Talk, talk, fight, fight. Mao's technique. An old tactic of oppressive regimes when they get stuck in a crack is to start making noises like they might give in if they just have enough time to work something out in negotiations. North Viet Nam played this card like a pro for many years, knowing they could outlast us and with no intention on Earth of making a working peace.

Saddam is playing for time, which is on his side. It would take months to get the inspection program going, and then he just has to stay one step ahead of them again. He knows full well that the anti-war factions are going to leap on this as a reason to stand down indefinitely. With luck, Bush will have his teeth pulled, and his only problem will be how to hose the inspectors, a familiar situation.

Weapons "inspections" in a country where Saddam is still in power will not locate anything useful. Believe me, he's got the goods socked away where we're not going to get at it. My guess is buried underneath various kindergartens in the middle of a city somewhere. With Saddam out of power, and his organization broken, the goods will slowly be uncovered or revealed by scientists sick of the whole mess.

The good news is that if Saddam thought he could beat us, or even survive the attempt, he wouldn't be doing this.