Hans Blix - U.S.-Iraq ProCon.org

"JIM LEHRER: The prime minister elect of Spain said on Monday that the United States and Britain organized the war on Iraq with lies. From the standpoint of weapons of mass destruction, do you agree with that?
HANS BLIX: Well, they certainly advanced weapons of mass destruction as the decisive reason for going to war, and I think the evidence was rather weak at the time. We had heard in the autumn of 2002 that the alleged aluminum tubes, for instance, which were thought, alleged to be for making the centrifuges, were probably more likely to be for making a rocket. And in January 2003, we had performed quite a lot of inspections to sites which were given by intelligence and they had not shown any weapons of mass destruction, so we began to be doubtful.

And among the 700 inspections that we performed, none brought us any evidence of weapons of mass destruction. I warned the Security Council about that. Yet, there might have been other evidence and Colin Powell came before the Security Council and he brought some evidence, which we could not check. And I think that by now most of the evidence has fallen apart."

Name:	Hans Blix , Ph.D.
Title:	Former Executive Chariman, United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC)
Position:	No position found to the question "Should the U.S. have attacked Iraq?"
Reasoning:	"JIM LEHRER: The prime minister elect of Spain said on Monday that the United States and Britain organized the war on Iraq with lies. From the standpoint of weapons of mass destruction, do you agree with that? HANS BLIX: Well, they certainly advanced weapons of mass destruction as the decisive reason for going to war, and I think the evidence was rather weak at the time. We had heard in the autumn of 2002 that the alleged aluminum tubes, for instance, which were thought, alleged to be for making the centrifuges, were probably more likely to be for making a rocket. And in January 2003, we had performed quite a lot of inspections to sites which were given by intelligence and they had not shown any weapons of mass destruction, so we began to be doubtful. And among the 700 inspections that we performed, none brought us any evidence of weapons of mass destruction. I warned the Security Council about that. Yet, there might have been other evidence and Colin Powell came before the Security Council and he brought some evidence, which we could not check. And I think that by now most of the evidence has fallen apart." Interview on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 03/17/04
Credibility/ Ranking:	Experts PhD's, JD's (lawyers), Judges, Members of Congress, Ambassadors, Consulate Generals, heads of government, Cabinet-level positions, military generals/admirals, Chief Weapons Inspectors, members of legislative bodies with significant involvement in, or related to, the U.S.- Iraq conflict.
Involvement:	Present - Chairman, The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission 2000-2003 - Executive Chariman, United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) 1981-1997 - Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 1978-1979 - Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sweden 1976-1978 - State Secretary for International Development Co-operation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden 1963-1976 - Adviser on International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden 1962-1978 - Member, Swedish Delegation, Disarmament Conference, Geneva 1961-1981 - Member, Swedish Delegation, United Nations
Education:	Ph.D., Law, Cambridge University International Law, Stockholm University, 1959
Relevant Affiliations:	1980 - Chairman, Swedish Liberal Party's campaign during a referendum on nuclear power 1960 - Associate Professor in International Law, Stockholm University Awards received: Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award, 1988 Gold Medal, Uranium Institute (now World Nuclear Association), 1997 Commander of the Légion d'Honneur, 2004
Contact Info:	Phone: +46 8 543 56 111/112, Main office FAX: +46 8 723 1176, Main office E-Mail: None listed Web Site: http://www.wmdcommission.org
Other:	Select Publications: "UN Security Council Resolution 1441," Arms Control Today, 09/13/05 Disarming Iraq, New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 2004 Can International Safeguards Stop Nuclear Proliferation? International Atomic Energy Agency, 1983