Product Description

Hans Blix recounts the events leading up to the declaration of war on Iraq in March 2003, looking back to Saddam Hussein?s long wrangle with the international community since the first Gulf War and forward to the implications for international security in the aftermath of the war just ended. In clear-eyed descriptions of his meetings with Blair, Bush, Chirac, Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell and Kofi Annan, he conveys the frustrations, the tensions, the pressure and the drama of the months leading up to the US/UK-led attack on Iraq. He also asks and answers key questions including: Could the war have been prevented? Was it inevitable? Does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? Why couldn't the US and the UK secure the backing of the member states of the UN Security Council? And: What can be learnt from the Iraq war for the prevention of the spread and use of WMDs in the future?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #411613 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Disarming Iraq is an insider's account of the diplomatic and inspection efforts leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Although a bit dry, the book is logically presented and gives an excellent background on the inspections process and the politics surrounding it. Hans Blix, who came out of retirement in 2000 to lead the inspections effort, was often bashed by American politicians and journalists, but he does not use this forum to strike back. Instead, he allows the evidence to do the talking and only occasionally offering his own opinion. Blix stresses that he never trusted Hussein and that inspectors were often misled and stonewalled, but he also points out that they never found any evidence of weapons of mass destruction either. Though Blix welcomes the end of Hussein's brutal dictatorship, his removal was "neither the avowed aim nor the justification given" for the war--WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) were the issue. Therefore, he believes the invasion was unnecessary and possibly counterproductive in the long run and is disappointed that they were not given enough time to complete their task. "Containment had worked" he writes. "It has also become clear that national intelligence organisations and government hawks, but not the inspectors, had been wrong in their assessments."

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

Review
'This is, throughout, a very cool and clear critique of Britain and America's insuperable rush to war from the man who knew better than most that Iraq posed not the remotest threat to you and me, nor indeed to the "stability" of the Middle East. Blix demolishes the legal arguments for war' Rod Liddle, Sunday Times 'Disarming Iraq is a fascinating tale of folly, pride, arrogance, intrigue and deceit' Guardian 'Blix not only has an undisputed place in history, but a potentially important future on the world stage. His book is required reading for all interested in these events' Scotsman 'This is a valuable, authoritative work of record by a diplomat who did his best to prove that the crisis could be resolved without resort to war' New Statesman

From the Publisher
The must-read book for everyone who wants to really understand what happened in the run-up to the declaration of war against Iraq by the one unimpeachable witness, with a new preface and chapter

Customer Reviews

Just another brick in the wall
When this war is over, or at least when Bush is out of the White House(whether that's 2004 or 2008), there'll be a few core books that will bethe basic texts for what happened in 2003. This is surely one of them.Blix is level-headed, methodical, detailed, believable. He was never blindto the cunning and vileness of Saddam and his regime. But he genuinelyfelt that there were better ways of dealing with Iraq, and to be honest,time has borne him out...

Surprisingly Good and Informative
For some reason this book did not generate a lot of interest but the book was actually a good read. I learned a few new things from a different perspective and would recommend the book to get an alternative viewpoint.

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.

Balanced Blix Blasts Bush
Blix's memoirs are a fasinating insight in to the way that his agency was almost ignored by Dubya's (and Blair's) own agenda. Once one of the key reasons for going to war the US still search for the elusive (and fictional?) WMD's. Blix's account is an interesting and balanced read.