We often hear complaints that Bush's war in Iraq was necessary because Saddam wouldn't allow inspectors into Iraq. The truth of the matter is that inspectors were in Iraq and as late as March 7, 2003 had praised Iraq's improved cooperation. In fact, inspectors noted that their work would be complete in merely a matter of months. According to Hans Blix:
"They are nevertheless welcome and UNMOVIC is responding to them in the hope of solving presently unresolved disarmament issues," he stressed, adding that with a proactive Iraqi stance it would take "not years, nor weeks, but months" to resolve the key remaining disarmament tasks, which he said he would present to the Council before the end of this month.''
Why the rush to war in the face of this encouraging news from the UN inspectors? One possibility is that Bush knew his lying about the WMDs would be exposed if he allowed the UN inspectors to complete their work.
