Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
facility at the Al Muthanna State Establishment (MSE) stated that his
mandate covered both chemical and biological agents. Since the minis-
ter did not dispute this assertion, the director general assumed that he
had authorization to conduct work on BW. By Iraq's account, the direc-
tor general's report also coincided with a 1983 letter to the Ba'ath Party
from a senior Iraqi microbiologist, suggesting that Iraq could defend it-
self from Iran by the development and use of BW. However, no copy of
the 1983 annual report or of the letter was provided to UNSCOM or to
UNMOVIC. The ISG states that a militarily relevant BW program re-
started at Al Muthanna in 1983 and that in 1986 a five-year plan was
drawn up that would lead to biological agent weaponization. However,
Iraq said that no action was taken until early 1985, when the first biolo-
gists were recruited for which documentary evidence has been provided.
The former director general of the MSE told UNSCOM that he informed
the minister of defense in 1985 that the first BW would be produced
within five years.
UNMOVIC reported that there is documentation to show that bacterial
strains and basic laboratory supplies were obtained in late 1985 and early
1986. According to Iraq, two agents, botulinum toxin and anthrax, were
selected as candidate BW agents; Iraq said that they were selected be-
cause other countries had produced them for BW purposes and that they
were relatively easy to produce. In 1986, according to Iraq, work on these
agents was restricted to pathogenicity and toxicity studies, their charac-
teristics, and methods of production at the laboratory scale.
Al Salman
In a separate stream from BW activities at the MSE, it appears that BW
activities were also being conducted under the auspices of the State Secu-
rity Apparatus at Al Salman. UNMOVIC has no clear understanding of
what the stimulus was for the initiation of this work. According to Iraq's
statements, this work began in 1984 with the investigation of wheat
smut, initially to prevent crop infection; by 1987, however, research had
shifted to use of the disease as an economic weapon. No other BW activi-
ties are acknowledged by Iraq during the period 1984-1986, although
UNMOVIC noted that an inhalation chamber was installed at Al Salman,
probably in 1984, and was later used in the BW program.
Iraq has stated that toward the end of 1986 the MSE put forward a pro-
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