Kofi Annan hands a huge propaganda victory to Iraq, although even this report concedes that an unconditional acceptance of weapons inspectors is not forthcoming. This sort of thing is a classic example of the folly of the whole regime of weapons inspections and economic embargoes in the first place; it’s really not feasible to police a nation. Either Iraq’s government is an outlaw regime that can not be trusted with the prospect of weapons of mass destruction and must be toppled, or it is a sovereign state with every right to defend itself. There is no workable middle ground between war and peace; there wasn’t when the European powers tried to disarm Germany in the 1920s without the will to invade if Germany re-armed, and there isn’t now. I’m for war with Iraq; but if you are at peace with the current regime and wish to stay that way, why even go through this stupid, pointless charade?