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HANS BLIX
As Chief of the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, Hans Blix would obviously have been under a lot of pressure while the Americans pursued their own Holy Grail - Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Not many were found, and those that were found were about as destructive as a teabag. Deprived of their opportunity to bomb the shit out a of country with backing, the Americans went to war anyway - and Blix himself has received a lot of flack from the Government.
In his three years as chief weapons inspector, Blix says he was constantly under attack from the American government and those stationed in Iraq. He mentioned in an interview with The Guardian that the Bush administration had pressured him and the weapons inspectors in Iraq to produce more damning reports of Saddam's weaponry. They were keen that he do this so that they could get votes on the security, and they were disappointed that he didn't make more of a large discovery of cluster bombs. 'Some elements' of the Pentagon were involved in a smear campaign against him, and that 'Washington regarded the UN as an "alien power"'. In an atricle published on June 11th, Blix also states how people were calling him the worst choice for the job before he even left for the new search in Iraq. Of course, they had a problem because Blix was likely to return a less damning verdict. This doesn't mean that Blix condoned Saddam's regime - he is simply taken an unbiased, disinterested view of the situation.
Despite his patchy relations with Washington, Iraqis still named him as a "homosexual who went to Washington every two weeks to pick up [his] instructions". A lot of sniping also came from the Pentagon itself. But the fact remains that Blix will retire in three weeks time. Although I have only known of him since the controversy over Iraq began, I will be sad to see him go. Already, things have begun to change. There is a new search for WMDs being conducted by 1,300 American inspectors, as opposed to the international team provided by the UN.
Think about it.