Washington | Monday
THE US Central Intelligence Agency has investigated International Atomic Energy Agency head Hans Blix at the request of a top defence official who suspected him of being lenient toward Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
The report said Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz earlier this year asked the CIA to investigate the performance of Blix, who chairs a new UN team that was formed to carry out inspections of Iraq’s weapons programs.
The spy agency returned its report in late January with the conclusion that Blix had conducted inspections of Iraq’s declared nuclear power plants ”fully within the parameters he could operate,” according to The Post.
Upon receiving the document, Wolfowitz hit the ceiling because it failed to provide sufficient ammunition to undermine Blix and, by association, the new UN weapons inspection program, the daily reported, quoting an unnamed former State Department official familiar with the CIA report.
However, Wolfowitz ultimately concluded the CIA had given Blix, a Swedish diplomat, only a ”lukewarm assessment,” the newspaper said.
According to the report, the request for a CIA investigation underscored the degree of concern by Wolfowitz and his civilian colleagues in the Pentagon that new inspections or protracted negotiations over them could torpedo their plans for military action to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power. – Sapa-AFP