This diary will take the reader back to the pivotal period at the turn of the millennium, when Hans Blix was the UN chief weapons inspector to Iraq, responsible for extensive investigations into the possible existence of weapons of mass destruction. Blix was required to report to the world what he had – and had not – found, under immense time pressure from a broader political context, where the success of the inspections might avert a US-led war. It sheds new light on the intense diplomacy behind the scenes at the UN headquarters in New York and capitals around the world, where Blix met with leaders like US president George Bush, UK prime minister Tony Blair and French president Jacques Chirac. The diary is a valuable historical document of events leading up to the Iraq war, but it can also be read as a guide in practical diplomacy with the highest of stakes.

‘This book is very interesting indeed. The detailed material certainly contributes to a fuller historical picture of the lead-up to the Iraq war and its outbreak. And for many readers it contains elements that are important for them to think about in performing assignments entrusted to them.’

Hans Corell - Former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal  Counsel of the United Nations

‘An extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the buildup to the US-led war on Iraq in 2003. Hans Blix had a unique vantage point in the frenetic weeks leading up the invasion, and, fortunate for the rest of us, he kept a diary. Through these engrossing pages, we come to better understand why diplomacy failed and war came.’

Fredrik Logevall - Laurence D. Belfer Professor of History and International Affairs, Harvard University