Studeo
29th July 2010, 01:45
Iraq inquiry: Former UN inspector Blix says war illegal
The UN's former chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has said it is his
"firm view" that the Iraq war was illegal.
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Hans Blix: "They should have drawn the conclusion that their sources were poor"
Dr Blix told the Iraq inquiry the UK had sought to go down the "UN
route" to deal with Saddam Hussein but failed.
Ex-Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, who advised the war was lawful on
the basis of existing UN resolutions, "wriggled about" in his
arguments, he suggested.
Dr Blix said his team of inspectors had visited 500 sites but found no
evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
As head of the UN's Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission
(UNMOVIC) between 1999 and 2003, Dr Blix was a key figure in the
run-up to the March 2003 invasion as he sought to determine the extent
of Saddam's weapons programme.
'No smoking gun'
Asked about the inspections he oversaw between November 2002 and 18
March 2003 - when his team was forced to pull out of Iraq on the eve
of the war - he said he was "looking for smoking guns" but did not
find any.
While his team discovered prohibited items such as missiles beyond the
permitted range, missile engines and a stash of undeclared documents,
he said these were "fragments" and not "very important" in the bigger
picture.
"We carried out about six inspections per day over a long period of time.
"All in all, we carried out about 700 inspections at different 500
sites and, in no case, did we find any weapons of mass destruction."
Although Iraq failed to comply with some of its disarmament
obligations, he added it "was very hard for them to declare any
weapons when they did not have any".
Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10770239
The UN's former chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has said it is his
"firm view" that the Iraq war was illegal.
Advertisement
Hans Blix: "They should have drawn the conclusion that their sources were poor"
Dr Blix told the Iraq inquiry the UK had sought to go down the "UN
route" to deal with Saddam Hussein but failed.
Ex-Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, who advised the war was lawful on
the basis of existing UN resolutions, "wriggled about" in his
arguments, he suggested.
Dr Blix said his team of inspectors had visited 500 sites but found no
evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
As head of the UN's Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission
(UNMOVIC) between 1999 and 2003, Dr Blix was a key figure in the
run-up to the March 2003 invasion as he sought to determine the extent
of Saddam's weapons programme.
'No smoking gun'
Asked about the inspections he oversaw between November 2002 and 18
March 2003 - when his team was forced to pull out of Iraq on the eve
of the war - he said he was "looking for smoking guns" but did not
find any.
While his team discovered prohibited items such as missiles beyond the
permitted range, missile engines and a stash of undeclared documents,
he said these were "fragments" and not "very important" in the bigger
picture.
"We carried out about six inspections per day over a long period of time.
"All in all, we carried out about 700 inspections at different 500
sites and, in no case, did we find any weapons of mass destruction."
Although Iraq failed to comply with some of its disarmament
obligations, he added it "was very hard for them to declare any
weapons when they did not have any".
Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10770239