WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED TO READ THIS?

Many of the Iraqi scientists U.N. arms inspectors want to interview have been spirited abroad or switched to innocuous posts and their places taken by unknown technicians, according to Iraqi exiles and Western officials. . . .

Some key workers have been sent abroad to sympathetic countries, including Libya, Sudan and Syria, and told to remain there while inspections continue. Their families are being kept in Iraq to ensure that they do not defect.

“These are the people with the know-how, so the best way to hide the know-how is to hide the people,” one Western official said.

The whole thing is a charade, and everyone knows it. Soon, even Hans Blix will figure it out.