The Search for the Smoking Gun!!
Former Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector, Hans Blix gave a talk yesterday at our University. Undoubtedly an excellent speaker, he talks with acute professionalism and clarity. Although Swedish born, he has a good command over English and unlike Barak, had his speech well jotted down and prepared. He openly criticized the present government for attacking Iraq, leading to a war which was chosen to the other alternative of inspections. The US had two choices for disarming Iraq (i) 200 men and $80 million a year OR (ii) 200,000 men and $80 billion a year. They chose the latter. Inspections were proving more reliable than intelligence in the case of Iraq, and if the UN inspectors were given a time of 2 more months, it would have been definitely proved that there are no WMD in Iraq. Saddam had probably tried his trick of putting up a sign of 'BEWARE OF DOG' but the fact was that he had no dog, and the trick worked out well and quite cheaper too in keeping the US at bay for some amount of time. The US had attacked Iraq either based on faulty intelligence reports or extremely weak intelligence or just complete lack of evidence. Blix and his team had inspected over 700 suspected sites as recommended by intelligence reports and no WMD were found. "A couple of months more would have shown a weakness in evidence for the WMD because there weren't any, and the US and UK intelligence would have fallen apart. Going after Iraq was like trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon ball." He referred to India being a nuclear power before Pakistan, and tomorrow if India preemptively attacks Pakistan for suspecting it to be a nuclear threat, it is completely justified. Blix ended his speech by quoting that "Removal of a brutal dictator like Saddam, definitely made the world a better place, but surely not a safer place."
All in all an excellent speech!
To read a detail report CLICK HERE! 
Thursday, April 29, 2004