Blix attacks Washington 'bastards'
By the Staff at the Daily Telegraph.

Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector, branded his detractors in Washington yesterday as "bastards", claiming that they sought to undermine his three-year mission.

Mr Blix also rounded on the Pentagon, where he said "some elements" had orchestrated a smear campaign against him during his mission to root out Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

"I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, who planted nasty things in the media," he told the Guardian. "Not that I cared much. It was like a mosquito bite in the evening that is there in the morning, an irritant."

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Blix attacks Washington 'bastards'
By Our Foreign Staff
(Filed: 11/06/2003)

Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector, branded his detractors in Washington yesterday as "bastards", claiming that they sought to undermine his three-year mission.

Mr Blix also rounded on the Pentagon, where he said "some elements" had orchestrated a smear campaign against him during his mission to root out Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

"I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, who planted nasty things in the media," he told the Guardian. "Not that I cared much. It was like a mosquito bite in the evening that is there in the morning, an irritant."

He said that "we cannot exclude" that Iraq's elusive WMD's would yet be found.

His outburst comes as Mr Blix, 74, prepares to retire to his native Sweden.

In an interview with America's ABC network, Mr Blix declined to criticise the sincerity of Tony Blair and George W Bush, but said the intelligence that they acted on was far from "solid".