The former deputy foreign minister of Sweden is warning that Hans Blix, chief of the UN inspection team in Iraq, is a wimp.

In surprisingly un-diplomatic language, Per Ahlmark, former deputy foreign minister of Sweden, warns that Blix, whom he has known for 40 years, is “weak and easily fooled,” unsuitable “for a showdown with Saddam,” “naive and relatively ignorant of technical details,” a “wimp” with a “track record of compounded failure,” and “a man repeatedly duped [by] the Iraqi regime.”

Blix falsely issued Iraq a clean bill of health before, wants to avoid confrontation with Saddam, and reproached a senior colleague, David Kay, for disbelieving official Iraqi statements, Ahlmark writes.