'Faith' drove US to war, says Blix

Former United Nations weapons inspector to Iraq Hans Blix has taken another swipe at America's justification for going to war, saying it was based on "faith" rather than good intelligence.

But there were now signs of significant change within the United States on the issue of international arms control and nuclear disarmament, Mr Blix told a Red Cross international humanitarian law conference in Wellington yesterday.

Mr Blix, who headed a three-year UN mission to seek out Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, has repeatedly criticised the US for going to war against Iraq in 2003 on spurious evidence that it was concealing weapons of mass destruction.

"The problem with all such preventive military actions is that they must rely on intelligence."

In this case, Mr Blix said the evidence was faith-based.

"The negative results of 700 inspections of some 500 sites was ignored."

Mr Blix said that despite the "rather pugnacious profile" of the Bush administration, there were signs of movement within the US on the issue of nuclear disarmament and international arms control.

"So the question I think for the moment is whether the US is ready to re-occupy the driver's seat in international efforts for arms control and disarmament . . . whether it was going to be the lead wolf or the lone wolf."

Mr Blix, a former director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency who now chairs the Swedish- based Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, said there was a need for renewed consensus on the elimination of WMDs.

There was frustration that nuclear-armed states were not living up to their end of the bargain and moving to disarm, a commitment made when they signed up to the non-proliferation treaty.

"It is not a recipe for success to preach to the rest of the world that they must stay away from nuclear weapons. Disarmament and non- proliferation are two sides of the same coin."

He also criticised the deployment of weapons in space, where some scientists were developing technology to benefit mankind while others were bent on destroying it.

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