Mohamed ElBaradei was director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 until 2009. In an interview with FRANCE 24, he reflected on the US-led invasion of Iraq 20 years ago this week, which he opposed. "If I now look in hindsight, it was not really about weapons of mass destruction. It was about regime change," he said. ElBaradei added: "They (the US) thought the best pretext was to say that Saddam Hussein was linked to al Qaeda and had WMDs (...) They didn't really have any evidence. It was all about belief. And they started a slew of deception and misinformation."
"When we went to Iraq, we couldn't see anything. There was absolutely no whiff of a nuclear weapons revival. We went to a war that should not have been (waged). And now we realise that it's a war that has a horrible human cost, in terms of the Iraqis; horrible implications for the region, in terms of terrorism, radicalism," ElBaradei told FRANCE 24.
He added: "Saddam Hussein was a dictator, there's no question about it. But do you go into a country, destroy a country completely, just to get rid of a dictator? This is a question we see in many countries and we need to understand that this is not the way. Regime change, if it happens, has to come from within. You cannot impose a political system; you cannot impose democracy."
ElBaradei also regretted the fact that no one has been held accountable for the war. "There was no accountability whatsoever (...) More importantly, did we do anything to make sure that we do not repeat such a catastrophe, such a disaster? I don't think we did."
