Iraq:  United Kingdom Backed Iraqi Chemical Plant in 1985, Report Says

Despite knowing that it could be helping Iraq acquire chemical weapons capabilities, the United Kingdom gave insurance guarantees in 1995 to help build an Iraqi chemical plant, the London Guardian reported today.

The Fallujah 2 chemical plant was featured in U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the U.N. Security Council last month (see GSN, Feb. 6).

While senior British officials wrote at the time that there was a “strong possibility” that the plant would be used to produce mustard gas, ministers still approved insurance guarantees for the British company Uhde, according to documents.

The plant cost more than 14 million pounds and the United Kingdom paid more than 300,000 pounds when the 1991 Gulf War interrupted payments.

Then-British trade minister Paul Channon concealed the arrangement from the United States and the British public, the Guardian reported.  The United States was pushing for export controls related to chemical weapons production at the time, according to the Guardian.

Channon overrode objections and wrote, “A ban would do our other trade prospects in Iraq no good.”

Channon declined to comment to the Guardian.

A spokesman for Uhde’s German parent company said, “This was a normal plant for the production of chlorine and caustic soda.  It could not produce other products” (Leigh/Hooper, London Guardian, March 6).

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Russia:  Gorny Disposal Plant to Remain In Operation

Russia’s sole chemical weapons disposal facility, located in Gorny, will continue to operate, despite an recent order calling for operations to stop to address environmental issues, Russian disarmament officials said yesterday (see GSN, March 4).

The Gorny plant is operating normally and the order, issued by the Russian Natural Resources Ministry, was simply the result of a bureaucratic dispute, said Sergei Kiriyenko, chairman of the state commission on chemical disarmament.  Zinovy Pak, head of the Russian Munitions Agency, also said the facility would remain in operation, adding that the order was only a warning and that the plant’s documentation would be brought in line with the law.

“The ministry will go beyond warning in its sanctions if order is not established in this sphere,” Pak was quoted by Interfax as saying.  “The decision may be made to suspend operation, which nobody wants to allow to happen,” he added (Mara Bellaby, Associated Press/Environmental News Network, March 5).

Germany to Provide Funding

Meanwhile, Germany has agreed to provide more than $6.5 million to the Gorny plant, Sergei Lisovsky, Russian regional industry, science and technology minister, said Monday.  Russian and German officials are currently discussing whether the funding will go toward improving the plant’s capacity or to construct residential and social facilities, he said (Rosbalt news, March 4).

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CWC:  Andorra Ratifies Chemical Weapons Convention

Andorra ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention and deposited its instrument of ratification with the United Nations Feb. 27 (see GSN, Feb. 19).  When Andorra’s accession takes effect March 29, it will become 151st party to the treaty (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release, March 5).

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Russia:  Gorny Disposal Plant Operation in Doubt

The Russian Natural Resources Ministry yesterday ordered Russia’s only chemical weapons disposal plant, located in Gorny, to halt operations because of environmental concerns (see GSN, Feb. 27). 

The ministry ordered the Gorny plant to cease operations until violations discovered during an inspection last month were corrected, according to the Associated Press.  Those violations included the lack of a license to work with chemical waste, poor control over waste emissions into the environment and improper storage of the waste resulting from the destruction of mustard agent, said Denis Kiselyov, head of the ministry’s department of state control for nature management and resource protection (Steve Gutterman, Associated Press/Moscow Times, March 4).

A Russian chemical disarmament official said today, however, that the facility would not cease its current operations.  The ministry’s order applies to work the plant was scheduled to conduct in May, which would have expanded its operations, said Alexander Kharichev of the Russian state commission on chemical disarmament.

“It is not about neglect in any current operations,” Kharichev was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass.  “There were no sanctions in the investigating commission’s report,” he added (Mara Bellaby, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, March 4).

During a visit to Russia last month, Rogelio Pfirter, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, praised the Gorny disposal plant for using the most up-to-date technologies.

“Russia is strictly observing the ecological norms,” Pfirter said.

“We are satisfied with the condition of the Gorny complex and we have no doubts concerning its technology.  Russia is doing a concrete job and it will get additional backing,” he said (ITAR-Tass, March 4).

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United States:  Arkansas Man Charged in Ricin Hoax

An Arkansas man was arrested yesterday after the FBI’s Little Rock office received an envelope labeled: “Caution: contents contain ricin” (see GSN, Feb. 6).

Bertier Ray Riddle was charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction within the United States and affecting interstate commerce.

“The attorney general has made it clear that threats regarding the use of weapons of mass destruction, particularly during this time of heightened tension and vigilance, will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins.

After receiving the letter in February, investigators narrowed their list of suspects by examining the envelope which contained Riddle’s return address and was signed, “Sincerely not Bertie Ray Riddle” (Kelly Kissel, Associated Press/Baxter Bulletin, March 4).

During a court appearance this morning U.S. attorneys said they intend to file a motion seeking to determine Riddle’s mental competency, according to Sandra Cherry, an assistant to Cummins.

That motion will most likely be filed today, Cherry said.

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U.S. Response:  Marines to Use Chickens to Detect Attacks

U.S. Marines stationed in the Persian Gulf region plan to use live chickens to help detect a chemical weapons attack, Knight-Ridder News Service reported today (see GSN, Feb. 7).

“They will be like the proverbial canary in the coal mine,” said Lt. Col. Rob Abbott, commander of the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi troops set oil wells on fire, which resulted in the release of hydrogen sulfide — a mustard gas component.  This led to U.S. troops mistakenly thinking they had been attacked with chemical weapons, a mistake the chickens are meant to prevent, Abbott said.

The chicken plan has hit an early problem, however, according to Knight-Ridder.  Out of the first shipment, all but one of the chickens died within the first week, but more on their way.

Soldiers offered no remorse for sacrificing the chickens.  “It’s the chickens or me,” said Joe Santos, chief warrant officer of the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion (Patrick Peterson, Knight-Ridder/San Jose Mercury News, March 3).

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United States:  Anniston CW Destruction Will Wait for Local Readiness

The U.S. Army will not begin destroying chemical weapons agents at the Anniston Army Depot incinerator in Alabama until local officials are more prepared to respond in the event of an emergency, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 6, 2002).

The depot stores 2,254 tons of chemical agents, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

While no startup date has been scheduled yet, it is hoped that local officials can quickly resolve any remaining emergency preparedness issues, said Michael Parker, interim director of the Chemical Materials Agency, responsible for the chemical weapons disposal effort.  Mike Burney, director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, said he hoped all response measures would be in place by October.

The Army is also working to meet a series of benchmarks included in a letter sent by Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to the secretary of the Army in January, Parker said.  Those benchmarks include increased funding for additional protective measures for vulnerable groups of people and responsibility for activating a siren system in the event of an incident at the depot (Associated Press/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 2).

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