"It depends on how it goes. If it continues -- more people are killed -- people will ask what got them there in the first place and why they never found weapons of mass destruction," he said.
His tone is measured. The man with a double doctorate from Uppsala and Cambridge universities is known for his cool analysis.
But neither is he afraid to take issue with Washington, repeating his view that despite repeated searches by the Americans, every day makes him more convinced that weapons of mass destruction will never be found in Iraq.
He also says the Americans are wrong to assume that Iran used a civilian energy program to develop a nuclear bomb -- another point of tension with several European countries.
Blix says his new international commission on weapons of mass destruction, announced by Sweden in July, is close to being formed and among the participants will be a leading but as yet unidentified American. The commission will report its findings in 2005 -- but don't expect Blix to be silent in the meantime.
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