SNIP
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>I would be very happy to see the troops come home without any war. My favorite 2 alternatives to this are Saddam being assasinated by someone within his inner circle or Saddam going into exile. We have been waiting for the assasination for some 12 years now, and Saddam shows no signs of going into exile. Since U.N. inspectors won't work, what is that alternative plan?

Focusing on your last sentence...

That's what I'd like to see the U.N. come up with!
Inspectors, as currently constituted, don't seem to have enough teeth to have a chance to do the job. The U.S. military is currently acting as their teeth, but that seems to be too far away.
Maybe the U.N. could come up with detective/inspectors with Russian/French/German/etc military present and palaces/military installations/government buildings set for forewarned selective demolition for any non-compliance instances. Hell, I don't know. I just know that war is never a real answer to anything!