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Iraq: Al-Qaeda Reportedly Received Chemical Weapons A report, circulating in the U.S. intelligence community, says Islamic extremists allied with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization received chemical weapons, possibly VX nerve gas, in a transfer that took place in Iraq during the last two months, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Nov. 4). The intelligence report suggests that the chemical agent was smuggled out of Iraq through Turkey, possibly last month (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, Dec. 12). Senior U.S. officials, however, sought to play down the report, with one official cited by CNN saying the Post story was “far too conclusive-sounding” (John King, CNN.com, Dec. 12). The report could be used by the Bush administration to refute Iraq’s recent declaration that it had destroyed all of its chemical weapons, but information on the intelligence report was leaked without White House consent, the Post reported. The source of the intelligence report gave the information credibility in the eyes of U.S. officials, a U.S. source said. “The way we gleaned the information makes us feel confident it is accurate,” the official said, “I throw about 99 percent of the spot reports away when I look at them. I didn’t throw this one away.” The report is not backed up with hard evidence, officials cautioned. Another official said that the government is concerned with the information and is “ramping up opportunities to collect more, to figure out what would be the routes, where would they be taking the material, how would they deploy it, how are they transporting it, what are the personnel.” “We’re not just sitting back and waiting for something to happen,” the official added. The government generally held back on official comments regarding the report. “We are concerned because of al-Qaeda’s interest in obtaining and using weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, and we continue to seek evidence and intelligence information,” Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, said. “Have they obtained chemical weapons?” Johndroe asked. “I do not have any hard, concrete evidence that they have,” he said (Gellman, Washington Post). “Some of this stuff turns out to be right, and a lot of it turns out to be wrong or exaggerated or wishful thinking on the part of those doing the talking,” the official quoted by CNN said. Congressional sources who usually receive sensitive intelligence briefings have said they have seen no evidence of a working relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda (King, CNN.com). Baghdad Received Chemical Antidote Meanwhile, the Post also reported today that Iraq imported more than 2 million vials of atropine — which could be used to inoculate soldiers against chemical warfare agents — with the permission of U.S. officials, and has ordered 1.5 million additional doses (see GSN, Nov. 13) According to the Post report, which cited U.N. sources and documents, French, Russian and Italian companies signed firve or more contracts between 1997 and November 2001 through the U.N. oil-for-food program for the nerve agent antidote. It was unclear why the United States has not expressed concern about the imports until now. “I honestly don’t know the answer,” said John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, Dec. 12).
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