>>Your memory is faulty - the U.N. weapons inspectors were *IN* Iraq and able to get into anywhere they wished, sometimes after a bit of a bluster from Saddam.
>>The inspectors were told to leave for their own safey by the U.S. as the first bombing was imminent.
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>I believe that assessment is incorrect. I wouldn't characterize it as able to get into anywhere they wanted, after a slight delay. They were significantly hampered.

But they always did, eventually, get to get into wherever they were delayed. Even the palaces.

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>However, the conclusion we drew from that was also incorrect. We thought Saddam was behaving that way because he was hiding something. I think he was trying to hide from his internal and external enemies that he didn't have any WMDs.

It was premature to draw conclusions from the inspector's activities. President Bush wanted to war and he got impatient.