy alone, given the prior track record?

If so, why does anyone believe 1) or 2)? Give me some reasons that are sound, not just more anti-American rhetoric about international law. I for one am willing to believe that there was another way, but I can not (yet) see any other way from my perspective.