So now it's official --- Saddam Hussein's hand-picked chieftains and deputies can avoid a war on Iraq, say Rumsfeld, Powell, and Rice. Which would put a quick end to the warblogger fantasies of a democratic beacon to the rest of the Arab world, but hey, the administration never claimed to be doing that sort of thing anyway. Not much.

But how does this relate to the destruction of the weapons of mass destruction which are the ostensible cause of the crisis? Never fear, says Powell...

Mr. Powell also said the United States would have to ensure that any government replacing Mr. Hussein would also have to disarm under the demands of various Security Council resolutions.

But neither in the Times article, nor in the transcript of the CNN interview that it's based on, does he say how the plotters of the coup would need to prove the same negative that we're asking of the current regime. But then again, since these would be just Saddam's deputies, it's possible that they're nice guys. Perhaps we'd relax the standards a bit and take their word for it.