- News>
- World
US jumped to conclusions over Iraqi weapons: Blix
New York, June 24: While Weapons of Mass Destruction may yet be unearthed in Iraq, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has said that the United States had jumped to conclusions on the basis of `shaky` evidence.
New York, June 24: While Weapons of Mass Destruction may yet be unearthed in Iraq, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has said that the United States had jumped to conclusions on the basis of "shaky" evidence.
"I don't exclude that the US inspectors ... may find
something. It is possible," Blix told the Council for Foreign
Relations in New York yesterday.
"But it is somewhat puzzling, I think, that you can have 100 per cent certainty about the Weapons of Mass Destruction and zero certainty about where they are," he said.
A former Swedish foreign minister, Blix will stand down at the end of the month after more than three years as chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
In the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, Blix frustrated pentagon officials with his cautious inspection reports to the UN Security Council.
He repeatedly noted that no evidence had been found to prove that Iraq retained or had resumed production of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons - a theme he returned to yesterday.
Blix stressed that the evidence for the existence of such weapons was "never more than shaky" - including the potentially self-serving testimony of defectors and the ambiguous results of inspections of suspected mobile laboratories.
He particularly questioned how countries like the US and Britain appeared to reach iron-clad conclusions from the intelligence on offer. Bureau Report
"But it is somewhat puzzling, I think, that you can have 100 per cent certainty about the Weapons of Mass Destruction and zero certainty about where they are," he said.
A former Swedish foreign minister, Blix will stand down at the end of the month after more than three years as chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
In the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, Blix frustrated pentagon officials with his cautious inspection reports to the UN Security Council.
He repeatedly noted that no evidence had been found to prove that Iraq retained or had resumed production of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons - a theme he returned to yesterday.
Blix stressed that the evidence for the existence of such weapons was "never more than shaky" - including the potentially self-serving testimony of defectors and the ambiguous results of inspections of suspected mobile laboratories.
He particularly questioned how countries like the US and Britain appeared to reach iron-clad conclusions from the intelligence on offer. Bureau Report