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| Iraq |
| Blix rails at, blubbers over, Pentagon smears |
| 2003-06-11 |
| The UN chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, has lashed out at the US Defence Department, saying some "bastards" in Washington tried to undermine him in the run-up to the Iraq war. Diplospeak skills aren't what they used to be for UN-professionals. In an interview with the UK's Guardian newspaper, Mr Blix said there were US officials who had "spread things around, of course, who planted nasty things in the media". "It was like a mosquito bite in the evening that is there in the morning, an irritant," he said. I'm sorry, were we discussing the UN? According to Mr Blix, as the US build-up for an invasion of Iraq intensified, US administration officials had leaned on his weapons inspectors to use more damning language in their reports on Iraq. The UN inspectors searched more than 200 sites over three-and-a-half months but failed to find any weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But the US-led coalition insisted there were weapons to be found. Its failure to find any WMD in Iraq to date has triggered a storm of criticism about the issue, which was the main US and UK justification for the war. Mr Blix said that, despite the actions of his "detractors" in Washington, "by and large, my relations with the US were good". However, he said Washington now viewed the United Nations as an "alien power". You've got to admit it doesn't seem to be based on planet earth. "There are people in this [US] administration who say they don't care if the UN sinks under the East river, and other crude things." We all know that's not going to happen. When the UN's finished destroying what's left of human civilisation that ugly great building's rocketing off back to Uranus. Mr Blix's deputy Dimitri Perricos, a veteran UN arms expert, has been named to replace him as head of the UN Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission (Unmovic). Mr Blix is retiring after more than three years as UN chief weapons inspector. Last week Mr Blix criticised the quality of the US and UK intelligence given to him on alleged Iraqi WMD, saying his inspectors had found nothing after acting on tip-offs. In his last report to the UN Security Council, he recorded an open verdict over whether Iraq had WMD. Saddam Hussein's regime might have hidden weapons, or it might have destroyed them, Mr Blix said. "And I might be a useless, frustrated Swede." |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #12 I'm hoping the US and its allies don't find WMDs for a very simple reason. The US can say we removed an evil despotic regime. This puts the UN in a very difficult position because of its role in legitimizing similar regimes. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2003-06-11 17:08:14 |
| #11 Senator Richard Lugar weighs in with interesting comments on the search for WMD: "It seems to me very hard for somebody in Congress to argue with a straight face that he or she was deceived. Anyone who was sitting there throughout the last two years heard all of the arguments that are now being made, had an opportunity to read all the intelligence. There has been nothing new in the arguments...to dredge all of this [up] as somehow a national scandal or people being beguiled or so forth is nonsense unless people are totally naïve. "I don't know if they will find weapons of mass destruction although my guess is that conventional wisdom is right, eventually we will find some people in Iraq who will tell us what happened... "Dual use technology, if it is sophisticated, means that you can whip up a batch of anthrax one day and do shampoo the next and get rid of what you did the first day. Americans looking for big facilities and cars and tanks and so forth will be disappointed. That is not the nature of the beast." |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-06-11 16:24:49 |
| #10 CC: No worries, mate. If W did the right thing for the wrong reason, it's OK by me. As a life-long member of that other party who disagrees with much of his domestic policy, I know come election day that I'll have a hard time NOT voting for him. |
| Posted by: CaliforniaModerate 2003-06-11 15:04:49 |
| #9 If WMD aren't found, then the Bush administration will have to explain and pay the consequences, if any. However, I am damn glad we went and changed the regime and the status quo in the Middle East - pretext or not. If the price to be paid is Bush losing the election, so be it. |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-06-11 14:33:50 |
| #8 another comment on WMD: '"There is long, consistent, clear evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and I'm still convinced that we're going to find them," Gephardt said. ' |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-06-11 13:35:19 |
| #7 CC: Is that a "media blitz" or a "media blix?" |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-06-11 12:49:20 |
| #6 Blix was on "Good Morning America" this morning in an "exclusive interview" with Diane Sawyer serving up big, juicy softballs for him to hit. Looks like he's on a whirlwind media blitz. Does he have a book contract? |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-06-11 11:32:41 |
| #5 more interesting is this quote from Blix "The longer that one does not find any weapons in spite of people coming forward and being rewarded for giving information, etc., the more I think it is important that we begin to ask ourselves 'If there were no weapons, why was it that Iraq conducted itself as it did for so many years?'" Blix said. "They cheated, they retreated, they changed figures, they denied access, etc. Why was that if they didn't have anything really to conceal? I have speculations — one could be pride," he said. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-06-11 10:56:22 |
| #4 Blix is streching his 15 minutes of fame because he knows that: A) We will find WMDs and B) The world will look at him with disgust. Hey I thought of a new reality show: 'Bitch Slap Blix'. Contestants will compete for the honor of slapping this useless "Inspector" and win cash prizes (Scott Ritter can be a special guest). |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC California Chapter) 2003-06-11 10:47:51 |
| #3 He should've been looking for "graves of mass destruction". He might've found some of them. But, as they're fond of saying over at the UN, "that's not our job". |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-06-11 10:39:08 |
| #2 Let me guess, sooner or later he will write a book about his ordeal, claiming Saddam Hussein never had any WMD, ever, and that footage of chemical weapons used against Iraqis was a CIA fabrication. In any case, a book is forthcoming... watch. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-06-11 05:47:44 |
| #1 Senator Richard Lugar weighs in with interesting comments on the search for WMD: "It seems to me very hard for somebody in Congress to argue with a straight face that he or she was deceived. Anyone who was sitting there throughout the last two years heard all of the arguments that are now being made, had an opportunity to read all the intelligence. There has been nothing new in the arguments...to dredge all of this [up] as somehow a national scandal or people being beguiled or so forth is nonsense unless people are totally naïve. "I don't know if they will find weapons of mass destruction although my guess is that conventional wisdom is right, eventually we will find some people in Iraq who will tell us what happened... "Dual use technology, if it is sophisticated, means that you can whip up a batch of anthrax one day and do shampoo the next and get rid of what you did the first day. Americans looking for big facilities and cars and tanks and so forth will be disappointed. That is not the nature of the beast." |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 6/11/2003 4:24:49 PM |