I believe the protests here in Australia, and in the US and UK, are proving that the if their respective governments backed down from the agressive talk their popularity would soar.

The popularity of the respective governments would not soar. They would be seen as impotent. People protest over everything, but that doesn't mean that it is "what the people want." 10% cares strongly about the issue on either side. The rest are ambivalent and it doesn't matter to them one way or the other. In addition, perhaps 5% of the entire population is going to know enough about any given issue to make an informed decision. If you want to use all those silly statistics out there, I believe they say that the majority of the U.S. population supports war and a significant number of people in Britain and Australia do as well. At the least, the current administrations in each of these countries would be finished.

Also, at no point is anyone suggesting that if the US takes this road that Saddam or anyone else is going to be parading around pretending they've beaten the US or anyone else

Riiiight. Regardless of the circumstances, Saddam and Al Qaeda and all the radical muslim clerics are going to be intentionally refrain from manipulating the facts to say what they want.

They're all going to be too interested in making sure that they comply to UN requirements

Just like Saddam has been doing? After all, he did fully disarm back in 1992, and once the option of force has been taken off the table, he is going to suddenly take the French seriously.

Seriously, if I were running Iraq, I wouldn't disarm either, yet. I would play the Western countries against eachother, opening up faultlines between allies and within countries, undermining western power. I would attempt to get the Muslim people to support me and egg on militants in every surrounding country. Then, at the last minute, I would deliver the coup de grace and agree to all French demands for disarmament, essentially giving the finger to the United States. As soon as world attention shifted again, I would start all my weapons programs again, drawing the ire (and possibly low-level action such as bombing) from the U.S., keeping my people united against a common enemy. Rinse, repeat. If I played my cards right, I would be able to dissuade any foreign powers from significantly intervening in Middle Eastern affairs, rendering any embargoes ineffective and allowing me to finally wipe out those pesky Kurds and Shia muslims.

Do NOT underestimate Saddam Hussein. He may be mentally unbalanced and a cruel murdering tyrant. He is also, however, a political genius that has managed to STRENGTHEN his power despite losing the first gulf war. He is an expert at turning any situation to his advantage.

-Biscuits