This is Dr Blix's account of what really happened in the run-up to the declaratin of war on Iraq in March 2003. In clear-eyed descriptions of his meetings with Tony Blair, George Bush, Jacques Chirac, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Kofi Annan, he conveys the frustrations, the tensions, the pressure and the drama as the clock ticked down. He asks key questions including: Could the war have been prevented or 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? His answers are thoughtful and authoritative.

Arabic collection. Includes index.

Disarming Iraq: moments of truth? -- Inspection: why, how and when? -- Out of the ice-box and into the frying pan -- Inspections, yes, but how? -- The December declaration -- To Baghdad and back -- Approaching the brink -- Search for a middle road: benchmarks? -- Deadlock -- Bashing Blix and ElBaradei -- Diplomacy on the brink: the breakdown -- After war: weapons of mass disappearance.