Blix to NewsMax: 'I Stand By WMD Claims'

Former U.N. Iraq chief arms inspector Dr. Hans Blix told NewsMax, from his home in Stockholm, Sweden, that he still stands by his claim that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein may in fact have had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) shortly before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

NewsMax reported on Feb. 10 that Blix had made such a claim in a report sent to the UNMOVIC (U.N. Monitoring, Observation, Verification and Inspection Commission) College of Commissioners on March 6, 2003.

The Blix report was submitted just two weeks before the start of the U.S./U.K.-led coalition invasion.

Several Bush administration officials have insisted that numerous intelligence agencies outside the U.S. and U.K. believed that Saddam Hussein was hiding WMD, in clear violation of U.N. sanctions.

In a CNN interview on Tuesday, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice specifically cited the Blix report as just one of many examples to justify the White House assertion that Saddam posed a threat to U.S. national security.

In a BBC interview last Sunday, Blix called the WMD assertions by the U.S. and U.K. "insincere" and commented that both President Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair should have been more forthcoming to their citizens.

Blix, contacted again on Thursday by NewsMax, said he still stands by his claim on Iraq's possible possession of WMD shortly before the war:

"It is correct that we had strong suspicions that anthrax could remain [in Iraq]. There is some difference between strong suspicions and assertions. ... Compare it with the language from the other sides [U.S./U.K.]."

Reacting to the Blix comments, one U.S. diplomat at the U.N. explained: "What were we supposed to do? Wait till he used it and killed thousands?"

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