I just happpened to have a document(s) that I will scan to put up here.....forgive the length but well worth the connection(s)......Saddam...ummm,
yeah.....read on.....
Its called:
"The Long History of Chemical and Biological Weapons"
"In recent months there has been a great deal of bad information going around in the argument over whether we should attack Iraq, and whether Iraq
is a threat to us. Some of that bad information is simple ignorance concerning chemical and biological warfare, and some is deliberate
dis-information. Among those charges are that we (1) sold Saddam chemical and biological weapons, (2) equipped his army, (3) helped him in his war
with Iraq. These charges are specious but start with a germ of fact. These �facts� are always twisted, blown out of proportion and presented out of
context by those wishing to smear the USA with the taint of Saddam�s crimes.
To help combat this I have put together a primer on the subject drawing on numerous sources, both published books and internet (they are listed at the
end of this article). Because of the confusing nature and volume of relevant information, I have decided to present it in a timeline. This is useful
because it helps one to follow the development of chemical and biological weapons, and why they present such a large threat if they fall into the
wrong hands. It also lends historical perspective to the subject that is often lacking in other sources.
I have also gone into great detail concerning Soviet and U.S. Bio/Chemical weapons programs to provide additional perspective.
What is presented here is corroborated fact--conspiracy theories notwithstanding. In this case the truth is scarier than any conspiracy theory or work
of fiction. If, after reading this, you are not convinced of the need to remove Saddam and others like him--then you probably have bigger issues you
need to deal with.
The use of chemical and biological weapons has a long history. While this article may seem long, it is nothing more than a brief synopsis. But people
need to know what I have presented here.
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1000 BC. Chinese use arsenical smokes sicken enemy troops and make them combat ineffective.
600 BC. Solon of Athens puts hellebore roots in the drinking water of Kirrha to kill the inhabitants.
429 and 424 BC. Spartans and their allies use noxious smoke and flame against Athenian-allied cities during the Peloponnesian War.
400 BC. Scythian archers used arrows dipped in blood and manure or decomposing bodies to prevent wounds from healing.
200 BC. Carthaginians used Mandrake root left in wine to sedate the enemy.
190 BC. Hannibal hurls venomous snakes onto the enemy ships of Pergamus at Eurymedon to panic and injure enemy sailors.
Middle Ages. The use of disease to break sieges of castles and fortified towns is widespread. The most common method is to use catapults to hurl dead
human or animal bodies over walls to spread disease. This same method is used to poison water sources.
1155. Barbarossa uses dead bodies to spread pathogens among the enemy during the battle of Tortona.
1346. Black Sea port of Kaffa (now Feodossia, Ukraine). Tartars attacking the port are attacked by rats carrying Plague. They return the favor by
catapulting diseased bodies their dead into the city, forcing the defending Genoese to abandon it when Plague spreads. Ships carrying plague-infected
refugees (and possibly rats) sailed to Constantinople, Genoa, Venice, and other Mediterranean ports and are thought to have contributed to the second
plague pandemic.
1495. The Spanish try wine infected with leprosy patients� blood against the French near Naples. Effects are inconclusive.
1650. A Polish artillery general, puts saliva from rabid dogs into hollow spheres for firing against his enemies.
1675. An agreement between the French and Germans, signed in Strasbourg, bans the use of poison bullets.
1710. The Russians cast plague-infected bodies into Swedish-held Reval, Estonia.
1754-1767. French and Indian War. Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander of British forces in North America, suggested the deliberate use of smallpox to
"reduce" Native American tribes hostile to the British. An outbreak of smallpox at Fort Pitt results in the opportunity to execute Amherst's plan.
On June 24, 1763, Captain Ecuyer, Amherst's subordinate, gives blankets and a handkerchief from the smallpox hospital to the Native Americans and
records in his journal, "I hope it will have the desired effect." This was followed by an epidemic of smallpox among Native American tribes in the
Ohio River valley, which may also have been spread by contact with settlers. Transmission of smallpox by fomites (on blankets) is inefficient compared
with respiratory droplet transmission.
1785. Tunisians throw plague-infected clothing into La Calle, held by the Christians.
1847. The earliest known patent for a protective-mask is filed in the United State by Lewis P. Haslett.
1854. Lyon Playfair, a British chemist, proposes a cacodyl cyanide artillery shell for use against enemy ships. The British Ordnance Department
rejects the proposal as a �bad a mode of warfare as poisoning the wells of the enemy.�
1861. Union troops advancing south into Maryland and other border states are warned not to eat or drink anything provided by unknown civilians for
fear of being poisoned. Despite warnings, there are numerous cases where soldiers think they have been poisoned after eating or drinking.
1863. Confederates retreating in Mississippi leave dead animals in wells and ponds to deny water sources to the Union troops.
1863. U.S. Army General Order No. 100 is issued. It states: �The use of poison in any manner, be it to poison wells, or food, or arms, is wholly
excluded from modern warfare.�
1870�s. Robert Koch (later Nobelist) injects Bacillus anthracic into mice, demonstrating microorganisms as causative agents of disease (also
tuberculosis, cholera, and insect-borne diseases). Isolation and production of specific pathogens becomes possible.
1874. International Declaration Concerning the Laws and Customs of War is signed in Brussels and includes a prohibition against poison or poisoned
arms.
1899. The First Hague Peace Conference bans the use of poisons and is ratified by the United States.
1907. Second Hague Peace Conference retains the ban against poisons.
1914, 27 October. Germans fire 3,000 105 mm shells filled with dianisidine chlorosulfate, a lung irritant, at the British near Neuve-Chapelle, but
with no visible effects. To evade the 1899 international ban, the Germans also put shrapnel in the shell so the �sole� purpose was not gas
dissemination.
1914, November. Dr. Hans von Tappen designed a 150 mm howitzer shell containing 7 lb of xylyl bromide and a bursting charge for splintering effect.
18,000 of the shells are fired at Russian positions near Bolimov. Weather comes to the aid of the Russians by providing cold temperatures that prevent
the vaporization of the gas. The Germans triy the same shells again on the western front at Nieuport in March, 1915 with equally unsuccessful results.
1915, April. Ypres, the first successful German chemical attack. Pioneer Regiment 35 places 1,600 large and 4,130 small cylinders containing a total
of 168 tons of Chlorine opposite the Allied troops defending Ypres, Belgium. The containers are opened and wind blows chlorine gas into allied
lines.
As a weapon, the gas is particularly advantageous when used against soldiers in defensive positions. Being heavier than air, chlorine followed the
ground�s contours and sank into the trenches and shell holes allied soldiers used as protection against shrapnel and bullet. This forced them to
abandon their defences in favour of higher ground. Those who did stay found it extremely difficult to fight with watery eyes, heaving stomachs and
burning lungs. Many allied soldiers die of suffocation or are killed by enemy fire when they abandon the safety of the trenches.
1915. Germans initiate covert biological warfare attacks against the Allies� horses and cattle on both the western and the eastern fronts. Other
attacks included a reported attempt to spread Plague in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1915.
1916, May. Germans start using Trichloromethyl chloroformate (diphosgene), while the French tried Hydrogen cyanide 2 months later and Cyanogen
chloride the same year.
1916. Germans infect Romanian sheep being exported to Russia with Anthrax. The plot is discovered when cultures are confiscated from the German
Legation in Romania. German agents also infect horses of the French cavalry, Argentinean livestock intended for export to Allied forces, and attempt
to infect U.S. cattle feed and horses bound for the front.
1917. Germany is accused of poisoning wells in the Somme area with human corpses, and ofdropping fruit, chocolate, and children�s toys infected with
lethal bacteria into Romanian cities.
1917, July. Germans introduce Mustard agent to provide a persistent vesicant that could attack the body in places not protected by gas masks. To
further complicate defensive actions, both sides mixed agents and experimented with camouflage materials (dyes) to prevent quick identification.
1918, 26 February. Germans fire 150 to 250 Phosgene and Chloropicrin projectiles against the Americans near Bois de Remieres, France. The Americans
suffered 85 casualties with 8 deaths, approximately 33% of their battalion.
1918, 28 June. The U.S. War Department formally establishes the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS), under Major General William L. Sibert, as part of the
National Army (ie, the war-time army, as distinguished from the regular army). The CWS was organized into seven main divisions.
The Research Division was located at American University, Washington, D. C. Most of the weapons and agent research was conducted by this division
during the war. The Gas Defense Division was responsible for the production of gas masks and had a large plant in Long Island City, New York. The Gas
Offense Division was responsible for the production of chemical agents and weapons, with its main facility located at Edgewood Arsenal, Mary-land. The
Development Division was responsible for charcoal production, and also pilot-plant work on mustard agent production. The Proving Ground Division was
collocated with the Training Division at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The Medical Division was responsible for the pharmacological aspects of chemical
defense.
The offensive chemical unit for the AEF was the First Gas Regiment, formerly the 30th Engineers. This unit was organized at American University
under the command of Colonel E. J. Atkisson in 1917, and was sent to France in early 1918.
1920, 1 July. The CWS becomes a permanent part of the Regular Army. Its mission includes development, procurement, and supply of all offensive and
defensive chemical warfare material, together with similar functions in the fields of smoke and incendiary weapons.
1922. U.S. destroys all leftover stocks of chemical warfare weapons except for a limited number to be used in testing for defensive measure.
1922. Limitation of Arms Conference, held in Washington, D. C., bans the use of poisonous gases except in retaliation. The United States ratified the
limitation, but France declined to ratify the treaty and therefore it was never implemented.
1925. Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare
signed by 28 countries, including the United States. The U.S. Senate, however, refused to ratify the Protocol and remained uncommitted by it. The
general policy of the U.S. government, tended toward the discouragement of all aspects of chemical warfare, tempered by a policy of preparedness
should chemical warfare occur again. The United States does not ratify the Geneva Protocol until 1975.
1929. The Soviets reportedly established a biological warfare facility north of the Caspian Sea.
�In the matter of chemical warfare, the War Department opposes any restrictions whereby the United States would refrain from all peacetime preparation
or manufacture of gases, means of launching gases, or defensive gas material. No provision that would require the disposal or destruction of any
existing installation of our Chemical Warfare Service or of any stocks of chemical warfare material should be incorporated in an agreement.
Furthermore, the existence of a War Department agency engaged in experimentation and manufacture of chemical warfare materials, and in training for
unforeseen contingencies is deemed essential to our national defense.� - U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, letter to Secretary of
State Henry L. Stimson in 1932.
1933-45. Japan sets up an offensive biological warfare laboratory in occupied Manchuria under the supervision of Dr. Ishii, later designated
Detachment 731. Additional biological warfare facilities were established in 1939, the same year that Japanese troops allegedly entered Russia to
poison animals with Anthrax and other diseases.
Japanese Army Unit 731 conducts bio-war experiments on human beings outside Harbin, Manchuria. 11 Chinese cities are later attacked with the agents
like Anthrax, Cholera, Shigellosis, Salmonella, and Plague. At least 10,000 die.
1935, 3 October. Benito Mussolini launches an invasion of Ethiopia from its neighbors Eritrea, an Italian colony, and Italian Somaliland. Ethiopia
protests to the League of Nations, which imposes limited economic sanctions. Marshal Pietro Badoglio, is ordered to finish the war quickly. He resorts
to chemical weapons to defeat the Ethiopian troops led by Emperor Haile Selassie. Unprepared Ethiopian troops are devastated and their army routed.
1936. German chemist Dr. Gerhart Schrader of I. G. Farben Company discovered an organophosphorus insecticide, which was reported to the Chemical
Weapons Section of the German military prior to patenting. The military assigned the name Tabun to the new substance. 2 years later, Schrader
developed a similar agent, eventually called Sarin, which was reportedly 5 times as toxic as Tabun. The United States later designated this agent GB.
During the war they would produce 78,000 tons of chemical warfare agents, including 12,000 tons of it tabun and 1,000 tons of Sarin.
1937. Edgewood Arsenal rehabilitates their mustard agent plant and produced 154 tons of mustard agent to increase their stockpile. The same year, the
Phosgene plant was renovated for additional production, and the CWS changed phosgene from substitute standard to standard. It also ramps up production
of gas masks to 50,000 per year.
1937. Saddam Hussein is born in 1937 in the Tikrit district, north of Baghdad.
1939. Canada initiates biological warfare research under Sir Frederick Banting at Connaught Laboratories, Ile Grosse, and at Suffield. The Canadians
started work on Anthrax, Botulinum Toxin, Plague, and Psittacosis.
1939-45. Hitler reportedly issued orders prohibiting biological weapons development in Germany. However, with the support of high-ranking Nazi party
officials, German scientists began biological weapons research. Prisoners in Nazi concentration camps were forcibly infected with Rickettsia
prowazekii, Rickettsia mooseri, Hepatitis A virus, and Plasmodia spp and treated with investigational vaccines and drugs.
1940. British establish chemical/biological warfare laboratory at Porton Down.
1941. U.S. Army conducts extensive training maneuvers that include chemical warfare scenarios. U.S. decided on �no first use� policy. By the end of
the war the U.S. produces 146,000 tons of chemical weapons, mostly improved Mustard and Cyanogen chloride. None are used.
1942. On Gruinard Island, off the coast of Scotland, the British conduct Anthrax tests on sheep. Today, the uninhabited island is still believed to be
infected with Anthrax spores.
�We shall under no circumstances resort to the use of such [chemical] weapons unless they are first used by our enemies.� - President Roosevelt,
1943.
�Any use of gas by any axis power, therefore, will immediately be followed by the fullest possible retaliation upon munition centers, seaports and
other military objectives throughout the whole extent of the territory of such axis country.� - President Roosevelt, 1943.
�I have been loath to believe that any nation, even our present enemies... would be willing to loose upon mankind such terrible and inhumane
weapons.... Use of such weapons had been ruled out by the general opinion of civilized mankind.� - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943.
1943. Ft. Detrick Maryland becomes the head quarters for U.S. Bio Weapons offensive and defensive research. Research is conducted on Anthrax,
Botulism, Tularemia, Brucellosis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, and Q Fever over the course of Detrick�s history. While the U.S. prepares to use
them if attacked in-kind, the U.S. never uses these weapons during WWII. Research slows after the war, but picks up again in the 1950�s when U.S.
Discovers that the Soviets have a �crash� research program underway to develop chemical and biological weapons. U-2 over flights identify several
large testing facilities and outdoor test ranges Research on vaccines against possible and known enemy bio-weapons is also conducted at Detrick.
1943, 2 December. The SS John Harvey, loaded with 2,000 M47A1 Mustard agent bombs, was destroyed after a German air raid at Bari Harbor, Italy. The
only members of the crew who were aware of the chemical munitions were killed in the raid. As a result of the destruction of the ship, mustard agent
contaminated the oily water in the harbor and caused more than 600 casualties, in addition to those killed or injured in the actual attack. The harbor
clean-up took 3 weeks and used large quantities of lime as a decontaminant.
1945. Iraq joined the United Nations and became a founding member of the Arab League.
1946. Soviets build a factory specializing in Anthrax production. This is spurred by soviet capture of Japanese from germ Unit 731 several years
earlier. Others evade Soviet capture and are taken prisoner by the U.S.
1946, August 2. Public Law 607 changed the name of the CWS to the Chemical Corps.
1947. Soviets build a complex for making viral weapons, including Smallpox, just outside Zagorsk.
�It required the experiences of World War II to demonstrate that the most important basic factor in a nation�s military strength is its war production
potential and ability to convert smoothly and quickly its industry, manpower, and other economic resources.� - Major General Anthony C. McAuliffe,
Chief of the Chemical Corps, 1950.
1950. The Chemical Corps began construction of the first full-scale sarin production complex at the Edgewood Arsenal Plant stays in operation 4 years
and is shut down.
1950, June. With the onset of the Korean War, the Army Chemical Corps participates in its first military action.
1950-53. While both sides gear up for possible use of chemical weapons, neither side uses them during the war.
�Today, thanks to Joe Stalin, we are back in business.� - Major General Egbert F. Bullene, the new Chief of the Chemical Corps, 1953.
1955. The Chemical Corps formerly established a new project called Psychochemical Agents. The next year, the program was redesignated "K"-agents.
The objective was to develop a non-lethal but potent incapacitants that could be disseminated from airplanes in all environments. The program was
conducted at the Army Chemical Center and examined nonmilitary drugs like Lysergic acid ('___') and Tetrahydrocannabinol (related to marijuana). None
of these drugs, however, are found to be of military worth.
1956. Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas. Discovery of Soviet bio-weapons factories spurs to Army build factory for manufacturing of non-lethal bio-weapons
using Q-Fever (Coxiella burnetti) and VEE (Venezuelan equine encephalitis). Eggs from nearby farms are injected with the microbes, incubated and then
harvested. Arkansas is chosen because it is the nation�s largest egg producer.
1956. The Baghdad Pact allies Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, and establishes its headquarters in Baghdad.
1957. Saddam Hussein joins the Ba'ath Party and becomes one of it�s thugs.
1958, July. Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem takes power in coup, during which King Faysal II and Prime Minister Nuri as-Said are killed. Kassem ends Iraq's
membership in the Baghdad Pact in 1959 and turns to the Soviet Union for support.
1959. After taking part in a failed attempt to assassinate the Iraqi President, Abdul Karim Kassem, Saddam escaped, first to Syria and then to Egypt.
In his absence he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
1959. Iraq's nuclear program was established under the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission. Under a nuclear co-operation agreement signed with the Soviet
Union in 1959, a nuclear research center, equipped with a research reactor, was built at Tuwaitha, the main Iraqi nuclear research center. The
research reactor worked up to 1991. The surge in Iraqi oil revenues in the early 1970s supported an expansion of the research program. This was
bolstered in the mid-1970s by the acquisition of two research reactors powered by highly enriched uranium fuel and equipment for fuel fabrication and
handling. By the end of 1984 Iraq was self-sufficient in uranium ore. One of the reactors was destroyed in an Israeli air attack in June 1981 shortly
before it was to become operational; the other was never completed.
1960, February 18. Full meeting of the National Security Council. Eisenhower is briefed on Soviet and U.S. Bio-weapons research. Eisenhower is briefed
on the U.S. focus on non-lethal incapacitation agents that, instead of killing, cause lethargy, irritation, blackout, paralysis, generalized illness
and a lack of will to fight--all effects being temporary so as to reduce repercussions in the international community if used. By contrast, it is
noted, most Soviet biological agents under development were lethal.
Eisenhower, who was delighted at the possibilities of non-lethal agents on the battlefield, still worried that their use might be interpreted as
full-scale attack by the enemy. Eisenhower and theJoint Chiefs decide that if they ever decide to employ these agents, they will need to immediately
notify the world of their non-lethal nature.
1960�s. Vietnam. Viet-Cong smear sharpened punji sticks with human excrement to cause infection in soldiers injured by booby-traps.
�For hundreds of years it has been impossible to carry on war without firing hot metal capable of blasting off legs and arms and of leaving men blind
or mindless for life.... Ironically enough, it can be argued that the only known hope for a relatively humane warfare in the future lies in the
chemical and biological weapons.� - Brigadier General J. H. Rothschild, "Germ and Chemical Warfare," Survival. March 1962. Quote is in reference to
the use of non-lethal agents.
1963, February. Kassem is assassinated when the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (Ba'ath Party) takes power under the leadership of Gen. Ahmad Hasan
al-Bakr as prime minister and Col. Abdul Salam Arif as president.
1963, May. Saddam returns to Baghdad following the coup by the Ba'ath Party. He becomes an interrogator in the Fellaheen and Muthaqafeen detention
camps. These are camps where communists and fellow-travellers are kept. The coup against the �Communist� Kassem is assisted by the CIA which receives
several Mig fighter jets and Soviet tanks for helping the Ba'ath Party.
1963, October. Arif leads a coup ousting the Ba'ath government and bringing the Communists back into control of the government.
1966, April. Arif is killed in a plane crash and is succeeded by his brother, Gen. Abdul Rahman Mohammad Arif.
1967. Saddam Hussein takes over responsibility for Ba'ath Party security. Saddam sets about imposing his will on the Party and establishing himself
at the center of party power.
1968, July 17. A group of Ba'athists and military elements overthrow the Arif regime. Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr re-emerges as the President of Iraq and
Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). Ba'ath party seeks U.S. help in re-arming Iraqi military but is turned down.
1968. A Czech General defects to the United States and reports that U.S. prisoners of war were used for biological tests by the Russians in North
Korea.
1969. Saddam became Vice- Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Deputy to the President, and Deputy Secretary General of the Regional Command
of the Ba'ath.
1969, November 25. Nixon renounces the U.S. Use of Bio-weapons, stating, �The U.S. shall renounce the use of lethal biological agents and weapons, and
all other methods of biological warfare. The U.S. will confine its biological research to defensive measures.... [The Human Race] already carries in
its hands too many of the seeds of its own destruction.� Nixon becomes the worlds leading advocate for a treaty banning such weapons.
�I have decided that the United States of America will renounce the use of any form of deadly biological weapons that either kill or incapacitate. Our
bacteriological programs in the future will be confined to research in biological defense on techniques of immunization and on measures of controlling
and preventing the spread of disease. I have ordered the Defense Department to make recommendations about the disposal of the existing stocks of
bacteriological weapons.� - President Richard M. Nixon, 1969
1971 to 1973. All remaining biological weapons were destroyed at Pine Bluff Arsenal,Rocky Mountain Arsenal, and Fort Detrick.
1971. An outbreak of Plague in Aralsk is attributed to Soviet testing at Vozrozhdeniye island in Kazakhstan.
1971. Iraq begins chemical warfare research at Rashad to the north east of Baghdad. Research is conducted on a number of chemical agents including
Mustard gas, CS (tear gas) and Tabun. Iraq starts biological warfare research in the mid-1970s. After small-scale research, a purpose-built research
and development facility was authorized at al-Salman, also known as Salman Pak.
1972. Saddam, knowing that the Soviet Union will re-equip the Iraqi Army, travels to Moscow. Iraq and the Soviet Union sign a treaty of �Friendship
and Cooperation.� Another reason Saddam signs the treaty is because it obligated the local communist party, which is very strong, to co-operate with
the Ba'ath Party, which is not so strong at that time.
1972. The United States, the Soviet Union, and more than 100 other nations sign the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The accord prohibits the
possession of deadly biological agents except for research into such defensive measures as vaccines, detectors, and protective gear. This is the
world�s first treaty to ban an entire class of weapons. The Army establishes the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
as successor to its former program at Ft. Detrick.
Unfortunately, the Convention is only a pledge and lacks provisions for inspections or enforcement--while containing numerous loopholes.
1973. Stanford school of medicine researchers Boyer & Cohen use gene splicing to create a viable, penicillin resistant strain of E. coli.
1973. The Soviet Union establishes Biopreparat, which would become the hub of Moscow�s germ warfare effort. At it�s peak in the 80�s it will employ
over 30,000 scientists and technicians at more than 100 facilities across the Soviet Union. Secretly run by the military, it would command annual
budgets approaching 1 billion dollars. During its life it would study over 80 different agents and weaponize over a dozen of them, including:
Tularemia, various strains of Anthrax, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Botulinum, Bubonic Plague, Smallpox, Glanders, and Marburg (a virus similar to
Ebola which cause hemoragic fever).
1973-1989. Czechoslovakia sells Iraq (81) L-39ZO Albatros Jet trainer aircraft; (750) BMP-1 IFVs; (200) BMP-2 IFVs; (400) T-55 Main battle tanks.
1973, October. Yom Kippur War. Following the Yom Kippur War, the Israelis analyze Soviet-made equipment captured from the Egyptians and Syrians. They
discover portable chemical-proof shelters, decontamination equipment for planes and tanks, and that most Soviet vehicles have air-filtration systems
on them to remove toxic chemicals.
The indications are that the Soviets are ready for extensive chemical warfare and might actually be planning to initiate chemical warfare in a
future war. Soviet division commanders are later thought to already have authority to initiate chemical warfare.
1975. Biological and Toxin Weapons Treaty goes into effect.
1976. The Soviets establish a new germ warfare facility in Siberia known as �Vector�. The largest and most sophisticated facility of its kind ever
built, it�s primary purpose is to research viruses for possible weaponization. A large part of its research has to do with using recombinant DNA
techniques to produce ultra-deadly �superbugs� impervious to known defensive measures. Research includes germs designed to seize control of the human
metabolism, causing the body to self-destruct, and splicing the gene that makes Diphtheria toxin into Plague bacteria, which devastates animal test
subjects.
1976. The Secretary of The Army reverses a decision to abolish the Chemical Corps. He cites the heightened awareness of the Soviet Union�s capability
to wage chemical warfare as the primary reason, and the need to train Army personnel how to counter chemical threats.
�Chemical weapons can be tailored to fit the exact requirements of the changing situation. They can effect any necessary type of casualties from
incapacitation to death in minutes.� - General Frank Stubbs, U.S. Army Chemical Corps.
1970s & 1980s, Biopreparat, an organization under the Ministry of Defense, expands to at least 6 research laboratories, 5 production facilities and
employes up to 55,000 military and civilian scientists and technicians. A 1995 report estimated that the Russian program continues to employ 25,000 to
30,000 people.
1977. Last known outbreak of Smallpox occurs in Somalia.
1977-1990. France sell Iraq (23) Mirage F-1C Fighter aircraft; (85) Mirage F-1 Fighter aircraft (various versions); (18) SA-342K/L Gazelle Light
helicopters (assembled in Egypt); (5) Super Etendard FGA aircraft for use with AM-39 anti-ship missiles against Iranian warships and oil tankers in
the Persian Gulf; (85) AMX-GCT 155mm Self-propelled guns; (100) AMX-10P IFV�s; (150) ERC-90 Sagaie Armoured cars; (115) M-3 VTT APC�s; (2) Rasit
Battlefield radars; (113) Roland Mobile SAM systems; (1) TRS-2100 Tiger Surveillance radar (Fitted in Iraq on an Il-76 transport aircraft designated
�Baghdad-1�); (6) TRS-2230/15 Surveillance radars; (280) AM-39 Exocet Anti-ship missiles For Mirage F-1E and Super Etendard aircraft; (36) AM-39
Exocet Anti-ship missile For AS-332 helicopters; (450) ARMAT Anti-radar missiles For Mirage F-1E FGA aircraft; (240) AS-30L ASM�s For Mirage F-1E FGA
aircraft; (1,000) HOT Anti-tank missile For SA-342K helicopters and VCR-TH tank destroyers; (534) R-550 Magic-1 AAM�s For Mirage F-1C fighter
aircraft; (2,260) Roland-2 SAM�s; (300) Super-530F AAM�s For Mirage F-1C fighter aircraft.
1978-1990. Soviet union sells Iraq (33) Il-76M/Candid-B Transport/tanker aircraft; (37) Mi-17/Hip-H Helicopters; (12) Mi-24D/Mi-25/Hind-D Combat
helicopters; (30) Mi-8TV/Hip-F Helicopter; (61) MiG-21bis/Fishbed-N Fighter aircraft; (50) MiG-23BN/Flogger-H FGA aircraft; (30) MiG-25P/Foxbat-A
Fighter aircraft; (8) MiG-25RB/Foxbat-B Reconnaissance; (41) MiG-29/Fulcrum-A Fighter aircraft; (46) Su-22/Fitter-H/J/K FGA aircraft; (25)
Su-24MK/Fencer-D Bomber aircraft; (84) Su-25/Frogfoot-A Ground attack aircraft; (180) 2A36 152mm Towed guns; (100) 2S1 122mm Self-propelled guns;
(100) 2S3 152mm Self-propelled guns; (10) 2S4 240mm Self-propelled mortars; (560) BM-21 122mm MRL; (576) D-30 122mm Towed guns; (576) M-46 130mm Towed
guns; (10) SS-1 Scud/9P117M SSM launchers; (100) BRDM-2 Sagger-equipped tank destroyers; (200) PT-76 Light tanks; (60) SA-13/9K35 Strela-10
self-propelled AA systems; (160) SA-9/9P31 self-propelled AA systems; (2,150) T-62 Main battle tanks; (25) SA-6a/2K12 Kvadrat SAM systems; (80)
SA-8b/9K33M Osa-AK Mobile SAM systems; (960) SA-13 Gopher/9M37 SAM�s; (100) SA-14 Gremlin/Strela-3 Portable SAM; (250) SA-16 Gimlet/Igla-1 Portable
SAM�s; (840) SA-6a Gainful/3M9 SAM�s; (6,500) SA-7 Grail/Strela-2 Portable SAM�s; (1,290) SA-8b Gecko/9M33M SAM�s; (1,920) SA-9 Gaskin/9M31 SAM�s;
(800) SS-1c Scud-B/R-17 SSM�s; (40) SS-1c Scud-B/R-17 SSM�s.
1978. Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated using an �umbrella gun� that shoots a Ricin laced BB into his thigh. The attack is carried out
by the KGB.
1978-1990. Germany (FRG), sells Iraq (28) BK-117 Helicopters (intended for VIP transport and Search & Rescue); (20) Bo-105C Light helicopters.
1979-1989. Brazil sells Iraq (67) Astros-2 MRL�s; (350) EE-11 Urutu APCs; (280) EE-3 Jararaca Reconnaissance vehicles; (1,026) EE-9 Cascavel Armoured
cars; (13) Astros AV-UCF Fire control radars for use with the MRLs.
1979-1989. Switzerland sells Iraq (2) PC-6B Turbo Porter Light transport aircraft; (52) PC-7 Turbo Trainer Trainer aircraft; (20) PC-9 Trainer
aircraft.
1979, April. Sverdlosk military industrial complex suffers a major Bio-weapons accident when a lethal cloud of weaponized Anthrax floats over a nearby
village. An estimated 1,000 people eventually die. The soviet military seizes control of the area and begins clean-up operations. The incident is
first reported the following October in a Frankfurt based Russian �migr� newspaper. Later the next year, eyewitness accounts appear in Bild Zeitung,
and intelligence sources confirm the accident which is denied by the Soviets, who claim the deaths were due to a minor outbreak of anthrax from
infected meat. In 1992 Boris Yeltsin admits there was an accident. The later, �official� death toll is 66.
1979, July. Bakr resignes. Saddam Hussein takes over the Presidency of Iraq. Within days, five fellow members of the Revolutionary Command Council are
accused of involvement in a coup attempt. They and 17 others are summarily executed.
1979, December. Soviets invade Afghanistan. Before the war, the Afghan population is estimated to have been somewhat more than fifteen million people.
Over five million (a third of the country), became refugees, mostly in Pakistan and Iran; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called
this ``migratory genocide.'' Millions more became refugees within the country, swelling the population of Kabul. Another million people are killed,
either in fighting, or in massacres by Soviet troops, or by sheer starvation. Land-mines are effectively employed to make much of the countryside
uninhabitable; also to make tens of thousands of people cripples. In a display of really macabre ingenuity, the Soviets take to scattering
brightly-colored plastic toys, which explode when picked up by children. There is considerable evidence that, at least in some districts, the Soviets
engage in deliberate campaigns of extermination, and make use of chemical weapons.
1979. Reports begin to filter out ot Laos of possible soviet bio-weapons use. Hmong tribesmen report that helicopters flown by Soviet-backed forces
are spraying villages with a mysterious substance that causes horrific burns and lesions on the skin, and internal bleeding. Refugees call it �yellow
rain � (trichothecene mycotoxins). Later, reports of this same substance and others filter out of Afghanistan. Attacks in Southeast and Central Asia
reportedly cause thousands of deaths between 1974 and 1981. Experts are split on the veracity of reports and the type of agent.
1980. Smallpox is considered to have been �eliminated� in the world population.
1980. Denmark sells Iraq (3) Al Zahraa Class Landing ships.
1980-1984. Italy sells Iraq (2) A-109 Hirundo Light helicopters; (6) S-61 Helicopters For VIP transport; 1 Stromboli Class Support ship.
1980�s. Soviet forces in Afghanistan employ chemical weapons against Muhajidin and civilians in areas under their control. Nerve and mico-toxin agents
are the prime suspects. Their use is denied.
1980, September. Saddam renounces a border treaty with Iran in 1975. The treaty ceded half of the Shatt al-Arab waterway to Iran.
1980, September 22. The armed forces of Iraq launch an invasion against Iran. The Iraqi army, trained and influenced by Soviet advisers, has organic
chemical warfare units and possesses a wide variety of delivery systems. When neither side achieves dominance, the war quickly stalemates. To stop the
human-wave attacks by the Iranians, Iraq employs home-produced chemical agents as a defensive measure against the ill-prepared Iranians.
The first reported use of chemical weapons is in November 1980 (probably CS). For the next several years, reports circulate of additional chemical
attacks.
�During the war with Iran, I remember telling someone [that] Khomeini isn't the only person who talks to god. Saddam Hussein thinks he talks to god.
He has a message--he has to lead Iraq, make it a model for the Arab countries and then attract the rest of the Arab countries and become the sole Arab
leader of modern times.� - Said Aburish, Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge.
1980-88. Chemical weapons are used extensively during Iran-Iraq war. Most are used by Iraq. Saddam is also believed to have used them against his own
people, primarily Kurdish and Shiia minorities. First use during the war is by Iraq. By 1985 Iraq is producing 1,000 tons of various chemical weapons
agents annually.
During the war, Saddam appoints his cousin, Ali Hasan al-Majid, as his deputy in the north. In 1987-88, al-Majid led the "Anfal" campaign of
attacks on Kurdish villages. All villages within 20 kilometers of the Iranian border are ruthlessly destroyed, and many are attacked with chemical
weapons. Amnesty International estimates that more than 100,000 Kurds were killed or �disappeared� during this period.
During the first half of the war the United States provides Iraq with limited military assistance in the form of satelite imagry of Iranian
military dispostions and troop concentrations. Assistance is ended when their use of chemical weapons is confirmed.
1981-1984. Romania sells Iraq (150) T-55 Main battle tanks (transferred via Egypt); (256) T-55 Main battle tanks.
1981-1988. China sells Iraq (4) B-6 Bomber aircraft; (40) F-6 Fighter aircraft; (80) F-7A Fighter aircraft (Assembled in Egypt and transferred via
Jordan); (50) Type-83 152mm Towed guns; (1,300) Type-59/T-54 Main battle tanks; (25) Type-653 Armored Recon Vehicles; (1,300) Type-69-II Main battle
tanks; (650) YW-531C & YW-701/Type-63 APC; (100) CAS-1 Kraken/C-601 Anti-ship missiles For Tu-16/B-6 bomber aircraft; (1,000) HN-5A Portable SAMs.
1981-1988. UK sells Iraq (29) Chieftain Armoured Recon Vehicles; (10) Cymbaline Mk-1 Arty locating radars.
1981-1989. Egypt sells Iraq (80) EMB-312 Tucano Trainer aircraft; (18) SA-342K/L Gazelle Light helicopters; (300) BM-21 122mm MRLs (multiple rocket
launcher); (210) D-30 122mm Towed guns; (96) M-46 130mm Towed guns; (300) Sakr-36 122mm MRLs; (250) T-55 Main battle tanks (Ex-Egyptian Army).
1981-1989. Spain sells Iraq (24) Bo-105C Light helicopters; (2) Al Fao Self-propelled guns.
1981. Israeli jets bomb the French-supplied 40-megawatt Osirak research reactor in Iraq. Experts agree that if this had not been done, Iraq would have
had a functioning nuclear weapon by the time of the Gulf War. Iraqi scientists had planned, not to divert the existing French-supplied highly enriched
nuclear fuel (enough for one bomb), but rather to blanket the reactor with natural or depleted uranium, which would produce plutonium. That would have
made it possible to continue producing, eventually allowing repeated bomb production.
1982. The Soviets build a new germ warfare facility in Stepnogorsk, Kazakhstan to produce their new, more lethal variant of Anthrax. Named the
Scientific Experimental and Production Base, it is the most advanced facility of its type ever built, and the only such facility outside of the
Russian heartland. In 1991, Kazakhstan gains independence and in 1995 allows U.S. inspectors access to the abandoned facility.
Andy Weber, the chief inspector, calculates that at full capacity the plant could produce 300 tons of Anthrax in a single 220 day production cycle.
More than enough to wipe out the entire population of the United States. Stepnogorsk is only one of six such facilities operated by the Soviet
Union.
One reason Kazakhstan allows U.S. inspectors to visit, is their anger over the environmental disasters left over from the soviets WMD programs. The
Russians used Kazakhstan and neighboring Uzbekistan for open-air tests on advanced chemical, germ and nuclear weapons. These tests have left many in
these regions with radiation-related cancers and a host of debilitating diseases.
Vozrozhdeniye Island in the Aral Sea was used for open air tests of biological and chemical weapons on thousands of test animals. These tests also
killed as many as 30,000 Taiga Antelope on the Usturt Plateau in western Uzbekistan which lies downwind of Vozrozhdeniye, not to mentions thousands of
other game animals and livestock in the region.
1982. Austria sells Iraq (200) GHN-45 Towed guns. Officially ordered by Jordan, but illegally delivered to Iraq.
1982. Libya sells Iraq (400) EE-9 Cascavel Armoured cars.
1982. Iraq also establishes Muthanna State Establishment, also known as al-Muthanna, and operated under the front name of Iraq's State Establishment
for Pesticide Production. It has five research and development sections, each tasked to pursue different programs. In addition, the al-Muthanna site
is the main chemical agent production facility, and took the lead in weaponizing chemical and biological agents--including all aspects of weapon
development and testing in association with the military.
1982-1990. Poland sells Iraq (15) Mi-2/Hoplite Light helicopters; (750) MT-LB APC�s; (400) T-55 Main battle tanks; (500) T-72M1 Main battle tanks.
1982, October 27. Iraq's first operational Scud Missile brigade, equipped with 9 launchers, fires its missiles at Iran. During the war, Iraq fires
between 333 and 360 Scud missiles at Iran, 183 at Teheran alone. Iraq is known to have purchased over 1,000 Scud missiles from the Soviets during the
war. The Iranians return the favor by firing their own Scuds at Baghdad.
1983-1985. USA sells Iraq (31) Bell-214ST Helicopters (Officially bought for civilian use, but taken over by Air Force); (30) Hughes-300/TH-55 light
helicopters (Officially bought for civilian use, but taken over by Air Force); (30) MD-500MD Defender light scout helicopters; (26) MD-530F light
helicopters. This is the much vaunted sale of U.S. arms to Iraq! Only 26 of these aircraft are military versions and those are light, unarmed
scouts.
1983, June. Iraq deploys Mustard Gas and uses it against Iran.
1983. An Army study suggests that Anthrax can be turned into a much easier to control bio-weapon through recombinant DNA by making decay in sunlight.
The main drawback to Anthrax is its persistence. U.S. suspects that Soviets are experimenting with recombinant DNA techniques to create Superbugs for
Bio-war in violation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Treaty.
1983, November. Iran complains to the United Nations that Iraq is using chemical weapons against its troops.
1984. Congress created the Chemical Warfare Review Commission to look at several issues related to the military�s chemical warfare preparedness. This
committee visited numerous sites, interviewed experts, reviewed policy, and examined intelligence reports. Among their findings, the commission
concluded:
�that in spite of the approximately $4 billion that the Congress has appropriated since 1978 for defense against chemical warfare, that defense,
measured either for purposes of deterrence or for war fighting utility, is not adequate and is not likely to become so. Chemical combat as it would
exist in the late twentieth century is an arena in which defense must be nearly perfect to be effective at all, detection is so difficult, and
surprise offers such temptation�the offense enjoys a decisive advantage if it need not anticipate chemical counterattack. Defense continues to be
important to pursue, because it can save some lives and preserve some military capabilities. But for this country to put its faith in defense against
chemical weapons as an adequate response to the Soviet chemical threat would be a dangerous illusion.�
1984. Dalles, Oregon. Followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh commit a biological attack against the town to eliminate opposition in the city council
against re-zoning for their ranch/compound. The agent used was Salmonella typhimurium. The attack was carried out by spraying a Salmonella solution
into the salad bars of 35 restaurants along Interstate 84, where most locals ate. Between 750 to 1,000 people were affected and became violently ill.
While no one died during the attack (a small miracle), one newborn infant whose mother was a victim suffered permanent damage due to the disease. This
incident resulted in 751 cases of enteritis and 45 hospitalizations. After a year long investigation an amateur �bio-weapons lab� was found on the
Rajneesh�s compound when an employee admitted the attack and told investigators where to look. Among the virulent cultures found were Francissella
tularensis, Sallmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi, and Shigella dysenteriae. Had these been used, as was planned in a follow up to the first attack,
deaths would have been certain. Several cult members are convicted of these crimes in 1986.
1984. South Africa sells Iraq (200) G-5 155mm Towed guns.
1984. Iraq begins producing the nerve agent Tabun and deploys it within the year for use against Iran.
1984. 4000 prisoners are executed at Iraq�s Abu Ghraib Prison. 3000 more prisoners are executed at the Mahjar Prison between 1993 and 1998. Women
prisoners at Mahjar are routinely raped by their guards.
1984, 1986, 1987. The United Nations dispatches teams of specialists to the area to verify claims of Iraqi use of chemical weapons against Iran. The
conclusion from all three trips is the same: Iraq is using chemical weapons against Iranian troops. In addition, the second mission also stressed that
the use of chemical weapons by Iraq appeared to be increasing despite the publicity of their use. The reports indicated that Mustard agent and the
nerve agent Tabun are the primary agents used, and that they were generally delivered in airplane bombs. The third mission reports the use of
artillery shells and chemical rockets, and the use of chemical weapons against civilian personnel. The third mission is the only one allowed to visit
Iraq.
The Iran�Iraq War fails to reach a military conclusion despite the use of chemical weapons by both sides. Roughly 5% (20,000) of the Iranian
casualties are caused by chemical weapons. Many remain hospitalized to this day.
1984, April. Reagan goes public about suspected Soviet use of chemical and biological weapons in southeast asia and Afghanistan. A few days later the
Wall Street Journal prints interviews from Soviet �migr�s who allege that Moscow is, in fact, conducting a whole range of recombinant DNA
experiment--including viruses containing cobra venom genes that would create deadly toxins inside the victims body after infection.
�The United States must maintain a limited retaliatory capability until we achieve an effective ban. We must be able to deter a chemical attack
against us or our allies. And without a modern and credible deterrent, the prospects for achieving a comprehensive ban would be nil.� - Ronald
Reagan.
1985. Jordan sells Iraq (2) S-76 Spirit Helicopters (Ex-Jordanian Air Force).
1985. The U.S. Congress passed Public Law 99-145 authorizing production of binary-chemical weapons. Binary weapons, which use otherwise safe chemicals
that only become dangerous when combined are considered safe for storage and disposal, and a necessary deterrent against the Soviet Chemical weapons
arsenals. Nuclear deterrence is not considered sufficient, especially in light of soviet treaty violations and chemical warfare military doctrine.
1985. Dr Rihab Taha is selected to head the biological weapons research team at al-Muthanna.
�Dr. Spertzel, it�s not a lie when you are ordered to lie.� - Dr Rihab Taha, response to UNSCOM inspectors when asked why she continued to lie in the
face of proof, 1995.
1986. Iraq begins producing Sarin nerve agent.
1986. Baghdad University purchased an assortment of germs from the American Type Culture Collection, for �medical� research.
The collection serves as a global lending library for scientists doing research to combat infectious diseases to improve global health. Overseas
customers were required to obtain a Commerce Department export license for the most virulent strains. These licenses had always been a formality since
these germs were intended for peaceful research only, and the courtesy was extended to all who asked for legitimate reasons. Moscow, too has a vast
collection of infectious diseases.
1987. After admitting for the first time that they possess chemical agents, the Soviets announced the halting of chemical weapons production.
1987, December 16. Production of the M687 binary projectile begins at Pine Bluff Arsenal. This was no small feat considering modern environmental and
general public concerns. To resolve political concerns, the M20 canisters were filled and stored at Pine Bluff Arsenal, while the M21 canisters were
produced and filled at Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant. The filled M21 canisters and shell bodies were then stored at Tooele Army Depot, Utah. In time
of need, the parts could be combined and would provide the army with a chemical retaliatory capability.
Additional delivery systems are the BLU-80/B (BIGEYE) bomb and XM135 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Binary Chemical Warhead. Both utilize the
binary concept. These systems dispersed the persistent nerve agent VX after mixing two non-lethal chemical agents (designated NE and QL).
1988. Gorbachev orders scientists at Sverdlosk to dispose of the tons of Anthrax it has stored at Zima, near Irkutsk. It is presumed that, in light of
his policies of glastnost and perestroika, he nervous that Britain or the U.S. may demand to inspect the facility, revealing Soviet breaches of the
1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The Anthrax is taken to the Vozrozhdeniye island test range in Kazakhstan where it is soaked in bleach
and buried.
1988. While working at the Vector facility in Siberia, scientist Nikolai Ustinov accidentally infects himself with the Marburg virus while trying to
perfect it as a weapon. Marburg, like Ebola, causes hemoragic fever. Ustinov dies, but his colleagues harvest the virus from his body and discover
that it has mutated into a more virulent form which they designate �Variant U.�
1988. Al-Hakam, a large biological agent production facility, goes into operation in Iraq. Botulinin toxin and Anthrax are its main are its main
production. By 1991 the plant produces about 125,000 gallons of agents. After stating for years that the plant was used to produce animal feed, the
Iraqis admitted in 1995 that the plant was a biological warfare production facility. The admission come only as a result of a high-level defection.
The site is supervised by Dr. Taha�s staff at Muthanna State Establishment.
In addition to producing biological warfare agents, they also conducted live-agent tests on animals. The Iraqis also later admitted they had
prepared about 200 biological missiles and bombs. Still unaccounted for.
Hans Branscheidt a chemical expert says (in 2003), that Iraq purchased eight mobile chemical laboratories from the Federal Republic of Germany. He
says that the construction of an Iraqi research center for missile technology "became almost exclusively the work of German companies." This report
is confirmed by the head of Germany's intelligence service, August Hanning.
1988, March 17. The village of Halabja was bombarded by Iraqi warplanes. The raid was over in minutes. A Kurd described the effects of a chemical
attack on another village: "My brothers and my wife had blood and vomit running from their noses and their mouths. Their heads were tilted to one
side. They were groaning. I couldn't do much, just clean up the blood and vomit from their mouths and try in every way to make them breathe again. I
did artificial respiration on them and then I gave them two injections each. I also rubbed creams on my wife and two brothers." (From "Crimes
Against Humanity" Iraqi National Congress.)
1988, June. The Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center at Ft. Detrick produces a classified study stating that Iraq is building a �bacteriological
arsenal�. Among the agents identified are Anthrax and Botulinin toxin. The report states that they are also producing germs for assassinations and
that Hussein Kamal, Saddam�s son-in-law and head of Iraq's Intelligence Agency was personally supervising the program.
The report stated that the Iraqis had purchased many of their starter germs from the American Type Culture Collection. The scientific supply
company that maintains the collection, the largest collection of germ strains in the world, is located in Maryland and is the same place the
Rajneeshee Cult purchased the germs for their �pharmacy�, which they used in their Bio-attack in Oregon.
The intelligence report goes to the State Department, CIA, and various departments of the military. However, no one thinks to tell the Commerce
Department or the American Type Culture not to allow any more purchases by Iraq.
1988, July. Iraq tests new helicopters fitted with aerosol generators for dispersing Anthrax.
1988, August. Iraq finally accepts a United Nations cease-fire plan ending the war with Iran. The only result of the war is a colossal loss of life on
both sides.
1988, September. Human Rights Watch reports on Saddam�s attacks on the Kurds. Estimates vary, but according to Human Rights Watch up to 5,000 people
were killed in the areas they are able to visit.
Shortly before, there were rumors that Libya had used chemical weapons obtained from Iran during an invasion of Chad. The United States rushed
2,000 gas masks to Chad in response. There were also reports of the Cuban-backed government of Angola using nerve agents against rebel forces.
1988, September 29. Iraq�s Ministry of Trade�s Technical and Scientific Materials Import Division (TSMID), which American intelligence had recently
identified as the front for Iraq�s germ warfare program, orders additional germ cultures, one of which was Anthrax strain 11966. In February 1989,
further sales to Iraq were banned. The Commerce Department also slammed the door shut on Iran, Libya, and Syria, who were also suspected of trying to
develop germ weapons.
This is the supposed �help� we gave to Iraq. We did not give the Iraqis �germ weapons� or the equipment to make them. The equipment used to
manufacture germ weapons can be purchased off the shelf in over a dozen countries. The same equipment used to make animal feed, yogurt, fertilizer,
powdered milk, and dozen of other legitimate products can be used to manufacture bio-weapons, which is why bio-weapons manufacturing facilities are
easy to disguise.
Iraq purchased materials and supplies to turn germs into weapons from around the world, but mostly from Europe. Cattle feed stock growing media
from Britain, and machinery from France and Germany. Delivery systems from the Soviet Union and others.
1989. South Africa makes the strategic decision to dismantle its covert nuclear weapons program.
Meanwhile, German Karl Schaab helps Iraq smuggle centrifuges into the country. These centrifuges are used to enrich uranium into fissionable
material. After the Gulf War, Usncom inspectors will oversee their destruction, but not before Iraq learns how to make copies of the originals.
Centrifuge tubes are made either of steel or aluminum.
1989, February. The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan, just over nine years after they had arrived.
1989, September. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between the Government of the United States and the Government of the USSR Regarding a
Bilateral Verification Experiment and Data Exchange Related to Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, otherwise known as the Wyoming MOU, started the talks
between the two countries for the elimination of chemical weapons.
1989, October. A top Soviet biologist, Vladimir Pasechnik defects to Britain. He reveals that the Soviet Union�s bio-weapons warfare program is far
larger than anyone suspected, employing as many as 30,000 scientists and specialists--figures later confirmed by other defectors. Pasechnik claims the
Soviets have developed long-range missiles to deliver germs as well as nukes.
Before defecting, he had been the director of the Institute for Ultra-Pure Biological Preparations in Leningrad, one of many Soviet front
organizations. His instutue had employed some 400 scientists doing research in modifying cruise-missles to spread germs. Pasechnik also claims that
the Soviets are engaged in the genetic engineering of super bio-weapons, including a "Super" Plague virus.
1990. U.S. intelligence sources detect increased chemical-development activity in Libya. Libya constructs a chemical weapons plant at Rabta that can
produce about 100 tons of chemical agents annualy. Libya claims that the plant was destroyed by a fire. New disclosures surfaced in 1996 that Libya is
constructing a second chemical production plant at Tarhunah. U.S. intelligence sources claimed that this would be the largest underground chemical
weapons plant in the world, covering roughly 6 square miles and situated in a hollowed-out mountain. With Scud missiles having a range of 180 to 300
miles, this creats a significant threat to Libya�s neighbors. Libya strongly denies the accusation.
1990, Spring. Iraq purchases 40 top-of-the-line aerosol generators capable, of disseminating 800 gallons of liquid an hour, from Italy. They are
compact enough to fit in the back of a pickup truck, small boat, or single-engined aircraft.
1990, June. American intelligence officials identify Iraq�s research center at Al Tuwaitha, near baghdad as a place suspected of engaging in the
genetic engineering of bio-weapons. The assessment is made based on the �buying patterns� of the facility and the fact that Iraq�s top military
scientists are working there.
Al-Hakam begins producing Anthrax and by December turns out 2,200 gallons.
1990, June 1. The United States and the Soviet Union sign a bilateral chemical weapons destruction agreement. In support of this agreement, the
secretary of defense cancels most of the new chemical retaliatory program, and the army decides to mothball its new binary chemical production
facilities in 1990.
1990, August. Iraq starts a crash program to develop a single nuclear weapon within a year. The goal is the rapid development of a small 50 machine
gas centrifuge cascade to produce weapons-grade HEU using fuel from the Soviet research reactor, which was already substantially enriched, and unused
fuel from the reactor bombed by the Israelis. By the time of the Gulf War, the crash program had made little progress. Iraq's declared aim is to
produce a missile warhead with a 20-kiloton yield.
1990, August 2. Iraq invades Kuwait. At this time, Iraq�s bio weapon�s arsenal contains some 8500 liters of Anthrax spores, 19000 liters of Botulinum,
4000 liters of Aphlatoxin, and a quantity of Typhoid. They also possess up to 25 Scud warheads and 160 bombs equipped for BW.
1990, August 6. The Navy sends it�s commanders an intelligence assessment on Iraq�s bio-weapons capability warning that Iraq�s germ weapons may be
effective against ships at distances of up to 25 miles. It also stated that Iraq has substantial amounts of Botulinin toxin, Anthrax, Cholera, and
Staphylococcus--among other agents. The CIA warns that Saddam has a significant number of artillery shells, missiles, bombs, rockets and
high-performance aircraft equipped with sprayers for dispensing these agents. All modified Soviet equipment.
War planners worry about how to deal with these weapons.
1990, November. CIA analysts warn that if Saddam thought his personal position was hopeless, this could convince him to use bio-weapons against a
major Saudi oil facility, or against troops, to shock the coalition into a cease-fire.
Air force planners start targeting all know or suspected chemical weapons production and storage facilities. Plans are made to use bombs that will
cause these structure to �implode� and then follow-up with incendiary bombs to destroy any escaping agents in an effort to reduce civilian casualties
near the targets.
Troops are to be immunized against Anthrax, the most likely of his bio-weapons. There is no effective vaccine for Botulinin toxin.
An analysis by U.S. Naval Intelligence notes that Baghdad purchased microbial media sufficient for the production of 74 billion human lethal doses
of Botulinum. This same growth media is also used for the production of animal feed which the Iraqis would later claim it was purchased for.
Production of Botulinum toxin begins at the Dawrah veterinary vaccine plant near Baghdad. By December is has produced 1,400 gallons.
1990, December. Iraqi pilots test spray tanks fitted to their fighters at the Abu Obeydi air base. Additional tests are conducted in January �91.
1991. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, funding for its germ warfare programs dry up, leaving many facilities, and those that run them unemployed
and destitute. Those that remain employed are paid irregularly if at all.
1991, January. US/UK inspection teams visit Russia to inspect 3 bio-war facilities as a part of a 3-way exchange of inspectors. The US/UK teams find
evidence of an extensive offensive weapons program that involves biological agents, such as Smallpox, Anthrax, Marburg virus, and Plague.
In December, Russian inspection teams visit closed U.S. biological facilities and see that the U.S. has ended its offensive program. However, the
lead Russian inspector reports back to Moscow that the U.S. continues to have an offensive program and Moscow publicizes this to the world
community--apparently as �payback� for the embarrassment they suffered from US/UK findings. Several member of that team later defect to the U.S. and
admit that the reports were a deliberate lie for political reasons.
1991, January 15. Deadline for Iraq�s withdrawal from Kuwait.
1991, January 16. Operation Desert Storm�s air campaign begins. Initial air attacks concentrate on Iraqi chemical production facilities, bunkers, and
lines of supply. Iraq launches its first Scud missile against the coalition.
1991, January 21. Coalition bombers strike what Iraq claims is a baby milk factory in
Baghdad. The United States insists that Iraq is using it as a biological weapons development
site. It appears the facility had briefly functioned as a �baby milk� factory in 1979 and 1980, and then again in the spring and summer of 1990,
before the Iraqi regime began to use it as a biological weapons site. The site was defended as a military site at the time of the attack. It is prime
example of a dual use facility.
1991, January 28. Saddam Hussein tells Peter Arnett of CNN News that his Scud missiles, which were already hitting Israel and Saudi Arabia, could be
armed with chemical, biological, or nuclear munitions. Iraq threatens to use chemical weapons against allied troops if the high levels of bombing
against his military continues. He is in turn told that he will be personally targeted if he uses chemical or biological weapons.
During the course of the war, Iraq fires 46 Scuds at Saudi Arabia, 42 at Israel, and 1 at Bahrain. In Israel the missile attacks cause 1-2 deaths
and 208 (mostly light) injuries; 4 people die of heart attack and 7 due to incorrect usage of gas masks. In Saudi Arabia a Scud missile hits a U.S.
barracks and kills 27 service men and women. Over 100 are injured.
1991, February 23. The ground war against Iraq to liberate Kuwait begins. On 27 February, Allied troops liberate Kuwait City and finish destroying the
Iraqi divisions originally in Kuwait. No known chemical and biological attacks were made by the Iraqis, but there are reports of chemical weapons
detectors going off. These are thought to be false alarms at the time.
A number of reasons surfaced after war as to why the Iraqis had not initiated large