London, Oct 03: Inspectors hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have not produced evidence to prove the country posed a big enough threat to justify war, former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix said today. "I don't think there are any surprises," said Blix, referring to an interim report yesterday by David Kay, the head of the Iraq Survey Group, a US and British team of 1,200 experts scouring Iraq. Kay said that no weapons of mass destruction had been found, despite "substantial evidence" that President Saddam Hussein intended to make chemical and biological arms. The former Chief Inspector said the United Nations charter allowed self-defence against an attack, but that the US-led coalition had failed to prove that Iraq posed a "manifest and imminent" threat, which is the UN criteria for military action. Blix contested the argument that if the United States backed by Britain had not invaded in March, Iraq could have "proceeded and developed" suspect activities.
Bureau Report