"It's not as if there wasn't a viable option for disarming Iraq."
Oh, you too, huh? Can't wait to hear YOUR brilliant ideas on this.
Judging by the murderous fury of Saddam's myrmidons, most of it expended on their own people, I can really tell they would have been willing to disarm in the face of the stern disapproval of Hans Blix.
The entire U.N. disarmament program was a total tool of the Hussein regime, and right now Blix may be the only person who hasn't noticed that. Which, given his ability to catch clues, is not surprising.