[R-G] US is misquoting my Iraq report, says Blix

[DavidMcR at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/31/03 7:49:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, 

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  http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804520548.html
 US is misquoting my Iraq report, says Blix
 By Judith Miller and Julia Preston in New York
 February 1 2003
 
 Days after delivering a broadly negative report on Iraq's cooperation with
 international inspectors, Hans Blix challenged several of the Bush
 Administration's assertions about Iraqi cheating and the notion that time
 was running out for disarming Iraq through peaceful means.
 
 In an interview on Wednesday, Dr Blix, the United Nations chief weapons
 inspector, seemed determined to dispel any impression that his report was
 intended to support the United States' campaign to build world support for a
 war to disarm Saddam Hussein.
 
 "Whatever we say will be used by some," Dr Blix said, adding that he had
 strived to be "as factual and conscientious" as possible. "I did not tailor
 my report to the political wishes or hopes in Baghdad or Washington or any
 other place."
 
 Dr Blix took issue with what he said were US Secretary of State Colin
 Powell's claims that the inspectors had found that Iraqi officials were
 hiding and moving illicit materials within and outside of Iraq to prevent
 their discovery. He said that the inspectors had reported no such incidents.
 
 Similarly, he said, he had not seen convincing evidence that Iraq was
 sending weapons scientists to other countries to prevent them from being
 interviewed.
 
 Nor had he any reason to believe, as President George Bush charged in his
 State of the Union speech, that Iraqi agents were posing as scientists, or
 that his inspection agency had been penetrated by Iraqi agents and that
 sensitive information might have been leaked to Baghdad.
 
 Finally, he said, he had seen no persuasive indications of Iraqi ties to
 al-Qaeda. "There are other states where there appear to be stronger links,"
 such as Afghanistan, Dr Blix said. "It's bad enough that Iraq may have
 weapons of mass destruction."
 
 Russia has also denied any knowledge of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda
 extremists. The Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, said on Thursday that
 "so far, neither Russia nor any other country has information about Iraq's
 ties with al-Qaeda".
 
 "If we receive such information we will analyse it," he said. "Statements
 made so far are not backed by concrete documents and concrete facts."
 
 Meanwhile the founder of a militant Islamist group in northern Iraq has
 denied US reports that his organisation was the secret link between Baghdad
 and al-Qaeda.
 
 Mullah Krekar, a refugee in Norway, said Saddam was his foe, and the Kurdish
 Islamist said he had no contact with al-Qaeda.
 
 He said that he could prove that his Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam)
 organisation, which controls a sliver of land in northern Iraq, had "no
 contact with al-Qaeda, with Osama [bin Laden], with Saddam Hussein, with
 Iran or Iraq".
 
 Ansar's role is at the heart of the US's latest attempt to demonstrate a
 connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq.
 
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