Clearing maven.repo.remote results in incorrect reporting of unsatisfied dependencies

Running "maven -Dmaven.repo.remote= -Dmaven.mode.online=false"
<snip>
The use of the remote repository has been disabled. (x10)

BUILD FAILED
File...... /export/home/cruise/.maven/cache/maven-multiproject-plugin-1.3.1/plugin.jelly
Element... maven:reactor
Line...... 217
Column.... 9
The build cannot continue because of the following unsatisfied dependency:

kernel-core-SNAPSHOT.jar
</snip>

Which is misleading. kernel-core-SNAPSHOT.jar failed to build because it was missing dependencies. Running "maven -o -Dmaven.repo.remote= multiproject:install-snapshot" shows the correct dependencies:

<snip>
The use of the remote repository has been disabled. (x10)
You are working offline so the build will continue, but kernel-core-SNAPSHOT.jar may be out of date!
You are working offline so the build will continue, but kernel-container-SNAPSHOT.jar may be out of date!

BUILD FAILED
File...... /export/home/cruise/.maven/cache/maven-multiproject-plugin-1.3.1/plugin.jelly
Element... maven:reactor
Line...... 217
Column.... 9
The build cannot continue because of the following unsatisfied dependencies:

commons-beanutils-1.6.1.jar
commons-digester-1.4.1.jar
</snip>