<French] Armed forces chief General Jean-Pierre Kelche said an attack would bring chaos, adding: "We have to take him at his word."

This, to me, crosses the line into negligence and/or dereliction. If it weren't coming from a soldier, I'd chalk it up to childlike innocence.

A senior European Union official implied that the US was now out of line, saying: " The question now is whether the Americans will take 'yes' for an answer."

This, on the other hand, is just simply meanspirited. I can only hope that this official spoke without having all the details.

Saddam isn't offering cooperation. What he's done is say "See, I can spit in your eye from here..."

It would be comical if it didn't so strongly indicate a continuing disdain for the rest of the world.

All he's gotta do is come clean. I guess there's never been a real shortage of evidence indicating Saddam is seriously unbalanced (read a biography--yikes!), but here once again he's toying with war. All he's gotta do is deal in good faith with the UN...not even with the US, just with the UN, with people who are more than willing to cut him some slack even when he behaves like the street thug he is.