concern at the ambitions of the saddam hussein regime and at the possibility that iraq was concealing aspects of its weapons of mass destruction (wmd) program from united nations inspection teams was common to the united states and all member states of the european union. on the basis of this shared concern, security council resolution 1441 was passed on november 9, 2002, with the appearance of unity within the eu. evidence of a differing orientation toward the use of force among eu countries, however, was already discernible.