Hans Blix: Iraq War was a terrible mistake and violation of UN charter

Local Editor

Ten years after the United States launched war on Iraq, saying Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction, Hans Blix, the former lead weapons inspector in Iraq, which have not found any effect.

In a CNN exclusive, Blix recounts private conversations he had with Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice in the lead-up to the war -- and says the war was a terrible mistake, which is in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations..
"Today, I look again at the reasons why this terrible mistake -- and violation of the U.N. charter -- took place and explore if any lessons be drawn."

The veteran Swedish diplomat revealed, in an article issued by the CNN on Tuesday, that after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush's administration felt a need to "let the weight and wrath of the world's only superpower fall on more evil actors than just Afghanistan's Taliban regime."

"No target could have seemed more worthy of being crushed than Iraq's brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein. Sadly, however, the elimination of this tyrant was perhaps the only positive result of the war. The war aimed to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, but there weren't any."
Not only WMD did not exist, Blix also admitted that "the war aimed to eliminate al Qaeda in Iraq, but the terrorist group didn't exist in the country until after the invasion."

He noted that he had received a call from one of US officials, three days before the invasion, requesting a withdrawal from Iraq.
Blix wrote in the article: "The war aimed to make Iraq a model democracy based on law, but it replaced tyranny with anarchy and led America to practices that violated the laws of war."

The war aimed to make Iraq a model democracy based on law, but it replaced tyranny with anarchy and led America to practices that violated the laws of war.
Also, he explained that "the war aimed to transform Iraq to a friendly base for US troops capable to act, if needed, against Iran -- but instead it gave Iran a new ally in Baghdad.

Blix and his team found no evidence. "As we found no weapons and no evidence supporting the suspicions, we reported this. But U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield dismissed our reports with one of his wittier retorts: "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," he added.

He said that after 10 years of war on Iraq "today, I ask myself again on the causes of this terrible error and violation of the Charter of the United Nations. As I continue searching for any lessons to be learned from them. "

Source: CNN, edited by moqawama.org