Hans Blix still puts his faith in nuclear diplomacy

Former U.N. weapons inspector addresses Coalition for Peace Action

By: Courtney Gross
   The former United Nations chief weapons inspector in Iraq, Hans Blix, said he is still optimistic that nuclear disarmament and diplomacy can be successful even as the war in Iraq surges forward and Iran continues to pursue its own nuclear program.
   Mr. Blix addressed approximately 325 attendees at the Princeton Theological Seminary’s Mackay Campus Center on Sunday night at the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action annual membership dinner.
   A former director general at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Blix, was the focus of attention for the months immediately prior to the American invasion of Iraq as he led a team to search for weapons of mass destruction. He captivated an audience again Sunday evening, where he was met with several standing ovations.
   "I’m optimist," Mr. Blix noted in a thick Swedish accent. "I think there is some tendency towards more pragmatic (approaches), and all over the United States the military needs are proven very, very costly."
   The increasingly popular nuclear nonproliferation movement, Mr. Blix said, is part of his optimism, as are a proven history of diplomacy’s success and the rule of law.
   Mr. Blix’s address almost immediately followed the U.N. Security Council’s approval Saturday of tougher economic sanctions on Iran for pursuing a nuclear program that some claim is a guise to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Officials from Iran have contended its uranium enrichment is for a peaceful, nuclear energy program.
   The annual meeting also coincided with last week’s four-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
   On Sunday, Mr. Blix continued to criticize the Bush Administration’s justification for war and called the conflict a "debacle" as well as a "tragedy."
   "There were 700 inspections in 500 different places, and in no place did we find weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Blix said of his time as Iraq’s chief weapons inspector.
   Since 2003, Mr. Blix has headed the independent Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission based in Sweden, which studies nuclear disarmament.
   Of rising concern to the Stockholm, Sweden, resident is the United States and the United Kingdom’s pursuit of "a new generation" of weapons as the two countries continue to persuade other nations to abandon their own nuclear programs.
   "You sit there smoking a cigar and tell your children not to smoke, it’s not all that convincing," Mr. Blix said.
   Even so, Mr. Blix pointed toward diplomacy and law as tactics to halt the production of nuclear arms. As history has shown, Mr. Blix said, diplomacy has been a proven success.
   "You and me together should push Bush towards disarmament, because we are living dangerously with the stuff we have," Mr. Blix said. "Diplomacy is not just courtesy and correctness, but it is also trying to find a common denominator to solve disputes without the loss of face," Mr. Blix added.
   Following Sunday’s event, the executive director of the Coalition for Peace Action, the Rev. Robert Moore, called Mr. Blix’s address "insightful" as well as an occasion that has recharged the coalition’s energy.
   Sunday’s meeting also honored Rep. Rush Holt (D-12); the chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, Lawrence Hamm; the coalition’s coordinator for Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, the Rev. Alfred Krass; and Patricia Radtke, chairwoman of the coalition’s Peace Education Committee.