Invasion of Iraq was unnecessary, says Blix

[dArKeR]

  London - Former chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix said in an interview broadcast on Thursday that the United States and Britain could have avoided invading Iraq.

Blix told BBC radio that although there was a risk that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, the US and the United Kingdom should have allowed UN weapons inspections to continue for "a few more months".

"Do you go to war to any country where you say there is a possibility that they have weapons of mass destruction? No, I don't think it (military action) was at all obligatory," he told the BBC.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1063872721513B262&set_id=1

This is clearer than it's ever been. Bush, Blair and Cheney up for the murder of 40,000 human beings.

[dArKeR]

1. Blix: Iraq war a 'witch-hunt' - News24

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1418057,00.html

[JPace]

2. "Blix told BBC radio"

Blix needs to come over here and say it
often, say it loud, say it until at least
some Americans begin to notice.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. BBC link

From the BBC Onbline
Dated Thursday September 18 10:39 GMT (3:39 am PDT)

Blix criticises UK's Iraq dossier

Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix accused the British Government of using spin in its controversial dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Dr Blix criticised the "culture of spin, of hyping" and told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he hoped governments would be more cautious in the future use of special intelligence.
He compared the way Britain and America were sure Iraq had weapons of mass destruction programmes to the way people in the Middle Ages were convinced witches existed and so found them when they looked.
In response, the British Foreign Office said Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction was a matter of fact and the search for them would continue.

Blix rightly accuses the US and Britain of engaging in war propaganda. The evidence against Saddam was flimsy at best. Beyond that, Blix is being charitable.
As for the response from the British government, what more can we say? It is clear that Blair and Straw lied right along side of Bush, Powell and Rumsfeld. The Blair ministry richly deserves to fall.
Otherwise, lying before the UN Security Council in an attempt to gain a resolution authorizing ar for what turns out to be out-and-out colonialism is a matter that should be taken up by an international tribunal. So, of course, should simply going to war without the authority of the Security Council.

[gratuitous]

4. And that's why it gets no stateside play

While Iraq is Vietnam played at internet speed (broadband at that), the case for the non-necessity of the invasion can't be made public for a couple more months, at least. The "coalition" forces are bogged down, to be sure, but the general public still thinks that ousting Saddam was a worthwhile endeavor, because Saddam was a bad, bad man.

However, as domestic programs go wanting (and in the wake of Hurricane Isabel, that's going to be brought to the forcible attention of millions of people along the Eastern Seaboard) and there's no money from the government for anything, people will begin to question whether this invasion was worth it. We've just entered the teachable phase of this episode, when people will listen to slightly contrary views.

Wait a couple of weeks after Isabel makes landfall, and then start questioning loudly why we have lots of money to rebuild Iraq after we broke it for no good reason, but no money available for our own people. Isabel is going to be a natural disaster, but piled on top of that will be the entirely man-made disaster of insufficient funds and personnel to help clean up and restore order. And the man who made that disaster possible was Chimpy McCokespoon.