UN and Iraqi negotiators agreed Tuesday on the details of the impending weapons inspections. The US announced that, as predicted by Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday, the inspections are not sufficient and that the US-Britain resolution in the Security Council will change the terms of the inspections. Iraq immediately announced that it will not cooperate with any new changes to the inspection regime. US objections notwithstanding, the inspections could begin in two weeks.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair says that an international coalition must demand the elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and that demand must be backed by force. He said that failure to act as a coalition will imperil the legitimacy of the United Nations.

The Washington Post put an older, but still interesting item on its front page: the US is targeting a propaganda campaign at Iraqi officers who have been given discretion to launch attacks using weapons of mass destruction. Secretary Rumsfeld testified to the House Armed Services Committee that the US will threaten to unleash its full wrath on any officer using the weapons: "Wise Iraqis will not obey orders to use WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. . . . The United States will make clear at the outset that those who are not guilty of atrocities can play a role in the new Iraq. But if WMD is used, all bets are off." WaPo points out that during the Gulf War, the coalition threatened to topple Hussein if he used chemical weapons. Now that "regime change" is the stated goal, the US must find another deterrent.

So far, no other outlets have picked up this story.