AP - Hans Blix Says Iraq War Was Unfounded

"The justification for the war - the existence of weapons of mass destruction - was without foundation," Blix said. "The military operation was successful, but the diagnosis was wrong.

Blix, whose teams did not make significant weapons finds during months of searching Iraq before the war, has repeatedly criticized U.S. and British handling of information before the war.

Again on Tuesday he criticized the United States and Britain for trusting their own intelligence more than that of the weapons inspectors, who had not found "a smoking gun."

Blix, 75, who headed the U.N. inspectors from 2000 to mid-2003 said in a speech Feb. 15 that no hidden weapons had been found in Iraq since 1991, but he did not rule out that a minor cache of weapons might be exposed.

Ok, but was Hussein in violation of the UN resolutions and the agreement that ended the war in 1991? Mr. Blix cannot deny his own testimony to that effect. There may be no large stockpiles in Iraq, but there certainly were ongoing weapons programs, in violoation of the war-ending resolutions. There were also ties to Al Qaida and international terrorism, also in violation of those resolutions. The security council may wish to remain toothless, but the US cannot afford to wait for the rest of the world to wake up.