"Mr. Blix, 75, a Swedish constitutional lawyer and the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1981 to 1997, came out of retirement three years ago to head up the United Nations inspection team in Iraq.
In the book, written in the same judicious and patient style that Bush administration officials disparaged when they criticized his approach to inspections, Mr. Blix concedes that as late as a month before the war, he still thought the Iraqis were concealing banned weapons." [emphasis added]
Here is some typical Administration reaction to Blix team's work--from back before the war (note even Blix said cooperation by Iraq existed more on the level of "process" than "substance").
Is this constitutive of disparagement? I think not.
Posted by Gregory Djerejian at March 16, 2004 08:45 AM