Blix criticises UK's Iraq dossier

[muriel_volestrangler]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/3118462.stm

"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. "

Reminds me of:
"She turned me into a newt!"
"A newt?"
"err ... I got better"

[papau]

1. Blix Attacks 'Spin and Hype' of Iraq Weapon Claims (US and Brit)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-blix.html

Blix Attacks 'Spin and Hype' of Iraq Weapon Claims
By REUTERS Filed at 8:05 a.m. ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Thursday attacked the ``spin and hype'' behind U.S. and British allegations of banned Iraqi weapons used to justify war against Saddam Hussein.Blix, who said this week he believed Iraq had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction 10 years ago, told BBC radio that the United States and Britain ``over-interpreted'' intelligence about Baghdad's weapons programs.<snip>


Blix compared London and Washington to medieval witch-hunters, saying they convinced themselves on the basis of evidence which was later discredited, including forged documents about alleged attempts to buy uranium for nuclear weapons."In the Middle Ages when people were convinced there were witches they certainly found them. This is a bit risky," said Blix, whose inspectors left Iraq on the eve of war in March after just a few months of inspections.Blix said a pre-war British dossier on Iraqi weapons "leads the reader to conclusions that are a little further-reaching" than was the case.
"What in a way stands accused is the culture of spin, the culture of hyping.... Advertisers will advertise a refrigerator in terms that we don't quite believe in, but we expect governments to be more serious and have more credibility," he said. .....parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee had concluded ...that parts of intelligence were presented in a misleading way"

<snip>He said the few ``minor things'' which his teams had uncovered in Iraq were more likely to have been ``debris from the past'' than ``tips of the iceberg'' of an existing weapons program. Blix's comments have been echoed by his successor Demetrius Perricos, who told Reuters it was becoming "`more and more difficult to believe stocks (of WMD) were there" in Iraq.