Hans Blix will recount the events leading up to the declaration of war on Iraq in March 2003, looking back to Saddam Hussein's long wrangle with the international community since the first Gulf War and before and forward to the implications for international security in the aftermath of the war just ended. In his descriptions of his meetings with Blair, Bush, Chirac, Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell and Kofi Annan, Hans Blix conveys the frustrations, the tensions, the pressure and the drama of the months leading up to the US/UK-led attack on Iraq, and shows how the international community really works, with each nation using the UN to secure its own interests. Hans Blix will ask and answer key questions including: Could the war have been prevented? Was it inevitable? Does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? Why couldn't the US and the UK secure the backing of the member states of the UN Security Council? What can be learnt from the Iraq war for the prevention of the spread and use of WMDs in the future? He argues from hard-won experience with clarity and conviction that a regime of international inspection is essential to assure us that commitments from not to acquire or possess weapons of mass destruction are respected.