LONDON, September 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Former U.N. chief weapons Hans Blix accused the British government on Thursday, September 18, of "over-interpreted" intelligence on Iraq's alleged capability of deploying weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, lashing out at the "culture of spin and hyping" adopted by Downing Steet.

"The U.K. paper that came out in September last year with the famous words about the 45 minutes - when you read the text exactly I get the impression it wants to convey to the reader and lead the reader to conclusions that are a little further reaching than the text needs to mean," Blix told the BBC Radio 4's Today program.

"One can read it restrictively but one can also lead to far-reaching conclusions and I think many people did…What stands accused is the culture of spin, of hyping," he added.

Blix had previously criticized Blair for making a "fundamental mistake" in claiming that ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein could deploy WMDs within 45 minutes.

He also spoke to the BBC a day after he said on Australian radio that he increasingly felt that Saddam "destroyed all, almost" of the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq had in mid-1991, after the Gulf war, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Asked whether he thought the U.S.-led war on Iraq had been justified, Blix replied: "No, I don't think so," hoping governments would be more cautious in the future use of special intelligence.

Blix further said that exaggeration, spin and hype damaged government credibility.

"We know that the advertisers will advertise a refrigerator in terms they do not quite believe in but you expect governments to be more serious and have more credibility," he said.

"I understand they have to simplify things when they explain it, but nevertheless we expect them to be reliable."

However, Blix said that it was "understandable" that President George W. Bush and Blair feared Saddam was pursuing the development of chemical, biological and chemical weapons.

"They were convinced that Saddam was going in this direction (of developing weapons of mass destruction), and I think it is understandable against the background of the man that they did so," he said.

Blix further likened the U.S.-led war on Iraq that began almost six months ago and quickly led to Saddam's downfall, to a witch-hunt.

He compared the way Britain and America were sure Iraq had weapons of mass destruction programs to the way people in the Middle Ages were convinced witches existed and so found them when they looked, the BBC News Online said. "But in the Middle Ages, when people were convinced there were witches, when they looked for them, they certainly found them. We (the U.N. inspectors) were more judicious. We wanted to have the evidence," said Blix.

"This is a bit risky. I think we were more judicious, saying we want to have real evidence."

Blix's comments come amid the Hutton inquiry into the death of British government scientist Dr David Kelly, who apparently killed himself after he was named as the source for a BBC story that the government "sexed up" the dossier.

Commenting on Blix's remarks, conservative shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said Blix's comments raised serious questions to which the government must now respond.

Quoting liberal Democrat MP Menzies Campbell, the BBC News Online said that Blix's remarks reinforced the need for the British government to publish the full legal advice it received on the eve-of-war.