Media misrepresentation of Hans Blix

Hans Blix stated (BBC Radio 4 'Today', 20/3/03) that Iraq cooperated in the inspections process in 2003 (prior to the invasion). He also stated that no WMD had been found, that US intelligence on WMD was poor and sometimes bogus. He said that lack of accounting of destruction of WMD wasn't evidence of existence of WMD.

The BBC, believed by many to be politically impartial, consistently misreported Blix's reports. More than once we heard BBC news claim that the inspectors reported no cooperation from Iraq.

In an April 2003 interview, Hans Blix used the words "shaky", "faked" and "forgeries" to describe US intelligence on alleged Iraqi WMD. (BBC1, Channel 4 TV, 22/4/03). Meanwhile, former UK foreign secretary Robin Cook (who had full access to intelligence reports on Iraq) said he doubted that there was a single figure in the intelligence services who believed that a weapon of mass destruction in working order would be found in Iraq. (Guardian 23/4/03)