Assuming we can still pull back from an assault on Iraq...how do we then proceed? Are inspections meaningful?
Yes

If American firepower is withdrawn from the region, will Saddam simply kick the inspectors out?
No, the world would immediately know about it.

If the threat of attack on the US has been exagerrated, then approximately where does the level of threat lie?
Inside Iraq itself, but that's not the UN role to solve it.

Can we afford to trust that absence of evidence is, in fact, evidence of absence?
And what about other countries with dictators? Same applies everywhere.

What does the US need to do to make itself less hated in the world? Do we need to pull back from the international stage?
Of course not
Do we need to curtail military aid to Israel?
That is IMO the biggest mistake of the current US administration: to have ignored and neglected the Palestinians. When I realized Bush was meeting Sharon over and over without ever meeting Arafat, I thought this would in no way help to solve the problem

Do we need to get ourselves out of Saudi Arabia?
Not necessarily ; talk to them, find a compromise

Do we need, essentially, to get ourselves out of the ROW?
I wonder how: we all live on the same planet and all need each other.

What concrete steps do we have to take?
Give the Palestinians a sense of dignity and respect. They are human beings too.

Raoul