Breaking news from the Associated

Breaking news from the Associated Press:
“The head of the U.N. nuclear agency will tell the Security Council next week that his inspectors need more time in Iraq, but that Saddam Hussein gets ‘quite satisfactory’ grades for his cooperation, an agency spokesman said Friday. ‘Their report card will be a B,” International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told The Associated Press.”
Meanwhile, “a senior U.S. official said the Bush administration is weighing the option of extending U.N. weapons inspections in an effort to placate European allies and Russia.”
I can imagine worse news, but it isn’t easy. If the Administration knuckles under now, its support will bleed away. With tens of thousands of men en route for the Gulf, I don’t understand how we can accede to months more of inspections. Moreover, the inspections process is obviously endless, and if we admit the principle that war can be triggered only by the recommendation of the inspectors, we may as well bring the troops home now and forget about it. If this report is true, it’s a dark day.