In what is perhaps Colin Powell’s finest moment so far as secretary of state, he has called the bluffs of France and Germany on their attempts to get Saddam Hussein “off the hook.” Specifically, Mr. Powell said on Wednesday that he would ask French and German diplomats in the U.N. Security Council whether they were attempting to delay action against Saddam so that Iraq would not have to disarm. In response, the foreign minister of France, Dominique de Villepin, resorted to insults against Mr. Powell, saying, according to Deutsche Press-Agentur, that his comments were “not to be taken seriously.”

Let it be said that Mr. Powell has more gravitas in his little finger than the French have in the entire Quai D’Orsay. It is precisely a failure to be taken seriously that marks the French these days. Monsieur de Villepin is scheduled to travel today to the Security Council, where France is expected to proffer a proposal to expand arms inspections and increase the number of inspectors. M. de Villepin calls this “a solution within the framework of the United Nations, within the framework of Resolution 1441, which is the solution advocated by the entire international community,” reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. One supposes the “entire international community” doesn’t include Britain, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

Nor is it a “serious” proposal to simply up the number of inspectors wading through the sands of Iraq. As Mr. Powell ably demonstrated before the U.N. Security Council last Wednesday, Saddam’s regime has been playing a ludicrous game of hide and go seek with weapons inspectors, and it has been caught red-handed — and thus it is plainly in material breach of Resolution 1441. A country cannot be disarmed without its cooperation and against its will — at least not with inspectors. Disarming Saddam will require actions quite a bit more serious.