Why the war started . . . .

A UN source said Mr Blix would produce "a mixed bag" at the UN headquarters in New York, giving Iraq plus points for access and for addressing some of the complaints he raised last month, but also stressing that serious problems remain.

The US and Britain will jump on the negatives and begin circulating a draft second resolution next week. They aim to speed up the march to war, with a resolution in place by the end of February.

A UN security council source said yesterday that the resolution could contain a deadline, possibly as short as 48 or 72 hours for full Iraqi compliance. That could mean war by early March. The source said the resolution "would light the fuse".

Picture this, 20 years from now -

"Daddy, why did WWIII start?"

1) Well son, it was the overflights by U-2 spyplanes. Although Iraq agreed to allow overflights, it sent out in a letter to Mr Blix demanding that it be given advance notice of such flights. So we had to start bombing. That's when we lost most of the major cities and world populations. It was the spy-planes.

2) Well son, it was the interviews in private with Iraqi scientists. Mr Blix welcomed this concession but complained that there weren't enough interviews and that they hadn't been open enough. Scientists took taking tape-recorders into the interviews with them. So we had to start the bombing. We couldn't let scientists have a record of what they were saying. So that's when the end of the world began.

3) Well son, Iraq tested some Samoud-2 missiles beyond the permitted 150km range, by an extra 33km. So we had to start bombing them. That's why we destroyed virtually all civilizations on the planet.

4) Well son, the world was turned into a radioactive wasteland because Iraq handed over documents that it claimed it has already destroyed, but Mr Blix said these still fall far short of what is needed. So we had to bomb them to avert the real war, the one that THEY were going to start. We couldn't let that happen. Thousands might have died.