[Fabozz]

"Saddam would be truly dumb not to destroy his al Samoud missiles."

Yeah, this refusal is mind-boggling. Saddam is evil, not crazy or stupid. What on Earth can he be thinking? These al-Samouds are virtually meaningless to his warfighting ability—they're converted SA-2 SAMs, with a payload equivalent to maybe ten artillery shells. Heck, if Saddam were really smart he'd have built these toys simply to have something to give up. If he let Blix take them away, the "peace in our time" crowd would almost unquestionably carry the day, and any threat of war within the next year (at least) would vanish overnight, buying him time to finish his nuke.

Brining down Saddam over the al-Samoud is like busting Al Capone for tax evasion. If it gets the job done, well, so be it, but the whole situation is faintly absurd.

[WOSG]

Saddam is quite rational. he determined, correctly, that we will attack in any case, missiles or no. at most destroying the missiles buys him a few weeks. once the UN resolution is passed - or not - we go in.

Saddam would have to destroy *all* his weapons to avoid war.

And he wont do it. His only chance is to hang on france and germany.