Teribus, anyone reading your last post at face value might wonder why you even bother to drag in a justification for "desirable" regime change, given that it's a weak justification, and in any case, as I said in my preceding post, the "coalition" members were signed up to eschew regime change as a basis for war.

But take away regime change and you're left depending on 1441. And I can see you might feel a twinge of uncertainty on that score. No wonder. In a desperate pitch to get waverers on board, and speaking speaking with the full authority of the US government, John Negroponte on November 8 last year assured the UNSC that 1441 contained "no hidden triggers" and no "automaticity" with respect to war. It was in the light of that clarification that member states adopted 1441. Therefore it is disingenous retrospectively to accord 1441 the status of a war ultimatum.