Stewart Stogel
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004

The book, scheduled to be released next month, will be "an easy read," with Blix's version of events leading to the overthrow of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, says the publisher.

Pantheon Books (a division of Random House) admits the release was timed to capitalize on the recent controversy fanned by the resignation of CIA Iraq weapons hunter David Kay.

Sources close to Blix tell Newsmax there will "be some comments about David Kay that some may consider critical."

Kay once worked for Blix at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The IAEA is the U.N. affiliate that monitors nuclear activity around the world.

In 1992, Blix was IAEA director-general. Kay was a nuclear inspector-group leader. It was during this period that Kay, along with a senior U.N. inspector Robert Gallucci, uncovered the details surrounding Baghdad's nuclear weapons program.

For reasons never made public, Blix and Kay "reached an understanding" that resulted in Kay's departure from the IAEA in 1994.

In his book, Blix expresses some "surprise" at Kay's CIA appointment in mid-2003.

Blix also casts doubt on White House proclamations about "honestly" dealing from "faulty" intelligence reports on Iraq prior to the decision on going to war.

It was Blix who removed the U.N.'s deputy chief inspector Charles Duelfer when he accepted the offer to lead the Iraq inspection effort.

Duelfer, a former U.S. State Dept. official, was recently named to lead the CIA's Iraq arms inspection operations.

Sources close to Blix explain "he was uncomfortable" with a U.S. official in such a sensitive position.

Blix, it is reported in the book, had numerous personal meetings with senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and CIA director George Tenet prior to the days leading to war with Saddam Hussein.

The former U.N. arms inspector resigned his post in July 2003 despite requests from the Security Council to stay on. The chief inspector believed the White House had made a decision to freeze any further U.N. inspections, making his council mandate pointless.

Blix joined the U.N. in March 2000, after spending 17 years as the head of the IAEA.

Today, the arms specialist lives in retirement with his wife at their home in Stockholm, Sweden.

Editor's note:
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