Former UN chief weapons inspector doubtful about Iraq intelligence

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 09, 2004

Former UN chief weapons inspector doubtful about Iraq intelligence

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Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Sunday expressed his doubts on Iraq weapons intelligence by saying that Britain and the United States dramatized intelligence information to bolster the argument for the war against Iraq.

British and American intelligence officials had placed too muchweight on what Iraqi defectors told them in the run-up to the US-led military action against Baghdad, Blix said in an interview with the BBC Breakfast with Frost program.

It was unclear what was really meant by the claim in the weapons dossier published by the British government in September 2002 that Iraq could deploy some weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order to do so, Blix said.

"It was to do with information management. The intention was todramatize it," Blix told the BBC, blaming "spin" which both Britain and the United States put on the intelligence.

"From politicians, from our leaders in the Western world, I think we expect more than that. A bit more sincerity," said Blix, who also challenged Britain and the United States to produce the evidence of alleged Iraqi weapons programs they claim to have uncovered.

"Is there clear evidence that there were programs? Maybe so, I do not deny the possibility," Blix said.

Blix's comments came after both the US and British governments have announced inquiries into the accuracy of intelligence reportson Iraq.

Senior British judge Brian Hutton, who investigated the death of government weapons expert David Kelly, concluded in his report on the inquiry on Jan. 28 that a BBC story that claimed the British government had "sexed up" Iraqi intelligence by inserting the 45-minute claim in the Iraq dossier was "unfounded."

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