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Amazon.co.uk Review
Blix blames "monumental" intelligence failures on the part of the US and Great Britain for most of these errors. In particular, he questions America's reliance on Iraqi defectors over their own intelligence agencies. He further wonders why the US dismissed nearly all of the inspection agencies' findings over the past decade, in essence depriving themselves of a valuable source of information. He concludes that inspections are a worthwhile and effective method of containing potentially dangerous regimes and he believes that too high a price was paid for the war: "in the compromised legitimacy of the action, in the damaged credibility of the governments pursuing it, and in the diminished authority of the United Nations." --Shawn Carkonen, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
James Buchan, Guardian
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In summary his basic comments were that Iraq was not a threat and it was essentially contained and dis-armed since 1992, and the inspectors should have been allowed to complete their mission. Personally I found his arguments compelling and it seems to me that a month or two here or there would have made little difference since Iraq was not in compliance for almost 10 years or more and a few months more was not that important. The book can be read in one evening and it is mostly a good light read, and you will not be disappointed. Often I give away my books, but I kept the Blix book.
In any case, to check on Iraq and the WMD's the UN hired Hans Blix late in 2002. Dr. Blix is not the most dynamic guy but he is solid. He was a Swedish diplomat, US educated at Columbia where his son goes now, low key, highly competent, and he was the IAEA chief for twenty years - now just retired. On paper he is a world expert. Blix was subject to a lot of criticism in some US media and by Vice President Cheney who called the inspectors "useless" and Blix was portrayed as a bungling fool like the famous French detective Inspector Cluseau in a Peter Sellers movie. But really this is far from being an accurate portrayal. He was in fact head of the IAEA for 20 years and one of the world's experts on nuclear programs. This book is Blix's chance to answer his critics all in his own words, no media translation.
As a book it is an easy to read and surprisingly fast moving. It covers the inspectors, Resolution 1441, talks with the US and others, the spring deadline of 2003 and the start of the Iraq invasion - all from his perspective. I thought it might be a bit plodding but it is not. It is a quick light read of about 275 pages and very well written that can be mostly covered in one evening. In short it is a good book and deserves at least 4 stars.
The book is excellent but probably not as good as the book by Craig Unger - House of Bush, House of Saud. That is the best read of the current crop of books. Also the Richard Clarke book is better, but the Blix book is up near the top of the list and I think that it is a must read. I made a 25 book listmania list of the best books on the subject or closely related. But a book review is no substitute for reading the book.
Worth the buy and the read. Recommend.
Hans gives good account of what was really happening during this time
after reading i still felt the book was missing something but... Read more
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