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Iraqi Insurgents Seeking Chemical Weapons, U.S. Chief Arms Inspector Warns
Insurgents in Iraq are attempting to obtain and use chemical weapons against coalition forces there, according to a report released last week by chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq Charles Duelfer (see GSN, Oct. 7). The report describes one insurgent group, known as the “al-Abud network,” which coalition forces dismantled in June, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Iraq Survey Group, the coalition unit searching for evidence of prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts, first learned of the group in March when U.S. forces raided a laboratory in Baghdad, where they found an Iraqi chemist who had produced a small quantity of ricin, according to the Times. After interviewing the scientist, a team was put together to track down and arrest other members of the al-Abud network, named for the laboratory where the chemist was discovered, the Times reported. By June, the team was able to “neutralize” the group’s scientists, chemical suppliers and other members of the network, according to Duelfer’s report. “I think this is a case where we got ahead of a problem a bit,” a senior U.S. intelligence official said. Duelfer’s report also says, though, that the leaders and financiers of the al-Abud network “remain at large.” In addition, other insurgent groups are “planning or attempt to produce or acquire” chemical and biological agents, the report says (Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 10).
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