re: Veto
If the french hadn't said in advance they would veto a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq, then, the day the resolution would have been voted, they would have vetoed it and I don't see what difference it would have made.
It's true the press knew that when Bush sent all the troops in the neighbouring Arab countries, it also deduced the US was going to invade Iraq, no matter what happened at the Security Council. It would have been too humiliating for Bush to withdraw without invading.
It was child's play for the French to humiliate the US at the Security Council after Powell's february 5th 2003 presentation as they knew the US had no real evidence to show the world. But it also hurt the French more then they admit it.
Raoul