News Release

January 27, 2003

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Cato Expert Comments on Blix Remarks to U.N. Security Council
Key question for Americans is whether Iraq poses an imminent threat to U.S. security

WASHINGTON -- In response to remarks made this morning by chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix before the U.N. Security Council, Cato's vice president for foreign policy and defense studies, Ted Galen Carpenter, issued the following statement: "As expected, Hans Blix has issued an ambivalent report about Iraqi compliance with the U.N. inspections system. However, the Bush administration is likely to find enough negative features in the report to support Washington's drive for a military campaign against Iraq.

"The obsession with the Blix report and the inspections process obscures a more fundamental issue. The key question for Americans is, or at least ought to be, whether Iraq poses a serious, imminent threat to the security of the United States. If it does, the Bush administration is justified in taking military action whether or not it has the backing of the United Nations, U.S. allies, or Iraq's neighbors. If Iraq does not pose such a threat, the administration would not be justified in launching attacks even if it had overwhelming backing from those parties.

"The administration has not made its case that Iraq poses a serious threat either directly or indirectly. It is highly improbable that Iraq would directly attack the United States, knowing that there would be an annihilating counterstroke. And it is barely more plausible that Iraq would attack the United States by using Al Qaeda as a proxy. The administration has not been able to provide credible evidence of any connection between Baghdad and Al Qaeda.

"Rather than debating the minutiae of the Blix report, Americans should insist that President Bush back away from an unnecessary and unwise war."

Ted Galen Carpenter, Ivan Eland, director of defense policy studies, and Charles V. Peņa, senior defense policy analyst, are available for media interviews.