Corruption was rampant at upper levels. Who exactly was making sure the lower echelon was honest? An honest statement would be more along the lines that there is no proof the lower echelon was bribed. On the other hand, I'm not saying they were, it's just that a culture of corruption is generally contagious. The only one I wonder about strongly is a certain US citizen who for some reason went from screaming about Saddam's lack of cooperation to concluding he had no wmd without a reversal in Saddam's policy of obstruction. It is that policy which you obstinantly ignore that is the crux of the matter. The UN team said they found no evidence of wmd not that Saddam didn't have any for sure. They also noted that they NEVER got full cooperation.

The US position was simple, cooperate 100% or we'll make sure you don't have a wmd program. That is the only policy that could gaurantee Saddam had no wmd. It's one that would have probably worked without war if France, Russia, and China would have put eliminating Saddam's wmd for sure above personal and national profit. While I agree that based on what we know now the war was a msitake, I blame those countries far more than Bush because I'd make the same choice with the same pre-war information. History shows that the consequences of underestimating a tyrant are worse than over estimating him (GW2 vs WW2). Unfortunately most US citizens and apparently most European ones dislike history class. All the post WW2 vows to never tolerate such tyranny and genocide again are laughable given recent history. Europe and the UN have 0 will to stop either without US leadership and have frequently pulled in the other direction when self interest stands in the way.

Regards,
Mark