Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Al Hakam
At about the same time that the inquiries about materials and equipment
were being made, Iraq conducted a search for a suitable production site.
Iraq has stated that the Al Salman site was considered unsuitable for
safety reasons, because of its proximity to Baghdad. A search for an alter-
native site was therefore made in early 1988. According to an account
given by a senior Iraqi official, one of the early considerations for pro-
duction was a facility that could be moved from site to site, but a mo-
bile facility was rejected as being impractical. In March 1988 a production
site was selected at a remote desert location about 55 kilometers south-
west of Baghdad, and its acquisition is documented by Iraq. Iraqi officials
have said that, in commemoration of the date of founding of the site (24
March), it was initially named Project 324. The site was later known as Al
Hakam and became Iraq's main BW production facility.
Al Hakam was constructed rapidly and in secrecy. Priority was given to
the production buildings, and by the end of 1988 these were said to have
been completed and equipment installed. Iraq stated that transfer of staff
and functions began toward the end of 1988 and finished by late 1990.
The acquisition of fermenters was crucial to the production of agent.
UNMOVIC states that in a submission to senior officials, the options avail-
able to Iraq for their acquisition were considered. The submission argued
that manufacture in Iraq was, at that time, not considered to be tech-
nically feasible and that in any case gearing up to domestic manufac-
ture would take a long time. The recommended action was to purchase
fermenters from overseas, and several foreign companies were contacted
in early 1988. A contract with a supplier for three 5,000-liter fermenters
was signed in July 1988, and at Iraq's insistence the first unit was sched-
uled for delivery later that year. However, in the end, the supplier could
not meet the schedule, and delivery was postponed to 1989.
Since no foreign supplier was permitted to visit Al Hakam, Iraq modi-
fied another facility at Al Latifyah, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, and
presented this to the manufacturer as the plant where the fermenters
were to be installed. Iraq also falsified the end-user certificate to indicate
that the fermenters were for civilian use. Iraqi officials have stated that
the plan was that, after the fermenters had been installed and commis-
sioned by the company, they would be relocated to Al Hakam. In the end,
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