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[casi] FW: Blix: 'US undermined inspectors'




http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2966639.stm

Blix: 'US undermined inspectors'

American officials tried to discredit the work of
inspectors in Iraq to further their own case for war,
the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has charged.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Blix said American
officials leaked suggestions that inspectors had
deliberately suppressed information to the media in an
attempt to undermine their work in Iraq.

Excerpts of the interview were released just before Mr
Blix went to address the Security Council in a meeting
that could begin to determine whether he and his team
are ever to return to Iraq.

Inspectors were withdrawn shortly before the US
launched a war to topple Saddam Hussein, whom
Washington insists possessed weapons of mass
destruction.

The US has since deployed its own teams to look for
weapons, which it cited as the key reason for
launching war, but so far none are reported to have
been found.

Many nations on the Security Council say UN inspectors
should be the ones to verify any new discoveries, and
Mr Blix says his team could return to Iraq within two
weeks if he was told to do so.

'Disturbing'

Mr Blix said that in the run-up to war, the US had
seized on his alleged failure to include details of a
drone and cluster bomb found in Iraq in his oral
presentations to the Council.

"The US was very eager to sway the votes in the
Security Council, and they felt that stories about
these things would be useful to have, and they let it
out," he said.

"And thereby they tried to hurt us a bit and say that
we had suppressed this.

"It was not the case, and it was a bit unfair, and
hurt us. [We] felt a little displeased about it."

He also reiterated his disquiet at how documents the
International Atomic Energy Agency "had no great
difficulty finding out were fake" managed to get
through US and UK intelligence analysis.

Also disturbing, he said, was the question of who was
responsible for the falsification.

US unenthusiastic

Washington has so far shown little interest in the
return of UN inspectors to Iraq.

On Monday officials repeated that they saw "no
immediate role for Dr Blix and his inspection teams".

Although no decision is likely to be made soon,
correspondents say Tuesday's meeting could be the
start of a diplomatic initiative aimed at persuading
the Bush administration of the benefits to be gained
from allowing the UN inspectors back.

The argument from many on the council is that
independent UN verification that the weapons have been
destroyed would help to win international support for
the swift lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq.





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