WMD claim of 45 minutes dramatised, says Blix
Those who drafted it acted like salesmen trying to "increase and exaggerate the importance" of their wares, Dr Blix said. But he insisted he was not accusing British Prime Minister Tony Blair of acting in "bad faith".
"From politicians, from our leaders in the West, I think we expect more than that. A bit more sincerity," he said.
Dr Blix headed the UN team searching for Saddam Hussein's weapons from November 2002, until they were pulled out in March 2003, on the eve of war.
He said he would be willing to give evidence to Lord Butler's new inquiry into intelligence on Iraq "if they want me to come and if there is time for it".
The inspectors warned the British and US governments there was no "smoking gun" evidence of weapons caches. London and Washington were also told that Iraqi weapons that were unaccounted for may well no longer exist.
"I think we issued the correct warning. Nevertheless, they did not take it that seriously," he told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost.
The intelligence services shared the blame for the false picture of Iraqi WMD built up in the two countries, he said. "They clearly believed too much of what defectors said," Dr Blix said.
"UNSCOM, the former UN inspectors, withdrew at the end of 1998. Thereafter the intelligence communities in the West lost an important source and they were relying upon defectors and much of what they got there was wrong.
"However, the other side of it I think is the spin the politicians have given to it.
"I have never said that I think Prime Minister Blair or President Bush were in bad faith.
"But I do see that how they express themselves has to do with information management."
The "famous" 45-minute claims was a key example of this, Dr Blix said.
"They say some WMD can be ready to be used within 45 minutes. Well, which ones?
"It certainly wasn't nuclear because the report says that they were not developing nuclear so they didn't have them.
"And what is meant by being ready? Is it a phial of anthrax that can be tossed at somebody. You can interpret it different ways.
"The intention was to dramatise it just as the vendors of some merchandise are trying to increase and exaggerate the importance of what they have," he said.
Dr Blix challenged the British and US to produce the evidence of weapons programmes they claim to have uncovered. "Is there clear evidence there were programmes? Maybe so. I don't deny the possibility," he said.
"Can we show clearly Saddam had intentions? He made some statements that seem to point in that direction. He made other statements that did not point in that direction."
Dr Blix also questioned claims that the conflict had led to Libya giving up its WMD programmes.
The war might well have influenced North Korea and Iran to co-operate but that did not justify war, he said.
"The Libyan case is very doubtful, whether Colonel Gaddafi eventually took this step because of what was going on Iraq. "
Dr Blix said he was not surprised by reports Britain took part in bugging UN members. "I assumed when I was in New York I might well have been bugged in my office whether by the US, or by the Iraqis ."
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