Holy shit, how bad does it have to get before Hans Blix says that Iraq was better off under Saddam?? That's what the former United Nations chief weapons inspector said on Wednesday. Wow.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]Iraq better off under Saddam, says Blix
October 26 2006 at 07:53AM
Former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Wednesday described the United States-led invasion of Iraq as a "pure failure" that had left the country worse off than under the rule of Saddam Hussein.
In unusually harsh comments to Danish newspaper Politiken, the diplomatic Swede said the US government had ended up in a situation in which neither staying nor leaving Iraq were good options.
"Iraq is a pure failure," Blix was quoted as saying. "If the Americans pull out, there is a risk that they will leave a country in civil war. At the same time, it doesn't seem that the United States can help to stabilise the situation by staying there."
War-related violence in Iraq has grown worse, with dozens of civilians, government officials and police and security force members being killed every day. At least 83 US soldiers have been killed in October - the highest monthly toll in 2006.
Blix said the situation would have been better if the war had not taken place.
"Saddam would still have been sitting in office. Okay, that is negative and it would not have been joyful for the Iraqi people. But what we have gotten is undoubtedly worse," he was quoted as saying.
Blix led the UN inspectors that searched for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the US-led invasion in 2003. He came under heavy fire from Washington when he urged US President George Bush to allow the weapons inspectors and the International Atomic Energy Agency to continue their work as a way to stave off a war.
Ultimately a US-led coalition invaded Iraq and no such weapons were found. - Sapa-AP
