Former chief of UNMOVIC, Hans Blix, told Ex-PM Tony Blair one month before the Iraq War that he was unlikely to find weapons of mass destruction. Blair displayed questionable judgment, the former UN weapons inspector said.During three hours of testimony, Blix revealed he warned Blair there was no evidence the tyrant possessed chemical and biological missiles and that his warnings were ignored. Rather, Blair instead listened to poor intelligence sources that claimed the Iraqi dictator did have stockpiles of WMDs.Recalling a telephone conversation with Blair in February 2003, Blix stated: I gave a warning that things had changed and there might not be so much [evidence of WMD]. 'I said, Wouldnt it be paradoxical if you were to invade Iraq with 250,000 men and find very little? 'I have never questioned the good faith of Blair, he said. What I would question is his good judgment.Blix was head of the UNs Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission which carried out 700 inspections in Iraq between November 2002 and March 2003, when it was forced to pull out on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion. Blix added: 'When we reported that we did not find any weapons of mass destruction they should have realized, I think, both in London and in Washington, that their sources were poor. They should have been more critical about that.'He acknowledged the pressure of the US military build-up in the region had led Saddam Hussein to agree to the return of the UN inspectors in September 2002 but said that he did not believe that Britain and the US had been entitled to invade Iraq without a further UN Security Council resolution specifically authorizing military action.He accused the Bush administration of being 'high on military' in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. He also condemned claims by Britain and the US that Iraq had tried to acquire raw uranium for its supposed nuclear program from Niger, based on a forged document.Blix said the progress to war with Iraq was 'almost unstoppable' by early 2003 and the UK was 'a prisoner on that train'. During a recent press conference, many officials asked why he had not presented the material earlier. He criticized both leaders, for resting their case for going to war on intelligence about Iraqs weapons programs that he described as poor. After beginning hearings eight months ago , the inquiry is expected to wind them up in the next few weeks and issue a report by the end of the year. After the invasion, American-led weapons inspection teams found no stockpiles of banned weapons or traces of continuing programs to produce them.
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