Professional Luncheon,
Hans Blix,
Chairman, Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission

The speech and Q & A will be in English.

"Weapons of Terror"

Weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq, but they certainly remain a menace to the human race. A recent report by the independent and international Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission cites the existence of 27,000 nuclear weapons spread around the world and the continuing efforts by individual states and perhaps terrorist groups to develop or obtain different kinds of weapons. This past summer the commission put forward 60 concrete recommendations on how the world could be freed of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

As chairman of the commission, Dr. Hans Blix is visiting Japan and the FCCJ to explain the commission's push for arms limitation and disarmament. Blix served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs and as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency before becoming executive chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), which was charged with investigating Iraq's weapons capabilities. In the run up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Blix frequently clashed with the Bush administration over whether or not Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and whether it posed a threat to its neighbors and the world.

Come hear this seasoned arms control expert explain why states currently possessing nuclear weapons must reduce their arsenals and stop producing plutonium and highly enriched uranium for more weapons.

Hans Blix, Chairman, Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission