Latest news from CNN indicates the Iraqis are going to stand pat with their earlier nonsense that they have no WMDs.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/11/25/iraq.inspectors/index.html

It's hard to believe the Iraqis are going to be this stupid. Their best ploy is to claim they are victims of American propaganda and the alledged WMD factories are innocent industrial sites, i.e. pharmaceutical and baby formula factories. They would then hand Blix reams of data concerning "dual use" sites and leave him and the UN inspectors running around like headless chickens. If their best tactic is to simply stonewall Blix claiming the WMDs are total fiction then the Iraqi leaders really are a bunch of imbeciles.

I'm reminded of the "nightmare scenario" prior to the Persian Gulf war. After our big military buildup in Saudi Arabia but shortly before kicking the Iraqis out of Kuwait, the American leadership was very worried the Iraqis would loot Kuwait of everything that was portable, announce to the world media that they were going to "give peace a chance" and then simply withdraw from Kuwait with their military power intact to reinvade. The US military coallition would have immediately evaporated. The Americans would have been left standing alone, foolishly holding their private parts. This was the obvious tactic but Saddam was either too stupid or evil to see it. I wonder if history is about to repeat itself?

Gary