London: US officials tried to discredit UN weapons inspectors working in Iraq in a
bid to win Security Council support for military action, the UN's chief inspector
said in an interview aired on April 22.
Hans Blix also said the United States and Britain appeared to have used "shaky"
intelligence, including forged documents, in an effort to prove Iraq had banned
weapons.
Blix told the British Broadcasting Corp that US officials tried to undermine his
inspection team by telling the media that he withheld information about an Iraqi
drone from the Security Council.
"At that time the US was very eager to sway the votes in the Security Council," Blix
said in a TV interview, extracts of which were broadcast on BBC radio. "They felt
that stories
about these things would be useful to have and they let it out. In that way they
tried to hurt us a bit and say that we had suppressed this.
"It was not the case. It was a bit unfair and hurt us," he said, adding that he
felt "a little bit displeased about it. But you know, this is a rough and tough,
rough game and I don't think that we really felt desolate about it."
In the interview, Blix also said that he had serious doubts about the quality of
some of the intelligence used by Washington and London to strengthen the case for
war in Iraq.
