Blix had previously been the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (1981-1997) and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (1978-1981). He chaired the Swedish Liberal Party's campaign during the 1980 Referendum on nuclear power.

While head of the IAEA in the 1980's, Blix made repeated inspection visits to Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor before its destruction by the Israeli Air Force. Despite the regular inspections of Iraq's research facilities, Blix and the IAEA never discovered a highly advanced nuclear weapons program in Iraq. In fact Iraq was repeatedly praised by the IAEA for its full cooperation with the IAEA. It was only after the first Gulf War that the full extent of Iraq's nuclear programs were known.

In an interview on BBC TV on February 8, 2004, Dr. Blix accused the U.S and British governments of dramatising the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, in order to strengthen the case for the 2003 war against the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Table of contents

1 Quotes 2 See also 3 External links

Quotes

• Blix stated on BBC TV's Breakfast With Frost (February 8, 2004):
  • "It was to do with information management. The intention was to dramatise it."

• Blix stated in the Guardian (June 11, 2003):
  • "I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, of course, who planted nasty things in the media."
  • "There are people in [the Bush administration] who say they don't care if the UN sinks under the East River...and other crude things."
  • "It's true that the Iraqis misbehaved and had no credibility, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they were in the wrong."

• Mohamed ElBaradei
• Iraq disarmament crisis
• Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
• List of Swedish diplomats

• Blix's BBC profile