Weapons of Mass Destruction ( or Distortion or Deception? You decide...)

various FR links | 06-07-03 | The Heavy Equipment Guy

[backhoe]

What about all this stuff?

WARNING: Gathering WMD storm a crock. See what Clinton told nation in 1998...

The Guardian Fully Retracts BOTH Powell/Straw Story AND Wolfowitz "It's All About Oil" Story

CIA convinced truck-trailers held bioweapons labs ^

IRAQ: WMD source 'was senior Iraqi officer'

FAS (Fed Am Scientist) Report: Iraqi Precursor Chemicals Stored Separately for Weapon-side Mixing

THE ROAD ENDS FOR WMD ON WHEELS

Coalition forces enter possible WMD site

Initial tests suggest WMD "cocktail" found in Iraq (**Of special note--post #58, by Archy)

U.S. finds new evidence of Iraqi WMD (NBC training school, antidotes)

Chem-weapons lab believed discovered

BRITS' CHILLING CHEM-NUKE FIND

CAPTURED FOES FOUND WITH CHEM-WAR GEAR

EUPHRATES 'POISONED'

MSNBC - Cyanide & Mustard Agents Found in Euphrates River

Is the Activity at Al Qaim Related to Nuclear Efforts?

U.S. probing nuclear facility (Al Tuwaitha Follow Up)

Team Inspects suspected plutonium site (update by the journalist who broke original story, NEW info)

Underground Nuclear Facility Found in Iraq

Marines hold Iraqi nuclear site built by French

U.S. Marines Guard Secret Iraqi City with Very Hot Nuclear Radiation Levels

And from Freeper "HatSteel":

Terrorist devices, chemical weapons found in Iraq

Suspicious Iraqi Drums - UPDATE

Suspected bioweapons labs found

Searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Larry Elder

Iraq's Weapons and the Road to War

Iraqi Scientist Links Weapons to 'Dual Use' Facilities, White House Says

IRAQ: U.S. Analysts Link Iraq Labs to Germ Arms

Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert

Herald Sun: Soldiers find Iraqi chemical 'dump'

***Germany's leading role in arming Iraq

*Germany intercepts (30 tonnes) chemicals (may be used to make nerve gas) for N Korea

New DOD team to hunt for intel as well as weapons

***Chemical Weapons Programs

Capture of chemical expert could help U.S. weapons hunt in Iraq (Emad Husayn Abdulla al-Ani)

Belgium Finds Nerve Gas Ingredient in Letters

Banned missile programme found in Iraq

Administration to Announce 'Rollback' Strategy for WMD

Suspicious Iraqi Drums Preliminary Testing Suggests Chemical Agents; More Testing Needed

2 trailers deemed biological arms labs

***Table 2: Characteristics of Chemical Warfare Agents: Commercial Uses of Chemicals or Precursor Chemicals

******CENTAF IRAQ'S CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM


And I should add--

October 1998:Senate Democrats Signed Letter Urging Clinton To Attack Saddam Over WMDs, just posted today.

23 posted on 06/07/2003 11:26 AM EDT by MizSterious (Support whirled peas!)

More:

CNN ^ | Feb. 17, 1998 | Bill Clinton - Text of President Clinton's address to Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pentagon staff on Iraq. [Excerpt]:

 

 

CIA Web Site: Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs

 

 

IRAQ: Powell Defends Information He Used to Justify Iraq War

 

Iraq & Terrorism

"World's most dangerous woman" heads Iraq's weapons programme

 

'New urgency' over Saddam: Baghdad makes 'recent breakthrough' in production of nuke bomb

 

How Saddam Got Weapons of Mass Destruction

 

 

http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/nwp2.html

Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapon Programme

 

Freeper Resource: Sleuthing The Iraq-Bin Laden Connection (Redone)

 

Exploring Iraq link to pre-Sept. 11 acts

Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years

Target: Safe Harbor - Bush's case against Iraq is iron-clad post-9/11.

Is Iraq rearming? (TRANSLATION: IRAQ RE-ARMING)

The Iraq Connection - Was Saddam involved in OK City and the 1st WTC bombing? ~ Micah Morrison

West Nile Virus Links to Saddam and Castro

Iraq and Cuba – Fitting Pieces in the West Nile Virus Puzzle?

 

Links to information on Iraqi Nuclear Weapons Systems and Design (VERY Scary!)

IRAQ- some links to terror

Anyone who is able to type "iraqwatch.org" into a browser will arrive at the Saddam military weapons data base compiled by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, so often quoted back in the years of U.S.-Soviet nuclear tensions. The Iraq Watch data base has enough history and documentation on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction to occupy a horrified reader for days.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/756132/posts?page=41#41

You mention Ramadam in your message regarding his report on Saddam's labs -- here is a link to a story titled "West Nile Mystery" that appeared in New Yorker in 1999 by Robert Preston (remember "The Hot Zone"?). The article relays ramadan's story... worth the read. According to the story, Saddam's remake of the West Nile Virus causes a 97% fatality rate.

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/artwestnilenewyorker.htm

 

Links to information on Iraqi Nuclear Weapons Systems and Design (VERY Scary!)

 

Older links:

-IRAQ- some links to terror--

 

-All Terror, All the Time-- FR's links to NBC Warfare, Terror, and More...--

[backhoe]

Excuse the fast cut & paste, but it's time to nip this nonsense in the bud.

Be certain to follow the links within the links to get the full story.

[backhoe]

FYI--

[gov_bean_ counter]

There was more direct intel linking Saddam to WMD and the development of delivery systems than there ever was linking Al-Qaeda to a specific attack on the US, yet the Libs want to crucify this admin for acting on the former and not being able to prevent the latter.

For this they should pay.

[quidnunc]

I suspect that) Iraq had active and ongoing nuclear and bio/chem programs but had no large stocks of bio/chem weapons.

He wouldn't need large stores unless he was planning a war, which our air power over the two no-fly zones pretty much precluded.

I further suspect the Iraqis had a decentralized bio/chem manufacturing system which relied on dual-use industries which could be converted to produce bio/chems rapidly at need.

Such facilities would be difficult to locate and identify conclusively.

Finally, I suspect that we have been caught up short because we relied on information from Arabs — who are among the most conniving, treacherous people in the world.

We probably based too much of our intelligence on what the Iraqi opposition told us, and they would say or do anything they thought we would believe in order to get us to whack Saddam.

[backhoe]

I truly I hope the President ( and Mr. Blair ) are setting up a Machiavellian sucker-punch to the Left.

[Peach]

Thank you for all the links! I'd had a computer crash a few weeks ago and lost valuable links to this topic. Regards, Peach

[Navy Patriot]

Backhoe, You are up to your usual extremly high standard of research and reference, congrats.

Of course you already know what this is all about: DemoRat liberal socialistic weaselism to enable them to continue treason and sabotage of America. Socialism must prevail at any cost.

[EternalHope]

Great work!

Bumped and bookmarked.

[backhoe]

Appreciate the comments... I saw somewhere a link detailing how the Iraqi chemical weapons program was- what do you call the bloody thing?- where the components are made only at the last moment & then combined. So there would never be large stocks of, say, VX.

[CFC__VRWC]

Compartmentalized?

[FairOpinion]

It's terrific that you started this thread.

Let me add a few things, which contain statements of Democrats, including Daschle and Clinton showing that they are convinced Iraq has WMD:

"Plot do deceive" by Paul Kagan, containing quotes and facts:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925015/posts

Daschle statement, Oct, 2002
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924988/posts


Letter of Democrats urging Clinton to attack Iraq, because of WMD, 1998
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924722/posts

Kerry's speech:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924996/posts?page=30#30

Clinton speech in Feb. 1998:
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/17/transcripts/clinton.iraq/

Clinton speech in Dec. 1998, explaining strikes on Iraq
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/16/transcripts/clinton.html

[Ole Okie]

yet the Libs want to crucify this admin for acting on the former and not being able to prevent the latter.

What else are they going to run on while trying to re-grab the presidensity and Presidential Power?

The RATS are bankrupt, idea-wise. Nothing illustrates it more than their attempt to make this their Big Campaign Issue.

I applaud Backhoe for the monumental research he's done here. But most Americans are not even aware of the MAD-RAT race going on amongst the RATS.

[backhoe]

I'd had a computer crash a few weeks ago...

Oh, Lordy, I sympathize- starting around Thanksgiving, my old 130mhtz 486 went through assorted conniptions and then died.
( It had had several virus-caused crashes & problems before, going back about a year...)
My wife "liberated" a 450mhtz AMD K-6 from an abandoned office at work ( it had been cannibalized ) and after about a month of swapping drives, video cards, modems, and getting a newer OS, I finally got the damnable thing to work OK. It sure was annoying, and while my link and data files were saved to floppies, I lost a ton of personal stuff like emails. Computers can be such a pain!

BTW, thanks for looking!

[backhoe]

I thank you for the compliment, and it is clear to me that the Left will use any lie, distortion, or spin to gain power and damage our President.

They are just a pile of malcontents and Bush Haters. How I long for the old days when some democrats were honorable men.

[backhoe]

Thanks for stopping by!

[backhoe]

Compartmentalized?

Yes, but there was some darned acronym, like FIFO to describe it. I'll try to find the link later.

[backhoe]

I greatly appreciate the links & info- I always want people to come in and add everything they can find to flesh out a post.

[Peach]

At least this time, I was a little smarter and bookmarked your resources sites. In the event of another crash (shudder), I'll still have those bookmarks. Last time I just had my Iraqi file sort of favorites list - years in the making - but Freepers have been helpful in finding those older articles.

The good news is I got a brand new computer and can't get over the increased speed. Bought a Dell - even those I can't stand those commercials! Regards

[dixiechick2000]

Thank you so much, backhoe!

Bookmarked and bump!

[backhoe]

Thanks very kindly!

[Richard Axtell]

Next time you hear some leftist say "... as yet no evidence of WMD has been found..." make them eat this list, and then have them recite these words..."I don't know what the f**k I am talking about, I don't know..." etc, etc.

[backhoe]

make them eat this list, and then...

Thank you, I haven't had such a good laugh in a long, long time!

[quidnunc]

Backhoe wrote: Appreciate the comments... I saw somewhere a link detailing how the Iraqi chemical weapons program was- what do you call the bloody thing?- where the components are made only at the last moment & then combined. So there would never be large stocks of, say, VX.

In industry this is called just-in-time delivery.

[jammer]

Here's the problem, backhoe, it seems to me. I went to the first link, desperate to find hard evidence to convince my skeptical friends. What did I find? A story about trailers that the CIA is convinced have only the purpose of WMD. I scroll down to another in Insight. It talks about unnamed defectors, but there is no hard evidence.

Now, that is enough to buttress the convictions of true believers, but it isn't good enough to sway undecided people. Forget the "hate Bush, no matter what" people. There are reasonable, reasonably informed people who say, "where's the beef?" If these articles are the beef, then I am scared to death: the a??holes on the left must be right. I won't go through more. You have a certain amount of our attention. Whittle them down, please, to hard evidence and not inference or unnamed "defectors."

[backhoe]

Located the link!

FAS (Fed Am Scientist) Report: Iraqi Precursor Chemicals Stored Separately for Weapon-side Mixing

[MizSterious]

Look at the 5th link listed above--that's one of the sources you're looking for. There might be more.

[MizSterious]

Woops, see that you've found it!

[backhoe]

Even so, thanks- I do miss and forget things.

[baseballmom]

Thank you for all your hard work, backhoe.

Bookmarked and bumped.

[backhoe]

I appreciate that, thank you.
( And I guess it's time to drop offline; wife & dog are giving me dirty looks... )

[AntiGuv]

About half these articles you've revived have already been dismissed as inaccurate; most of the remainder are regurgitation of the same intelligence that's currently under fire. Don't you think that if all your links had substance, then we wouldn't even be having this debate?

[certify]

On the Net: Federation of American Scientists on Iran's nuclear arms program: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/nuke/index.html

[AntiGuv]

What relevance do Iran's nuclear programs have to the question at hand?

[Lady In Blue]

Thanks for the links. You know one of the things that really irritates me is that the leftists and the UN and all of the anti-war crowd were willing to give the inspectors all the time they wanted, and without having to fight a war! The U.S. and it's allies have had to fight a war, stabilize a country,feed the people, guard the oil wells and restore electricity AND SEARCH FOR WMDS! And all in only 6 weeks!

[Lady In Blue]

And don't forget all of the tons of records found in the Iraqi Intelligence building. What do you want to bet that after they have been examined,they'll key us into a lot of what was going on in Husseins WMD program?!

[jwalsh07]

btt

[ChadGore]

Statement by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on a Resolution Authorizing the President to Use Force, if Necessary, to End the Threat to World Peace from Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Thursday, October 10, 2002

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"Saddam Hussein has stockpiled, weaponized, and used chemical and biological weapons. And he has made no secret of his desire to acquire nuclear weapons. He has ignored international agreements and frustrated the efforts of international inspectors, and his ambitions today are as unrelenting as they have ever been."

"As a condition of the truce that ended the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein agreed to eliminate Iraq’s nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and to abandon all efforts to develop or deliver such weapons. That agreement is spelled out in UN Security Council Resolution 687. Iraq has never complied with the resolution. For the first seven years after the Gulf War, it tried to deceive UN weapons inspectors, block their access to key sites and make it impossible for them to do their jobs. Finally, in October 1998, the UN was left with no choice but to withdraw its inspectors from Iraq. As a result, we do not know exactly what is now in Iraq’s arsenal."

"We do know, however, that Iraq has weaponized thousands of gallons of anthrax and other deadly biological agents. We know that Iraq maintains stockpiles of some of world’s deadliest chemical weapons, including VX, sarin and mustard gas. We know that Iraq is developing deadlier ways to deliver these horrible weapons, including unmanned drones and long-range ballistic missiles. And we know that Saddam Hussein is committed to one day possessing nuclear weapons. If that should happen, instead of simply bullying the Gulf region, he could dominate it. Instead of threatening only his neighbors, he would become a grave threat to US security and to global security. The threat posed by Saddam Hussein may not be imminent. But it is real. It is growing. And it cannot be ignored. ..."

"Second: We need to make it clear to the world that the reason we would use force in Iraq is to remove Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. I would prefer that this goal had been made explicit in this resolution. However, it is clear from this debate that Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction are the principal threat to the United States -- and the only threat that would justify the use of United States military force against Iraq. It is the threat that the President cited repeatedly in his speech to the American people Monday night. It may also be the only threat that can rally the world to support our efforts. Therefore, we expect, and success demands, that the Administration not lose sight of this essential mission."

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Way to go!

Thanks for all of your great work!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I'll put this on here which has a great number of links to more recent articles:

IRAQ: Powell Defends Information He Used to Justify Iraq War

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Many many links here!

Bush Doctrine Unfolds :

To find all articles tagged or indexed using Bush Doctrine Unfold , click below:
	click here >>>	Bush Doctrine Unfold	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[FairOpinion]

Adding to the list, Mark Steyn's excellent editorial on the subject:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/925094/posts?page=10

It would obviously be easier to wait and pick the evidence of WMD out of the rubble of Birmingham, but for the Americans it is capability that's the determining criterion.

[backhoe]

Thank you both; the further information is welcome.

[backhoe]

Here, IMO, is the definitive link, and answers to most skepticism:

FAS (Fed Am Scientist) Report: Iraqi Precursor Chemicals Stored Separately for Weapon-side Mixing

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Excerpt:

FAS (Fed Am Scientist) Report: Iraqi Precursor Chemicals Stored Separately for Weapon-side Mixing
FAS.org ^ | Federation of American Scientists

Posted on 06/04/2003 9:47 AM EDT by HatSteel

FAS | Nuke | Guide | Iraq | CW |||| Index | Search | Join FAS

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Chemical Weapons Programs

Iraq started research into the production of chemical weapons agents in the 1970s and started batch production of agents in the early 1980s. At that stage, production was heavily reliant on the import of precursor chemicals from foreign suppliers.

In 1982, early in the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqis used riot control agents to repel Iranian attacks. They progressed to the use of CW agents in mid-1983 with mustard, and in March 1984 with tabun (the first use ever of a nerve agent in war). The Iraqis continued to use chemical weapons until the end of hostilities in August 1988; in addition they introduced the nerve agents sarin and GF late in the war.

In March 1986 UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar formally accused Iraq of using chemical weapons against Iran. Citing the report of four chemical warfare experts whom the UN had sent to Iran in February and March 1986, the secretary general called on Baghdad to end its violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol on the use of chemical weapons. The UN report concluded that "Iraqi forces have used chemical warfare against Iranian forces"; the weapons used included both mustard gas and nerve gas. The report further stated that "the use of chemical weapons appear[ed] to be more extensive [in 1981] than in 1984." Iraq attempted to deny using chemicals, but the evidence, in the form of many badly burned casualties flown to European hospitals for treatment, was overwhelming. By July 1986 it was estimated that Iraqi chemical warfare was responsible for about 10,000 casualties.

Although the Iraqis initially used chemical weapons to prevent defeat and to reduce battlefield losses, they later integrated CW attacks into combined-armed operations designed to regain lost territory and to gain the offensive. Iraq's use of CW in the war with Iran can be divided into three distinct phases:

1. 1983 to 1986--used in a defensive role; typically to deflect Iranian human-wave assaults. In 1984 Iraq became the first nation to use a nerve agent on the battlefield when it deployed Tabun-filled aerial bombs during the Iran-Iraq war. Some 5,500 Iranians were killed by the nerve agent between March 1984 and March 1985. Tabun kills within minutes. Some 16,000 Iranians were reported killed by the toxic blister agent mustard gas between August 1983 and February 1986.
2. 1986 to early 1988--iraq adapts use against Iran to disrupt Iranian offensive preparations.
3. early 1988 to conclusion of the war-- Iraq integrated large nerve agent strikes into its overall offensive during the spring and summer of 1988 leading to the ceasefire.

Iran used chemical weapons late in the war, but never as extensively or successfully as Iraq. The success of Iraqi offensive operations in the southern sector in mid-1988 ultimately caused the Iranians to cease hostilities. The use of chemical weapons contributed to the success of these operations.

The first chemical attacks by Saddam Hussein against civilian populations included attacks launched by Iraqi aircraft against 20 small villages in 1987.

Saddam Hussein's forces reportedly killed hundreds of Iraqi Kurds with chemical agents in the Kurdish town of Halabja in March 1988. The poison gas attack on Halabja was the largest-scale chemical weapons (CW) attack against a civilian population in modern times. Halabja had a population of about 80,000 people who was predominantly Kurdish and had sympathised with Iran during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Troops from the Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) entered Halabja on 15th March 1988, accompanied by Iranian revolutionary guards. The Iraqi CW attack began early in the evening of March 16th, when a group of eight aircraft began dropping chemical bombs; the chemical bombardment continued all night. The Halabja attack involved multiple chemical agents -- including mustard gas, and the nerve agents SARIN, TABUN and VX. Some sources report that cyanide was also used.

Mustard Blister Agent

In 1981, Iraq started producing the blister agent mustard (HD). Iraq's earlier declarations of 3,080 tons produced have been reduced in the 1995 disclosure to 2,850 tons. The quality of the mustard agent was good (not less than 80 per cent pure) and was such that the agent could be stored for long periods, either in bulk or in weaponized form. Even years after its production, the mustard agent analysed by the Commission was found to be in good and usable condition.

CS Tear Gas

Research into the production of CS was initiated at the Salman Pak site in the late 1970s and early 1980s for the purposes of riot control. It was conducted under the auspices of the Committee for National Security, not the Armed Forces. A few tons were produced at this site. In the early 1980s, military scale production of CS was started at the Muthanna site. The UN Special Commission has been unable to establish how much CS was produced in total. It is known that RPG-7 rocket- propelled grenades, 250- and 500-gauge bombs and 82mm and 120mm mortar shells were filled with CS, but again the quantity of munitions so filled cannot be established. Consequently, the Commission is unable to establish any kind of material balance for Iraq's CS-related activities.

Nerve Gas

Production of the nerve gases tabun (GA) and sarin (GB) started in 1984 and the method of production changed over time in order to resolve stabilization problems. Iraq's latest declarations have reduced the stated amount of tabun produced from 250 tons to 210 tons and of sarin produced from 812 tons to 790 tons.

The tabun produced was poor, being of a maximum purity of 60 per cent. As a result, the agent did not store well and could only be stored for a limited period. Furthermore, Iraq experienced problems in the production of tabun owing to salt blockages forming in pipes during synthesis. Because of these problems, Iraq refocused its nerve agent research, development and production efforts on sarin (GB/GF).

The sarin produced was also of poor quality (maximum purity of 60 per cent when solvent is taken into account) and so too could only be stored for short periods. In order to overcome this problem, Iraq resorted to a binary approach to weaponization: the precursor chemicals for sarin (DF 2/ and the alcohols cyclohexanol and isopropanol) were stored separately for mixing in the munitions immediately prior to use to produce a mixture of two G-series nerve agents, GB and GF. Given that the locally manufactured DF had a purity of more than 95 per cent and the alcohols were imported and of 100 per cent purity, this process could be expected to yield relatively pure sarin.

Over the period from June 1992 to June 1994, the Commission's Chemical Destruction Group destroyed 30 tons of tabun, 70 tons of sarin and 600 tons of mustard agent, stored in bulk and in munitions.

VX Nerve Agent

Iraq also had a research and development programme for the production of a further nerve agent, VX. According to Iraq's 1995 account, VX was the focus of its research efforts in the period after September 1987. Iraq has stated that between late 1987 and early 1988, a total of 250 tons of phosphorous pentasulphide and 200 tons of di-isopropylamine were imported, these being two key precursors required for the production of VX. For the other precursors required, Iraq claims to have used only approximately 1 ton of methyl phosphonyl chloride (MPC) from a total of 660 tons produced indigenously. The remaining MPC is claimed to have been used to produce DF, then used in GB/GF production. The fourth precursor required for VX, ethylene oxide, was generally available, being a multi- purpose chemical.

Iraq stated in 1995 that it produced a total of only 10 tons of choline from the di-isopropylamine and ethylene oxide and approximately 3 tons of methyl thiophosphonyl dichloride from the phosphorous pentasulphide and methyl phosphonyl chloride. From this, Iraq states that it produced experimental quantities of VX (recently increased to 260 kg from 160 kg). Iraq has recently admitted that three 250-gauge aerial bombs had been filled with VX for experimental purposes.

Iraq claimed that further attempts to produce VX were unsuccessful and the programme was finally abandoned in September 1988. According to Iraq's account, the remaining choline from the 10 tons was burned in early 1988 and the remaining 247 tons of phosphorous pentasulphide was discarded in 1991 by scattering it over an area of land and putting it in pits. Iraq also claimed that 213 tons of di-isopropylamine was destroyed by bombing during the Gulf war. However, while the Commission has found traces of these chemicals at the sites at which Iraq states their destruction occurred, it has not been able to verify the quantities destroyed. Thus, precursors for the production of at least 200 to 250 tons of VX could not be definitively accounted for.

The Commission has supervised the destruction, or verified Iraq's unilateral destruction, of 125 250-gauge bombs and several thousands 120mm mortar shells. In its new declaration, Iraq declared an additional 350 500-gauge and 100 250-gauge aerial bombs filled with CS in 1987.

"Agent-15"

The British government has asserted that Iraq developed large stocks of an incapacitant gas dubbed "Agent- 15". It is apparently a glycollate similar in effect to the agent BZ, an incapacitant once produced by the United States. If this is correct, exposure to about 100 milligrams in aerosolized form would be sufficient to incapacitate. Symptoms, which begin within 30 minutes of exposure and may last several days, include dizziness, vomiting, confusion, stupor, hallucinations, and irrational behavior. The US Army considered BZ to be too unpredictable in its effectiveness to be useful on the battlefield, and all US stocks were destroyed.

Precursor chemical production

In the early stages of its chemical weapons programme, Iraq imported all its precursor chemicals. Over time, however, Iraq sought to obtain the capability to produce indigenously all the precursors required for the production of the agents noted above. Iraq acknowledges that it had or was on the brink of having the capability to produce in quantity the precursors for tabun (GA): D4 and phosphorous oxychloride (POCl3), the sarin/cyclosarin (GB/GF) precursors: methylphosphonyl difluoride (DF), methyl phosphonyl dichloride (MPC), dimethylmethyl phosphonate (DMMP), trimethylphosphite (TMP), hydrogen fluoride (HF), phosphorous trichloride (PCl3) and thionyl chloride (SOCl2). Phosphorous trichloride and thionylchoride are also the main precursors for the production of mustard (HD).

Iraq also had the capability to produce, at least at laboratory scale, sodium sulphide (Na2S) and thiodiglycol (both for sulphur mustard agent production), methyl benzilate (for BZ production), triethanol amine (for nitrogen-mustard agent production) and potassium bifluoride and ammonium bifluoride (for GB/GF production). In addition, Iraq had the capability to produce the VX precursors choline, methyl thiophosphonyl dichloride (MPS) at the least at pilot-plant scale.

Munitions

Iraq has declared that it weaponized for chemical weapons purposes the following munitions: RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades and 82mm and 120mm mortar shells exclusively for CS; 130mm and 155mm artillery shells for mustard agent; 250- and 500-gauge aerial bombs for mustard, tabun, sarin and CS; 122mm rockets, R-400 and DB-2 aerial bombs for sarin and mixtures of GB/GF; and Al Hussein missile warheads for sarin. Of these, Iraq acquired the capability to produce all of the aerial bomb types listed and the Al Hussein missile warheads and chemical containers for 122mm rockets. It was reliant on imports of the other empty munitions but had the capability to empty conventional artillery shells and aerial bombs for subsequent refill with chemical-weapons agent.

Current Capabilities

Iraq has rebuilt key chemical weapons facilities since 1991. While they are subject to United Nations scrutiny, some could be converted from industrial and commercial use fairly quickly, allowing Iraq to restart limited production of chemical weapons agents. Iraq currently has 41 sites with equipment that could be converted to produce chemical weapons agents and their precursors and four facilities that produced chemical munitions until 1991 and could do so again. At least 30 facilities have infrastructure that could be reconfigured for weapons production. Iraq also has the experience and know-how in large-scale production of chemical weapons agents and sufficient qualified personnel with practical experience in research and development on, and the industrial production of, CW agents. It is also thought that Iraq retains a broad array of chemical-weapons-related items such as precursor chemicals, production equipment, filled munitions, and program documentation, as well as requisite technical expertise. UNSCOM estimated that, under current circumstances, Iraq would be able to organize the production of chemical agents through reconfiguration or relocation of available dual-use material within several days or weeks.

Sources and Resources

• Chemical and Biological Weapons Threats to America: Are We Prepared? Christine M. Gosden, April 22, 1998

• S/1995/284n - UNSCOM Seventh report under resolution 715 10/04/95

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FAS | Nuke | Guide | Iraq | CW |||| Index | Search | Join FAS

[EODGUY]

Bump, bookmarked and sincere thanks to you!

EODGUY

[backhoe]

Thank you very kindly.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for this great job.

Can anyone get this to the conservative web bloggers?

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the ping!

[backhoe]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925382/posts
Transcript: Colin Powell Talks WMD on Fox News Sunday
Fox News ^ | 8 June 2003

[backhoe]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925368/posts
Powell Slams Media On Iraq WMD Reports
CNN ^ | June 8, 2003 | CNN

[FairOpinion]

One more very informative article for the collection:

Iraq's bioweapons program: detailed info on mobile labs from pre-war intel.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/925421/posts?page=1