It’s quite amazing to see how the Bush administration has turned that weapons inspector business into a modern equivalent of a witch inquiry - with only slight modifications. In the old days, there was basically no way for people to show that they were no witches. If they survived whatever was done to them that was proof that they were witches. If they didn’t survive… Well, that was too bad. For instance, people used to tie up a suspect and throw her into the river. If she drowned… You get the idea. Bush’ way of dealing with those weapons inspectors is basically the same. First of all, like the witch inspectors, he assumes he’s dealing with somebody who’s guilty (which, btw, is not exactly the kind of behaviour you’d expect from somebody whose jurisdiction follows democratic rules…). And the inspection will just show that Hussein is guilty. If they don’t find anything bad that’s just sign that he’s guilty because he’s hiding the stuff. If they find something he’s guilty, too.
Of course, we shouldn’t feel too sorry with somebody like Hussein but I think we should expect slightly higher standards and a more civilized behaviour from the person who is supposed to be the leader of the free world. And I’m not even going to mention all those double standards involved here. So expect a war on Iraq. The decision has been long made and as Bush’s approval ratings haven’t been that great lately there would be a nice side-effect. Plus, for a while people will stop wondering why all those grandiose tax cuts schemes won’t help the economy (hint: check out Economy 101…).