Quotes by Hans Blix

“The commission has not at any time during the inspections in Iraq found evidence of the continuation or resumption of programs of weapons of mass destruction ... whether from pre-1991 or later.”

“There are still a number of questions, including the question of possible further external assistance to the nuclear program. You dont know what you dont know.”

“UNSCOM had a practice of not revealing names of companies of suppliers of equipment to Iraq because they often had the possibility of getting information from these companies, and the best way to get these companies to talk to them was not to publish their names to start with,”

“The whole thing is a process, which only moves along centimeter by centimeter, ... Even if Iraq would cooperate immediately, actively and unconditionally with us, we would need several months.”

“There were a lot of open questions at the end of 1998, which were registered by UNSCOM [the U.N. Special Commission] and also by the air-marine report. ... And these have not been answered by evidence in the new declaration. And this we are pointing out. We would need -- the absence of that evidence means, of course, that one cannot have confidence that there do not remain weapons of mass destruction.”

“I think its clear that in March, when the invasion took place, the evidence that had been brought forward was rapidly falling apart, ... Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.”

“The document had been sitting with the CIA and their U.K. counterparts for a long while, and they had not discovered it, ... And I think it took the IAEA a day to discover that it was a forgery.”

“We must recognize that there are limitations [to intelligence] and that misinterpretations can occur,”

“The commission has not at any time during the inspections in Iraq found evidence of the continuation or resumption of programs of weapons of mass destruction or significant quantities of proscribed items, whether from pre-1991 or later,”

“This does not necessarily mean that such items could not exist. They might. There remain a long list of items unaccounted for, ... But it is not justified to jump to the conclusion that something exists just because it was unaccounted for.”

Negotiations with Iran, especially, will not be easy under any circumstances, but I suspect that they might be somewhat less difficult if the nuclear-weapon states could show that their requests are part of a broader effort to lead the world, including themselves, toward nuclear disarmament. Preventing further proliferation is essential, but it is not a recipe for success to preach to the rest of the world to stay away from the very weapons that nuclear states claim are indispensable to their own security.

For some twenty years the window that opened at the end of the Cold War has been allowed to hang flapping in the wind. It is high time that the five nuclear-weapon states take seriously their commitment to negotiate toward nuclear disarmament.

I also hear your president say that war is the means of last resort and I think he means that. I met him last autumn and he assured me that they wanted to come through and disarm Iraq by peaceful means, and thats what we are trying to do as hard as we can.

Like I said, Im more worried long term about the environmental issues then the use of arms.