Hans Blix

Hans Blix (born June 28, 1928) was the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, a position he held from January 2000 to June 2003. He was born in Uppsala, Sweden. In 2002, the commission began scouring Iraq for weapons of mass destruction which the United States claimed to have proof of.

Blix had previously been the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (1981-1997) and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (1978-1981). He chaired the Swedish Liberal Party's campaign during the 1980 Referendum on nuclear power.

He was succeeded as head of UNMOVIC by Demetrius Perricos.

Quotes

Blix stated in the Guardian (June 11, 2003):
- "I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, of course, who planted nasty things in the media."
- "There are people in [the Bush administration] who say they don't care if the UN sinks under the East River...and other crude things."
- "It's true that the Iraqis misbehaved and had no credibility, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they were in the wrong."

See also: Mohamed ElBaradei, Iraq disarmament crisis