Hans Blix: "The Iraq War Was Illegal"
Dr. Hans Blix, former chief of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) between 1999 and 2003, was called to testify at the British Iraq War Inquiry board. He was discussing the findings of the inspection teams in Iraq before the US invasion in 2003 - findings that weren't released until June 2003, months after the invasion began.
Asked about the inspections he oversaw between November 2002 and 18 March 2003 - when his team was forced to pull out of Iraq on the eve of the war - he said he was "looking for smoking guns" but did not find any.
While his team discovered prohibited items such as missiles beyond the permitted range, missile engines and a stash of undeclared documents, he said these were "fragments" and not "very important" in the bigger picture.
"We carried out about six inspections per day over a long period of time.
"All in all, we carried out about 700 inspections at different 500 sites and, in no case, did we find any weapons of mass destruction."
Although Iraq failed to comply with some of its disarmament obligations, he added it "was very hard for them to declare any weapons when they did not have any".
It's a popular meme for the conservatives in our country to claim that Saddam didn't allow the inspectors back into the country prior to the 2003 invasion, but in fact he did. The teams had a little over three months before they withdrew, and they only withdrew because they were warned that Iraq was about to become a war zone. It's also a popular meme for the conservatives to even deny that WMDs were the principle justification for the US invasion. The record shows otherwise.
I'm not particularly thrilled by Blix's behavior in 2002-2003. I think he was extremely passive, that he could have done much more prior to the invasion to alert the media and other countries that Iraq really had no WMD program to either threaten Western interests or to arm terrorists. But, like many scientists, he preferred to wait until all the data were in and a full report could be staffed for the United Nations. Now he spends his time trying to make up for that lapse in judgment.
Interestingly, the New York Times covers the same Blix testimony without using the words "weapons of mass destruction" at all. The editors there must have forgotten the paper's history in that department. Or maybe they're just embarrassed by it all.
Yeah, we know.
and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan certainly know.
to stop the illegal, insane bullshit.
me-oww!
It makes me sick.
here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-...
no one would question...
Most of us have known this since the invasion.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
knew before the invasion, but no one would listen.
along with the rest of the world and the smarter people in the US, in the run up to the invasion.
I believe we were informed beforehand that Saddam was allowing inspectors in and would allow them in--The Unitary Ruler of The Unitary United States of America wouldn't allow them, or told them to get the hell out because Shock, Awe and Illegal War-Crime Bullshit was about to begin. I remember knowing it myself--from foreign news sources, not the pathetic 'liberal' MSM, certainly not the 'liberal' NYT which was actively doing Dick 'The Dick' Cheney's bidding through the hacktacular Judith Miller, alleged journalist.
me-oww!
Speakin' of ole Judith Miller, whatever happened to her? Is she Harriett Miers room mate?
i always like Judith Martin .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
Cato, maybe? There's a surprise. Nope, not Cato. Manhattan Institute.
Ms Manners ?
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
the Manhattan Institute is underwritten by the NY Post, among other conservative war mongers..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81k_34ouQhM
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
reading Ms Manners , didnt know she was a warmonger , but then war and manners are worlds apart
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
.
Isn't she in a jail cell with Laurie Mylroie?
Don't look backward, look forward! Doncha know.
The United States does not believe in the rule of law. They would really hate to see me on a jury.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
is a matter with this moron , he does not have a direct deposit from the mic , shame on him , how dare he point out the obvious .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
Hey Hans, the Rape of Nanking was "illegal" too.
the war criminals running this country then, for saying the same thing during the run up to the war. He just repeated what he said before the invasion at a hearing in the UK.
You got him wrong, LandL
me-oww!
Colin Powell testified before thew UN and all he did was convince me even more.
like aren't convincing? He should have used some CGI stuff to make it more realistic.
He doesn't get to slide on this either, even though he'd like to.
was what in 1937 ?
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
because the media isn't owned by the Chinese, just ask Oliver Stone.
It was illegal, immoral, and unnecessary!
immoral, insane, costly... you could go on all day.
meanwhile, the U.S. is still the number one owner of WMD in the world, and a bully who continues to attack those least able to defend themselves.
seems like the only thing we're still number one at.
the threat of WMDs were a perfect justification for war. You can never prove something doesn't exist so it didn't really matter what Blix or anybody else said. You want a war,you can always find a reason to start one.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gUzD1Ud4Lk
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
"You provide the pictures, I'll provide the war" W.R. Hearst to FrederickRemington, 1898.
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know.
Donnie
n/t
re: "I'm not particularly thrilled by Blix's behavior in 2002-2003. I think he was extremely passive, that he could have done much more prior to the invasion to alert the media and other countries that Iraq really had no WMD program to either threaten Western interests or to arm terrorists."
You might want to consider lightening up on Hans. The MSM wasn't giving anyone a forum to preach caution. As early as January 9, 2003 after being on the inspection front lines since November, he submitted "I now turn to the role and results of our current inspections. Evidently if we had found any 'smoking gun' we would have reported it to the Council. Similarly, if we had met a denial of access or other impediment to our inspections we would have reported it to the Council. We have not submitted any such reports."
Blix tried from January on to get people to acknowledge that Iraq had no WMD - see his UN report of February 14, "In my 27 January update to the Council, I said that it seemed from our experience that Iraq had decided in principle to provide cooperation on process, most importantly prompt access to all sites and assistance to UNMOVIC in the establishment of the necessary infrastructure. This impression remains, and we note that access to sites has so far been without problems, including those that had never been declared or inspected..."
While he was scrambling in Iraq trying to prove a negative, our politicians and media were going full bore ahead with invasion plans - "We need to do it before it gets too hot" - and NO ONE paid attention to people like Scott Ritter. I remember hearing Hans speak of caution, but I think it was on Democracy Now. Probably the same week Russert had McCain and Cheney on Meet The Press talking about mushroom clouds (maybe not).
Hans has been saying he considered the invasion an illegal act for many years now; this is NOT a new stance or revelation.
Give him the credit he deserves instead of bashing him for not being a super-hero, unable to take down the Western World's establishment of government and media forces determined to invade Iraq. No one else could either, remember?
And, while you're at it, you might suggest to your readers that they take note of the similarity of the Iraq propaganda leading to invasion and the war of words the Bad Guys are waging against Iran. How many voices are being hushed now, speaking out against aggression, while the drumbeats of further war continue to beat louder with each passing month. "Inexorable," is the word Bush's man used last weekend, right?
Don't beat up on Hans. He gets enough crap from the Right Wing for speaking out against the invasion. Feel free to keep beating up on the people who BACKED the invasion, however...
that guy was knocking himself out trying to get the biggest bully assholes on the planet to back down, and was ignored and treated like shit for doing so.
me-oww!
listen.
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
Don't know anything about any of Jackie O's relatives. Sorry.
it was news for about a day , then ____________________________
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
site mon
[You know. You said it yourself. Off Topic-Sitemonitor]
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
thats pretty weak , not a problem .
[No it's not 'weak.' Read the commenting policy. We have this thread dedicated to a subject, not the one you wanted to discuss-Sitemonitor]
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
recently admitted the invasion of Iraq was "illegal":
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/per...
Too bad Helen Thomas isn't still in her front row seat to let Gibbs have it.
Has ANYONE in the Obama administration come out and admitted as much?
What would the international repercussions be if the U.S. admitted our invasion and occupation was illegal?
Shouldn't this mean we should tidy up The Green Zone and GTF outta there NOW?!
What does the U.N. have to say about all of this?
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Of course they hide behind the troops blathering on about they don't want " innocent American soldiers" tried in an international court when it's all about protecting their own hides from being prosecuted for war crimes with Bush and Cheney being the first hauled before it.
Late to the party...and didn't even bring chips.
NOBODY 2012
so I imagine bringing chips didn't occur to him.
me-oww!
Great, now tell us something we don't know...like when and where the trial is being held.
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld were lying sacks of shit who now have the blood of many thousands of human beings on their hands. May they all rot in hell for the lies they told and the sins they committed against humanity!
...then it is STILL illegal.
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
.
I believe the phrase Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) came from the War Power Act of 1975 which requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action, and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a Declaration of War.
Where's our Declaration of War?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
war just keeps going, slaughtering innocent people, including women and children, the American congress keeps funding it, and it keeps going nowhere. We find out that the Afghans are on the side of the Taliban, but we just keep losing more & more innocent life and pouring more money into the abyss
Woody McBreairty
Of course it was and still is. War Crimes have been commited and yet not a single person has been jail much less accused. The saddest part is not one single person ever will be.
The President of the United States at the time was and is guilty of War Crimes and will never be prosecuted much less accused in a court of law. The POTUS and his cohorts shouold have been impeached and jailed years ago. Torture, illegal wiretapping and the basic erosion of civil rights should have been more than enough for impeachment at the very leaast. What have we gotten.... nothing not even an indictment much less a conviction for WarCrtimes and Crimes Against Humanity!!!
Politics is a wondeful thing if you are connected if not then grab your ankles and hope for the best because if you are not connected that is about all we can hope for!!!!
PEACE
The love you take is equal to the love you make. John Lennon Paul Mc Cartney
The Iraq war wasn't illegal.
It was treason.
we just need to look forward towards censorship , oh wait we have that now ! .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
And we need less people to self censor themselves when talking about it. Media outlets and journalists are failing to bring this society the truth about what has gone on.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Where were you when we needed you?
being castigated and marginalised, by the US Govt and the US MSM. He was saying the same back then. It pays to listen to news from other countries. I remember him well.
me-oww!
It wasn't just Hans Blix, but also David Kay.
He was getting cooperation from the Iraqis, reported successfully surprising some at their workplaces, and not finding anything out of order. Many people thought the AUMF would buy time to force boosh to slow down, but instead he saw the inspections as unravelling his raison d'être for casus belli and seemed to rush to attack.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Of course the UK gov of Tony Blair was not hiding anything...
Theres police logs that prove that the Thames Valley Police provided 'special tactical support' to somebody on the morning of the day that Dr. David Kelly 'suicided' in the woods.
Lord Hutton ruled that evidence related to his death will be kept secret for 70 years.
Then we need to figure out why they went into it (PNAC Documents would be a good start) and how they got away with it (Stolen Elections, False Flag Terrorism, Control of Media, etc) and do the work of ending it (Expose the lies and truth)
Peace.
And whoever said is was TREASON is exactly right. Ask Dr. Bruce Ivins, Or Dr. David Kelly. Or Mike Connell about what is really going on. Let's dig down to the bottom and have a look around.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
The Iraq War Was Illegal? File this under no sh*t
"If you keep saying things like that, people who vote for us might actually expect us to do something about it!"
There are still people who haven't had their memories wiped by FoxNews, who know that Iraq didn't kick out the inspectors before the invasion, who know that they were pulled by Bush, and who know that the Bush administration beat the war drums with their cry of "WMDs".
Every week I read of the young American servicemen and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and personally feel sorrow for those lives cut short and families left without a loved one. I know that many others share my frustration living with the certainty that the Iraq War was the product of our elected leaders who acted recklessly, irresponsibly, and in all probability, criminally. Knowing they broke their Constitutional oath to suit their own agendas to the disgrace of this nation. And yet no one has been or will be held accountable.
Comments are closed on this entry