The United Nations and representatives of the Hussein regime agreed on inspections of Iraqi weapons sites including dual use civilian/military sites.
Sounds like a victory, right?
Except by doing this, Saddam gets a free ride. Unless the UN passes a resolution mandating certain standards for inspections, there’s no force behind the inspectors. That’s why the US State Department is demanding no inspections without resolutions to give them force. Naturally enough, Iraq doesn’t want anything that would force them to actually allow the inspectors effective access.
Unfortunately, I doubt that any of these inspections will accomplish anything. It is clear that Iraq is hoping to stall the process or agree to ineffectual inspections while they gather enough material to finish their nuclear program. No doubt that inspectors will be banned from touring "Presidential palaces" or "religious sites" where Iraq’s WMD programs will be running just as before.
The only way to guarantee that Iraq is not developing weapons of mass destruction is to have an inspection force that is little removed from an invasion. Each palace must be searched to the foundations and any weapons productions facilities must be completely destroyed. Yet that is unlikely to happen as long as Saddam Hussein remains in power.
