FROM THE UNDERMINE-ANY-WAY-POSSIBLE DEPARTMENT

Bush tells us that so far the current inspection process in Iraq is "not encouraging":

"The inspectors are not in Iraq to play hide-and-seek with Mr. Saddam Hussein," the president said Monday in a get-tough speech at the Pentagon, his first extensive comment on the United Nations weapons inspections since they got underway last week.

"In the inspections process, the United States will be making one judgment: Has Saddam Hussein changed his behavior of the last 11 years? Has he decided to cooperate willingly and comply completely, or has he not? So far the signs are not encouraging," Bush said.

First of all, I thought "weapons inspectors" are supposed to "inspect for weapons". This IS a game of hide-and-seek, that's the entire idea. They aren't there to stick Saddam on a couch and psychoanalyze them. They're there to conduct surprise visits to various factories and installations in Iraq.

But to be fair, what evidence is Bush citing to make this claim?

As evidence, he noted that Saddam's regime has recently fired upon American and British pilots patrolling no-fly zones over Iraq and has responded to United Nations disarmament demands with "protests and falsehoods."

First of all, firing at patrol planes has been par for the course for a very long time. But the 2nd claim is more curious. Here's how they responded to the UN demands after they were passed: "This is bullshit, this is crap, this is dishonest, the west will descend into a pit of fire . . . I accept". The operative part is "I accept". Any nutty dictator like Saddam (or Qaddafi, Kim Jong Il, etc) is bound to spout rhetoric like that, again that's par for the course, just take the bottom line and move on.

It really doesn't matter what goes on with the inspections, or how successful they are, this is about undermining the process. That's why you get Dubya and Cheney making speeches about this on the same day.