According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, France and Germany have an idea on how to deal with Iraqi resistance to disarmament: UN peacekeeping troops, with weapons, in Iraq, along with an expanded no-fly zone, a beefed-up sanctions regime, and closer partnerships with neighboring countries to prevent oil smuggling. In addition, U.S. troops that are already in the area are supposed to remain there to provide the military threat necessary to force the Iraqi regime to accept this expanded inspections program.

Der Spiegel, the news weekly from Hamburg which broke the story, says that the plan is for a U.N. "Invasion." Selections from the original article are available on their website. There, Schroeder is quoted as declaring that "simply saying 'no' won't suffice anymore."

The name for the plan? "Mirage." An unlucky choice, perhaps. But is this the kind of thing that Kofi Annan had in mind when he said, today, that the U.N. itself should be responsible for enforcing its own resolutions? (Read the Guardian's coverage of Annan's speech here, and Le Monde's coverage here.) The Germans and French have apparently been working on this plan since the beginning of the year, in other words, for about five weeks at most. Did Kofi Annan know about the plan? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps more importantly: is it too little, too late? Maybe. Although now, at least, there is an alternate plan out there, however rough, that can be used to test the U.S.'s willingness to work with allies on the issue.

Der Spiegel reports on hopes that this kind of intensive inspections force could weaken the current Iraqi regime and could help create the conditions for the development of a serious domestic opposition. Many questions remain unanswered, perhaps unanswerable at this stage: how long are the troops going to stay? How much support are they supposed to give to opposition forces? How narrowly will their mandate be drawn?

World Net Daily has an article here, adding that Schroeder is going to address the plans on Thursday in a speech to the Bundestag. The Australian repeats most of the same information here.