Saddam holds the key to war or peace in Iraq

By granting U.N. inspectors unfettered access to any and all locations, including his palaces, where weapons of mass destruction could be produced or stored, Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein would be assuring his people a peaceful end to a 12-year impasse with the United Nations. But if Saddam displays the same belligerence and intransigence toward the inspectors that resulted their being expelled from Iraq in 1997, he will soon find out that the United States under George W. Bush is a very different country than it was in 1990 under George H.W. Bush, the father.
This President Bush has his finger on the trigger and has left little doubt that he will fire first and ask questions later if Saddam so much as refuses to allow inspectors to enter one of his palaces. We have urged caution and are pleased that the Bush administration sought the support of the United Nations Security Council for a binding resolution requiring Saddam to open his country up to weapons inspectors. While the resolution does not automatically authorize the use of force should the Butcher of Baghdad refuse, Bush has made it clear that the U.S. and its allies, chiefly Britain, will not hesitate to take military action.
At that stage, the president has said, the aim will be to overthrow Saddam Hussein and replace him with someone who understands the importance of adhering to the rule of international law.
Moral obligation
The Iraqi regime must know that this isn't idle chatter from Bush. The president believes he has a moral obligation to make the world safe from tyrants and terrorists and views the Sept. 11. 2001, attack on America's mainland as a defining moment in this nation's history. Bush has made it clear that the world's sole superpower has the responsibility to lead the fight against global terrorism. And while Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaida network remain the primary targets, countries such as Iraq, that have supported terrorist activities and have provided a safe haven for known mass murderers, are also fair game.
Saddam should not mistake Bush's agreeing to work within the framework of the United Nations for weakness. If anything, the White House is betting that Saddam will invite war by not cooperating, by continuing to deny that his country has been producing weapons of mass destruction, both chemical and biological, and by lying about his nuclear capability.
The first contingent of U.N. inspectors arrived in Iraq Monday and by the middle of December hundreds of specialists will be checking out the 700 to 800 inspection targets -- sites possibly associated with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
And while Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, says the U.N resolution makes it clear that no location is off limits, it would behoove the United States, Britain and other countries that have intelligence capabilities to provide the inspectors with more than just speculation as to where these deadly weapons are being produced and stored. Unending fishing expeditions will diminish the credibility of the inspectors and invite conflict.