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October 13, 2004
Blix Believed Pre-War WMD Assessment "Understated" Threat

The Scotsman reports today that UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told British officials that the dossier compiled by Anglo-American intelligence services actually understated Saddam's capacity to produce chemical and biological weapons (hat tip: Secure Liberty):

Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix believed the Government’s controversial Iraq weapons dossier actually understated the case against Saddam Hussein, according to documents released today by the Foreign Office.

The papers released by the FO show that British officials at the United Nations in New York showed a draft of the dossier to Dr Blix in September 2002, two weeks before the final version was published.

A note from one official, Adam Bye, said that Dr Blix had liked the section on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons as he believed that it did not exaggerate the facts.

According to the note, Dr Blix said that the dossier even risked understating Iraq’s ability to produce weapons of mass destruction – particularly the lethal anthrax virus.

He also described the claim that even if Iraq was able to acquire fissile material from abroad, it would still take at least two years to build a working nuclear bomb as “modest”.

As The Scotsman notes, this puts quite a different light on post-war assumptions about intelligence and American efforts to determine the extent of the threat Saddam posed. Blix has not hesitated since the war to proclaim that the invasion was precipitous and unnecessary, blaming the Anglo-American alliance for rushing the inspectors out of Iraq before they could discover this. However, if Blix told the British that the dossier was accurate, then the only question in 2002 was whether Saddam would cooperate with inspectors to find and destroy the remaining his remaining WMD and production capabilities.

Blix himself reported back to the UNSC that Saddam was not cooperating -- which made the inspections pointless. Inspections can only confirm compliance; they cannot reliably determine locations and stocks of weaponry, at least not on the scale used by the UN in a country the size of Iraq. Besides, the 17 UNSC resolutions placed the burden of proof on Iraq as a consequence of their rape of Kuwait and their continued intransigence. Saddam had to prove he'd completely disarmed. Failing that, he abrogated the terms of the Safwan cease-fire and technically initiated hostilities with the UN once again.

Blix wants to make the world safe for weapons inspectors, rather than having weapons inspectors know their place in the process of making the world safe. The documents unearthed by The Scotsman shows that Blix, like most UN bureaucrats, considered job security his top priority.

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Posted by Ed Morrissey at October 13, 2004 8:24 AM

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» Blix: Saddam WMD Threat 'Understated' from RIGHT ON RED >>
Ok, I give up. I can't keep it straight anymore.A note from one official, Adam Bye, said that Dr Blix had liked the section on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons as he believed that it did not exaggerate the facts. According to the note, Dr ... [Read More]

Tracked on October 13, 2004 9:26 AM

» The Scotsman makes the case from The Key Monk
Seems that a relatively unknown newspaper from a small country is doing more and better reporting on Saddam's evil, UN corruption and the case for liberating Iraq than any internationally known broadsheet from America. [Read More]

Tracked on October 13, 2004 9:48 AM

» Blix and the WMD from PiratesCove
Captain Ed has a post regarding Hans Blix and his prewar reports on Iraqi WMD (The Captain gives a hat tip to Secure Liberty.) Blix himself reported back to the UNSC that Saddam was not cooperating -- which made the [Read More]

Tracked on October 13, 2004 4:23 PM

» Blix Believed Iraq Threat Understated from Jay Reding.com
In another major blow to the case that "Bush lied!" on Iraq new documents have revealed that Hans Blix believed that the US and UK government "understated" the threat from Iraq: Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix believed the Government... [Read More]

Tracked on October 13, 2004 6:36 PM

» Blix Flip Flopping Again from Teacher's Ramblings
So very reminiscent of the period leading up to the Iraq war. First it was 'Saddam is cooperating, sort of' then, 'he is obstructing the inspections' then, 'there should be no rush, we need more time...' [Read More]

Tracked on October 13, 2004 7:07 PM



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