"You get more with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone."

This explains why the UN, which has a never ending supply of kind words, accomplishes very little compared to the US. It shows that intelligence estimates for WMD programs are really educated guesses based on the best possible evidence, but they are far from conclusive facts. It shows that international inspections must be pretty easy to fool. It also shows that Quadiffi, who despite being absolute ruler if Libya for some 20 years, he has never risen past the rank of Colonel, likes both his job and his life. The fact that he entered into negotiations with the US and the UK (but not the UN) last March is hardly a coincidence.