I have found past work of the Washington Post's Walter Pincus to be rhetorically suspect but his article on Iraqi Survey Group Charles Duelfer's final report on Iraq' weapons of mass destruction to the Senate Intelligence Committee admirably candid with respect to Saddam Hussein's unchanging character and compulsion for the most powerful weapons. While most press agencies are spinning Duelfer's testimony as directly contradicting the Bush administration, the president's judgment in early 2002 is just as valid now: Saddam Hussein was a dedicated enemy of the United States with increasing terrorist ties, made no effort to verifiably disprove the WMD case against him, and stood as a senior fellow in the Near East's fetid and terrorist-enabling authoritarian culture. Knowing that Saddam was resigned only to wait before fully reactivating his arsenal, the left's implied suggestion of waiting a few years more for the inevitable danger — perhaps from an Iraq led by the respectively brutal and maniacal Qusai and Udai Hussein — only helps the White House's case.

FUNDAMENTALLY: Whatever qualifications are politically set on Saddam's activities, the Iraqi dictator committed dozens of violations of UNSC Resolution 1441, itself a final warning for dozens and dozens of previous violations on a dozen previous resolutions. And "serious consequences" are just that.

TOTALITY: Key findings of Duelfer's report — damning to Saddam, not the allies — can be found here. Full report here.

THIS STICKS OUT: "Saddam sought to balance the need to cooperate with UN inspections — to gain support for lifting sanctions — with his intention to preserve Iraq's intellectual capital for WMD with a minimum of foreign intrusiveness and loss of face. Indeed, this remained the goal to the end of the regime, as the starting of any WMD program, conspicuous or otherwise, risked undoing the progress achieved in eroding sanctions and jeopardizing a political end to the embargo and international monitoring."

In other words, play dumb, run out the clock, see to it that allies end sanctions and inspections; rearm. An unacceptable risk.

ELSEWHERE: The Washington Times does Duelfer's report justice.