LONDON, 19 September 2003 — Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix yesterday attacked the “spin and hype” behind US and British allegations of banned Iraqi weapons used to justify war against Saddam Hussein.
Blix, who said this week he believed Iraq had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction 10 years ago, told BBC radio that Washington and London “over-interpreted” intelligence about Baghdad’s weapons programs.
Comparing them to medieval witch-hunters, he said the two countries convinced themselves on the basis of evidence which was later discredited, including forged documents about alleged attempts to buy uranium for nuclear weapons.
“In the Middle Ages when people were convinced there were witches they certainly found them. This is a bit risky,” said Blix, whose inspectors left Iraq on the eve of war in March after just a few months of inspections.
Blix said a prewar British dossier on Iraqi weapons “leads the reader to the conclusions that are a little further reaching” than was the case.
“What in a way stands accused is the culture of spin, the culture of hyping... Advertisers will advertise a refrigerator in terms that we don’t quite believe in, but we expect governments to be more serious and have more credibility,” he said.
Five months after Saddam’s overthrow, no banned weapons have been found. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have said the search will take time.
“The patience that they require for themselves now was not anything that they wanted to give to us,” said Blix, whose inspectors were forced to pull out of Iraq in March after just three and a half months’ work.
