So we now know what the UN inspections already told us, except to really know it, we had to invade a country, defeat its army and depose its leader. This simple and obvious fact seems to escape the revisionists.

What's your point? I just said that, except without your apparent assumption of the U.N.'s infallibility. There was no way the U.N. inspections would have settled these questions, and they already had a sterling record of missing vital information, like the pre-Gulf War nuclear program in Iraq, and in case you missed it, the recent surprises in Libya.

The U.N. is effective as a disarmament force if and only if the nation disarming fully cooperates. South Africa was a good example, and hopefully, Libya will be another one. Iraq was not cooperating.