Weapons chief tells inquiry invasion of Iraq illegal

Dr Blix said he was of the "firm view" that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal. "I think the vast majority of international lawyers feel that way," he said.

He also criticised the way the then attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, had "wriggled" in order to provide the legal authority for British troops to invade.

Giving evidence to the Iraq Inquiry, Dr Hans Blix said it should have set alarm bells ringing in London and Washington when the inspectors repeatedly failed to turn up any evidence of WMD programmes.

"When we reported that we did not find any weapons of mass destruction they should have realised, I think, both in London and in Washington, that their sources were poor," he said.

Dr Blix said that he had privately confided to Tony Blair in the autumn of 2002 that he thought it was "plausible" that Saddam did have WMD.

However in the weeks leading up to the invasion in March 2003 – after the inspectors had failed to uncover anything significant – he said that he had cautioned Mr Blair that there might not be anything.

He said that he told the then-Prime Minister: "Wouldn't it be paradoxical if you were to invade Iraq with 250,000 men and find very little?"

He added: "I gave a warning that things had changed and there might not be so much."

Dr Blix said that the inspectors had visited 30 sites based on tip-offs from British and US intelligence but found little other than some old missile engines and a sheaf of nuclear documents.

He said that he did not believe that Britain and the US had been

entitled to invade without a further UN Security Council resolution authorising military action.

He accused the administration of US president George Bush of being "high on military" in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.

Dr Blix said the progress to war with Iraq was "almost unstoppable" by early 2003 and the UK was "a prisoner on that train".

He added: "The diplomatic timetable would have allowed more inspections. (The) UK wanted more inspections. The military timetable did not permit that."

The inquiry continues today.