Iraq rejects any new U.N. orders / Move seen as attempt to head off U.S. push for tough inspections

So much for Iraq backing down. The inspections regime won't work without full access (probably won't work anyway, but we'll let that slide) and now the UN has a choice. They can allow the US to take enforcement of the UN's resolutions into its own hands, or it can allow allow Iraq to flaunt it.

Either way, it's screwed. The UN has been exposed as powerless. It can't stop the US if the US wants to invade, but that's nothing new. But now it finds it can't even bully Iraq.