Hans Blix now says Iraq destroyed WMD 10 years ago

Reuters ^ | September 17, 2003 | nwrep

[nwrep]

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix now believes Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction 10 years ago and that intelligence agencies were wrong in their weapons assessment that led to war.

In an interview with Australian radio from Sweden, Blix said the search for evidence of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons would probably only uncover documents at best.

"The more time that has passed, the more I think it's unlikely that anything will be found," Blix said in the interview, which was broadcast on Wednesday.

"I'm certainly more and more to the conclusion that Iraq has, as they maintained, destroyed almost all of what they had in the summer of 1991," Blix said.

In 1991, the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found what it called a secret nuclear weapons programme in Iraq. It spent the next seven years dismantling Baghdad's nuclear capability, until its inspectors were thrown out of Iraq.

Before ordering the invasion that toppled President Saddam Hussein, U.S. President George W. Bush referred to an imminent threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction as a prime justification for war.

"In the beginning they talked about weapons concretely, and later on they talked about weapons programmes...maybe they'll find some documents of interest," Blix said.

Blix spent three years searching for Iraqi chemical, biological and ballistic missiles as head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission.

U.N. inspectors left Iraq in March this year as American and British forces prepared to invade. Calls for their reinstatement have been denied, with the U.S. occupation authorities preferring instead to set up their own body, the Iraq Survey Group.

After more than five months of searching, no weapons of mass destruction have been found by the Iraq Survey Group, which consists of about 1,500 experts.

U.S. officials said in July that the search had uncovered documents pointing to a programme to develop such weapons.

But the U.S. media network ABC News reported on Monday that a draft report by the Iraq Survey Group provides no solid evidence that Iraq had such arms when the United States invaded.

The U.S. government has consistently said the search for weapons of mass destruction will take time and that it is confident evidence will eventually be uncovered.

[RLK]

It's apparent we have followed one adolescent president with yet another. The ling term damage done by the second is going to be worse than the damage by the first. We are now in a condition of leadership free fall with choices between Owlgores and Clintons versus Bushs with no way out for the country.

[Free Vulcan]

Excellent. If you did the research to gather all that, awesome work and many thanks!

[stylin19a]

Small minor point...U.N. inspecters weren't kicked out of Iraq...they left under duress.

[Richard Axtell]

Oh, yeah... Saddam told him all about when he and Uday went out in the back yard, and shot of the lot of those WMDs just for fun one Saturday night, after polishing off a quart of Southern Comfort. Cost so damn much to make the things in the first place, 'Ol Saddam figured he'd just pretend he still had 'em, in case he needed some to scare off any neighborhood tough guys. But, you know old Blxie, his memory is just not what it used to be, and so, it just slipped his mind. Hey, it was an honest mistake, so don't get all huffy about it!

[OldFriend]

Setting up for denigrating the documentation we are about to present to the world.

[AIRFORCE76]

You must be another dim trolling for an argument. But your stupidity is starting to show.

[FreedomCalls]

What else is buried out there in the high desert west of Baghdad?

A search team discovers a MiG-25 Foxbat buried beneath the sands in Iraq. Several MiG-25 interceptors and Su-25 ground attack jets have been found buried at Al-Taqqadum air field west of Baghdad.

More photos here and here.

[Fledermaus]

Hans Blix is on crack.

[RansomOttawa]

Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix now believes Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction 10 years ago and that intelligence agencies were wrong in their weapons assessment that led to war.

Now he tells us.

[Jeff Gordon]

Blix, you are retired. I really do not want to hear anything more from you until your funeral announcement. Okay?

[boxerblues]

The WMD was a fraud perpetrated by this administration

Why just this administration? We were not the only ones who think Saddum held them.

[boxerblues]

Iraq may have deliberately mislead world on WMD: Blix 1 hour, 26 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AFP to My Yahoo! SYDNEY (AFP) - Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq (news - web sites) had probably got rid of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) 10 years ago but Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) pretended otherwise to deter any attack.

AFP/File Photo

"I'm certainly more and more to the conclusion that Iraq has, as they maintained, destroyed all almost of what they had in the summer of 1991," Blix told Australian national radio.

Asked if it was likely Iraq has not had weapons of mass destruction for at least 10 years, he said: "Yup, that's right."

Blix's suggestions, which he said were already known in the United States, called into question controversial intelligence used by Britain and the United States to justify the conflict in Iraq.

"You see, if they didn't have anything after '91, there must be some explanation why they behaved as they did. They certainly gave the impression that they were denying access and so forth," Blix said.

"I mean, you can put up a sign on your door, Beware of the Dog, without having a dog."

The US-controlled Iraq Survey Group has been scouring Iraq for evidence of weapons, but its hundreds of scientists have found very little.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=4&u=/afp/20030917/ts_afp/iraq_weapons_australia_030917073834

nice coverup there Blix

[petuniasevan]

[Just mythoughts]

Must be a viral thing, bjclinton was erupting again prior to Blix's utterance telling his "followers" what was what. Then Blix rears his ugly head, just too much excitement to wait to hear what the "seer" of Babylon will utter.

[sirchtruth]

And what happens when you punish your child for lying and then you finally do look “under the bed” and find that there are indeed no toys hidden there?

Obviously, you don't have children do you?

There is no doubt that WMD exist, and for Bush, Powell, and the Bush administration to keep insisting that there is WMD should at least give people a heads up. I would say even if they can not release the info for some security reasons, it would make sense, but why can't they give us a report card on the status of the situation?

There is no question that the WMD are under the bed...

[sirchtruth]

The WMD was a fraud perpetrated by this administration

...but why would the previous administration perpetuate this fraud too?

[Natural Law]

I think Hans should return the money he was paid to look for WMDs he says did not exist.

[boxerblues]

Blix is lying, always has been....the previous poster blamed it on this administration