In a report dated March 27, 1999, a UN panel “concluded that ‘the bulk of Iraq’s proscribed weapons programmes has been eliminated’ and suggested that the presence of inspectors was the most effective way to provide assurance that Iraq did not retain, acquire or rebuild any prohibited weapons. The panel warned against believing that any system could bring 100-percent certainty and suggested a concentration on the remaining priority tasks. The system could range from routine monitoring to very intrusive inspection. The panel cautioned that any information should be assessed ‘strictly on the basis of its credibility and relevance to the mandate’ and that the relationship to intelligence providers should be one-way only, even if it was recognized that some dialogue was necessary. The report demanded effectiveness, but warned against unnecessary confrontation. The legal framework for UNSCOM [UN Special Commission on Iraq] could remain, just in ‘renovated’ form.”
– Hans Blix, Disarming Iraq, Pages 38-39