Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix pulled no punches in his appearance before the independent panel examining Britain's part in the Iraq war. As far as he's concerned it was an illegal war.
"Some people maintain that Iraq was legal. I am of the firm view that it was an illegal war. There can be cases where it is doubtful, maybe it was permissible to go to war, but Iraq was, in my view, not one of those."
From the Global Security Newswire:
"I think the U.S. at the time was high on military," Blix, a former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said at today's hearing. "They felt that they could get away with it (an invasion), and therefore it was decided they would do so."
Blix said today that U.N. inspectors checked 500 facilities but found very little proof of illicit weapons efforts in Iraq in the months before March 2003, the BBC reported. He cited missiles with ranges beyond what was allowed by the United Nations, missile engines and records among the discoveries.
"We carried out about six inspections per day over a long period of time," Blix said."All in all, we carried out about 700 inspections at different 500 sites and, in no case, did we find any weapons of mass destruction."
He added that it was difficult for Iraq "to declare any weapons when they did not have any."
Blix argued that U.N. resolutions issued before the invasion did not create a legal standing for the war.
Good on Blix.
ReplyDeleteHe tried hard to convince the US and UN that the Iraq invasion was uncalled for -- not sure if he called it illegal at the time -- but he certainly was against the war.
Why does U.S not invade Israel who has over 200 nuclear war-heads? Even former President Carter said that Israel has nuclear weapons in hundreds. No wonder there is so much loathing towards U.S in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteBlix is completely right. Security Council resolution 1441 did not authorize the US or Britain to attack Iraq. In fact 1441 was only passed on America and Britain's clear promise not to use it as a pretext for war but to return for a further council resolution before taking any action. That's why Blair tabled a further motion for that specific authority. He got trapped when he realized the Security Council would defeat it so he hastily withdrew the motion and then proceeded to join Bush in claiming 1441 authorized war. The bastards both deserve to be locked away for the rest of their lives, natural or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHans Blix was and is very angry about the dastardly deeds of Bush and Blair and with good reason. The lies that came out of Bush and Blair's mouths can be considered nothing less than a crime against humanity. Anyong
ReplyDelete