[Peace-discuss] blix

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Blix Slams U.S. on Handling of Iraq War
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Filed at 1:35 p.m. ET

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix accused 
the United States of showing ``questionable honesty'' over Iraq and said the 
country was attacked despite posing no immediate threat.

``In Iraq, there was no sign of an immediate threat'' from weapons of mass 
destruction, Blix told the Athens daily Kathimerini, in an interview published 
Sunday. ``What worries me is the questionable honesty of a government that 
publicly presents certain arguments, but privately has different thoughts.''

Blix spent three years searching for Iraqi chemical, biological and ballistic 
missiles as head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection 
Commission. He has been critical of the role played by the U.S. and British 
governments in Iraq, in interviews since his retirement on June 30.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have come under 
increasing pressure to prove that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

``The American government ... has the tendency to reach hasty conclusions,'' 
Blix said. ``I don't think anything will come to light in Iraq that will 
justify the invasion.''

In the weeks before U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq, some U.S. officials 
strongly criticized Blix's reports to the Security Council for failing to 
support the Bush administration's contention that Saddam had an active illegal 
weapons programs.

Blix, whose remarks were published in Greek, was interviewed in Stockholm, 
Sweden.


CIA Defends Prewar Iraq Intelligence
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Filed at 7:58 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The CIA defended itself against charges by two 
congressional critics that there were ``significant deficiencies'' in the intelligence 
community's ability to gather information on Iraq before the U.S.-led war.

In a letter first reported Saturday on The Washington Post's Web site, the 
chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., and its 
ranking Democrat, Rep. Jane Harman of California, said the CIA relied on old 
intelligence dating to 1998, along with ``some new 'piecemeal' intelligence'' 
to develop its reports on Iraq's weapons programs.''

CIA spokesman Bill Harlow said that was not the case. ``The notion that our 
community does not challenge standing judgments is absurd,'' he said in a 
statement. ``In the post-1998 time period the intelligence community launched an 
important and sustained effort to enhance our unilateral understanding of Iraq 
and its weapons of mass destruction programs. From all of our disciplines, 
important gains were made.''

Harlow also said the House committee ``has yet to take the time to fully 
evaluate how the National Intelligence Estimate was constructed and why and on 
what specific basis judgments and findings were reached by our National 
Intelligence Officer and intelligence analysts.''

For months, President Bush's critics have questioned his rationale for waging 
war against Iraq and the administration's persistent claims -- still unproven 
-- that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had a cache of illegal weapons that 
posed a threat to the United States.

``The intelligence community stands fully behind its findings and judgments 
as stated in the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction programs,'' Harlow said.

The administration is expecting a progress report soon from David Kay, the 
CIA's chief weapons hunter in Iraq, but CIA and White House officials have said 
it is not expected to settle questions on Saddam's alleged weapons programs. 
Harlow said Kay's report ``will be important in our process of continuing 
self-evaluation.''

``As intelligence professionals, we, more than anyone else, want to know 
whether we were correct in our judgments,'' Harlow said. ``But to attempt to make 
such a determination so quickly, and without all the facts, is premature and 
wrong.''


Blix Slams U.S. on Handling of Iraq War
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Filed at 1:35 p.m. ET

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix accused 
the United States of showing ``questionable honesty'' over Iraq and said the 
country was attacked despite posing no immediate threat.

``In Iraq, there was no sign of an immediate threat'' from weapons of mass 
destruction, Blix told the Athens daily Kathimerini, in an interview published 
Sunday. ``What worries me is the questionable honesty of a government that 
publicly presents certain arguments, but privately has different thoughts.''

Blix spent three years searching for Iraqi chemical, biological and ballistic 
missiles as head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection 
Commission. He has been critical of the role played by the U.S. and British 
governments in Iraq, in interviews since his retirement on June 30.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have come under 
increasing pressure to prove that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

``The American government ... has the tendency to reach hasty conclusions,'' 
Blix said. ``I don't think anything will come to light in Iraq that will 
justify the invasion.''

In the weeks before U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq, some U.S. officials 
strongly criticized Blix's reports to the Security Council for failing to 
support the Bush administration's contention that Saddam had an active illegal 
weapons programs.

Blix, whose remarks were published in Greek, was interviewed in Stockholm, 
Sweden.