Blix: “Bastards” Get Him Down

Now that he’s retiring after three years as the Chief Weapons Inspector, Hans Blix seems to have found a new voice. He gave an interview with the Guardian in which he called out the “bastards” in the Bush Administration who interfered with the inspection process. They leaned on him for more damning language in the reports, gave him bad intelligence, and were dismissive of the UN in general. “There are people in this [US] administration who say they don’t care if the UN sinks under the East river, and other crude things,” he said. They believe it is “alien power, even if it does hold considerable influence within it. Such [negative] feelings don’t exist in Europe where people say that the UN is a lot of talk at dinners and fluffy stuff.” He also says that despite of the bad apples, his relationship with the United States was good.