Iraq I:  U.S. WMD Search Team to Leave Iraq in June; “Dr. Germ” Detained

The U.S. military’s 75th Exploitation Task Force, which has been deployed in Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction, is expected to end operations next month without finding any evidence of Iraqi WMD efforts, the Washington Post reported yesterday (see GSN, May 9).

Task force leaders no longer “think we’re going to find chemical rounds sitting next to a gun,” according to Army Col. Robert Smith, who leads the Defense Threat Reduction Agency site assessment teams.  “That’s what we came here for, but we’re past that,” he said.

The U.S. search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction will now be conducted by the Iraq Survey Group, a larger unit of scientific experts and intelligence officials than the task force, according to the Post.  That effort, however, is shaping up to be smaller that originally planned, according to the Post.

For example, the site survey teams will reduce their number of WMD and missile experts from six to two.  The Direct Support team, a DTRA nuclear special operations group, has already sent home a third of its original complement and plans to further reduce its staff by half.

“We thought we would be much more gainfully employed, or intensively employed, than we were,” said Navy Cmdr. David Beckett, who directs special nuclear programs for the team.

Only two of the 19 top WMD sites identified by the U.S. Central Command prior to the war remain to be searched, the Post reported.  Out of 68 top “non-WMD sites,” which are believed to have important clues that could aid in the search, 45 had been searched by last week without any finds.

Task force members explained their lack of results, in part, because of their slow advance into Iraq.  U.S. ground commanders sometimes kept task force teams away from the military front, and the task force itself had no helicopters of its own, according to the Post.

“My personal feeling is we waited too long and stayed too far back,” said Christopher Kowal, a computer forensics expert who worked for Mobile Exploitation Team Charlie until last week.

Task force members also said that the looting of suspect sites by Iraqis severely hindered the WMD hunt.  As of last week, U.S. troops had only secured 44 of the 85 top weapons sites in Baghdad and 153 of the 372 sites considered to be the most essential in the reconstruction of the country, the Post reported (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, May 11).

WMD Search Continues

Meanwhile, one of the task force’s teams, Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, has discovered the strongest radiation source found so far in Iraq at an abandoned test range near the city of Amiriya, according to the New York Times.

On Friday, the team investigated the site and found eight poles connected to earth-covered concrete bunkers.  The team traveled to the site after receiving reports that coalition forces had found a large source of radiation in one of eight pits near the poles.  The initial report said that one of the pits was emitting radiation levels more than 1,000 times that of normal radiation levels, according to the Times.  When the team arrived at the site, it only found moderate levels of radiation at the bases of the poles.

After examining the poles, experts determined that they had been designed to raise and lower a radioactive source, believed to be cobalt 60, to expose troops and equipment to radiation, according to the Times.  According to international nuclear experts, the site had been used more than 10 years ago to expose troops to a simulated nuclear battlefield (Judith Miller, New York Times, May 12).

Dr. Germ in Custody

Two former Iraqi officials, including the infamous “Dr. Germ,” are now in U.S. custody, U.S. officials said today.

Rihab Taha, who has been dubbed Dr. Germ by the media, was the former head of Iraq’s biological weapons program.  U.S. officials believe Taha, who is No. 197 on the coalition’s most wanted list, may be able to assist the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. forces have also taken into custody Ibrahim Ahmad al-Sattar Muhammad al-Tikriti, former chief of staff of the Iraqi military and No. 11 on the U.S. list of 55 most wanted officials (CNN.com, May 12).

Rewards Offered

U.S. authorities in Iraq have issued a nationwide radio appeal for information that could help the search for Iraqi WMD efforts, according to the London Times.  The appeal offers a reward and anonymity for the informants.

“The reward you may get can improve your living standard,” the appeal said (Catherine Philp, London Times, May 12).

Sanctions

Experts among U.N. Security Council members are expected today to study a draft resolution introduced last week by the United States, United Kingdom and Spain to lift U.N. sanctions against Iraq.  Security Council ambassadors are expected to begin debating the resolution Wednesday.

After that meeting, “we will have a better assessment of where everybody is," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday.  “Initial reaction from capitals is everybody wants to move forward, a great deal of pragmatism, no refighting of the past, no screaming and shouting, if I could put it that way, but a lot of questions,” he said.

Russia said Saturday that it has begun consulting with other council members on the draft resolution.  During the council discussions on the resolution, Russia will again “underscore the need for the United Nations’ central role in this process,” Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said (Russia Journal, May 11).

Back to top

Iraq II:  Former U.N. Inspector Calls for Improved Treatment of Iraqi Scientists

The United States should approach former Iraqi scientists and technicians as if they were “valuable witnesses,” instead of war criminals, to better obtain their cooperation in the U.S. search for evidence of Iraqi WMD efforts, a former U.N. weapons inspector wrote in a Washington Post commentary yesterday (see GSN, May 5).

“Why not treat them as war criminals?  Because when it comes to WMD, the top priority must be preventing proliferation — not punishing people,” wrote David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.  “Stopping the spread of these weapons is more important than putting scientists behind bars,” he added.

Many low- and mid-level Iraqi scientists want to help the United States and can provide information about Iraq’s past nuclear plans, efforts to deceive U.N. inspectors and illicit foreign procurement activities, according to Albright.  The scientists can also help U.S. forces gain control over any remaining unsecured Iraqi WMD assets, such as documents and equipment, he wrote.

In addition, the better the scientists and technicians are treated, the less likely it is that they will flee Iraq to possibly aid other states or terrorist groups in developing weapons of mass destruction, Albright wrote.  “If Pentagon teams use a confrontational approach, they could increase the risk that these scientists will go into hiding or leave Iraq,” he wrote (David Albright, Washington Post, May 11).

Back to top

Iraq:  Iraqi Intelligence Agent Apparently Reveals Chem-Bio Assassination Program

U.S. and British intelligence officials have interrogated a midlevel Iraqi intelligence agent who appears to have knowledge of an Iraqi assassination program that used chemical and biological agents, a senior British defense source said yesterday (see GSN, May 8).

The assassination program appears to have been established by ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s former regime, and not by any terrorist organization, the source said.  The program used only minute amounts of biological and chemical agents, such as ricin and sarin, according to the source.

U.S. and British intelligence agencies are focusing more on finding former Iraqi WMD scientists and technicians because they may possess intelligence that may prove to be more useful than that of former high-ranking regime officials, the British official said.

“These midlevel people may be a more promising route (to finding out the extent of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction) than us suddenly finding WMD equipment,” the official said.  “We would be amazingly lucky to find steaming vats of chemicals or rows and rows of WMD-tipped missiles,” the official added (Peter Almond, United Press International, May 8).

Sanctions

Meanwhile, the United States, United Kingdom and Spain today introduced a new U.N. Security Council resolution to end U.N. sanctions against Iraq, according to Reuters.

The resolution, which two senior Security Council diplomats described as “hard” and “in your face,” would phase out the existing oil-for-food program over the next four months and would give the United Nations and other international organizations only an advisory role in the Iraqi reconstruction, according to Reuters.  The three countries want a vote on the resolution by June 3, when the existing oil-for-food program would need to be renewed (Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, May 9).

United States Warns Syria Not to Hide Iraqi Weapons

The United States would be forced to take action if it was learned that Syria had hidden Iraqi weapons of mass destruction during the recent war in Iraq, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said in an interview published this week (see GSN, April 21).

“We have assurances from the Syrians that nothing crossed their borders,” Rice said in interviews Tuesday with four Spanish newspapers.  “Time will tell,” she  added.

If such promises were revealed to be false, however, the international community would be forced to act, Rice said, refusing to provide other details.

Syria’s Ambassador to Spain Mohsen Bilal has denied that his country helped to hide Iraqi weapons of mass destruction or fleeing Iraqi officials.

“We have no fear and no secrets,” Bilal said Wednesday (Associated Press/MSNBC.com, May 8).

Iraqi Looters May Have Caused Own Radiation Poisoning

Iraqis who looted a nuclear power facility near the town of Zafaraniya earlier this month are believed to have stolen drums filled with radioactive uranium oxide concentrate, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

Iraqi troops guarded the facility until April 4, when they fled in advance of U.S. troops, according to the report.  Nearby residents looted the facility only days later, and are believed to have stolen 100 barrels of the radioactive material.  It is believed that the looters did not know what the material was or have any interest in it.

Officials believe that the looters inhaled large quantities of the uranium and might have ingested some after converting the barrels for use as water and cooking oil storage containers, according to the report.  One nearby resident who was involved in the looting was reported to have said that he tasted the uranium oxide concentrate because it looked pretty (Tsuyoshi Nojima, Asahi Shimbun, May 8).

Back to top

Iraq:  Extensive Testing Planned for Suspected Mobile Biological Laboratory

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States plans to conduct an intensive and thorough examination of a suspected mobile biological laboratory recently recovered in Iraq, a U.S. Defense Department official said yesterday (see GSN, May 7).

The suspect trailer, which resembles the mobile biological facilities Secretary of State Colin Powell described during a February U.N. Security Council presentation, was seized at a Kurdish checkpoint in mid-April, said Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone.  A number of pieces of equipment onboard the recovered trailer are similar to the facilities described by Powell, such as a fermenter, gas cylinders and gas recovery systems, Cambone said.

“Interestingly enough, the gas recovery systems really are not necessary for, and not normally used for, legitimate biological processes,” Cambone said during a Pentagon press briefing. 

Initial analyses by U.S. and British technical experts have determined that the recovered trailer “does not appear to perform any function” other than to produce biological agents, Cambone said.  The trailer appears to have been cleaned, however, with a caustic solution before it was recovered, leading to a need for more intensive testing to determine its actual purpose, he said.

U.S. specialists will probably dismantle the trailer to enable them to test difficult-to-reach surfaces, Cambone said.  “So it will be another considerable period of time before the next round of testing comes back and we get some results,” he added.

The suspected mobile biological facility is the latest find in the ongoing U.S. search for evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.  So far, U.S. troops have investigated 70 of the 600 WMD-related suspect sites in Iraq that were identified before the war, Cambone said.  In addition, U.S. troops have also visited 40 sites that have been identified through new information and tips recovered after the war, he said.

Some of the information used to determine new suspect sites to investigate has come from voluntary cooperation by Iraqi citizens, Cambone said.  He added that it was expected that “the level of voluntary cooperation will come up as the security situation improves and as the people in the country are more and more confident that the elements of the old regime are not going to wreak retribution.”

Although the trailer appears to be similar to those described by Powell in his Security Council presentation, Cambone refused to say if the trailer represented conclusive proof of Iraqi WMD efforts.  He was confident, however, that U.S. forces would eventually find such evidence.

“As time goes by and the more we learn, I’m sure we’re going to discover that the WMD programs are as extensive and as varied as the secretary of state reported in his February address,” Cambone said.  “I think we’re going to find that they had a weapons of mass destruction program,” he said.

United States Drops Sanctions

Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday removed some U.S. sanctions against Iraq.

Bush announced the suspension of the 1990 Iraqi Sanctions Act during a White House press conference with visiting Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar.  Bush also said he had ordered U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow to relax sanctions on U.S. companies and citizens conducting business in Iraq related to humanitarian efforts and the country’s reconstruction. 

In addition, the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain plan to introduce “soon” a new Security Council resolution to lift U.N.-imposed sanctions against Iraq, Bush said.

“The regime that the sanctions were directed against no longer rules Iraq,” Bush said.  “No country in good conscience can support using sanctions to hold back the hopes of the Iraqi people.”

Bush said the Security Council appears to be receptive to the new resolution and is ready to work to improve the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

“We believe there is a mood to work together to achieve a resolution that will expedite the reconstruction of Iraq,” Bush said.  “The read from at least our diplomats at the United Nations is that the kind of atmosphere that existed prior to the war has changed, and that people now want to work together for the good of the Iraqi people,” he said.

Russia, however, has often indicated that U.N. sanctions cannot be lifted against Iraq until it is determined to be free of weapons of mass destruction as called for in previous U.N. resolutions.  According to reports, U.S Assistant Secretary of State Kim Holmes met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov today in Moscow to discuss the U.S. proposal to end the sanctions.

Fedotov yesterday reiterated Russia’s position that U.N. inspectors should first verify Iraq’s WMD disarmament before sanctions can be lifted. 

“Russia wants the burden of the sanctions to be eased as soon as possible, which should be done in line with existing U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Fedotov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Back to top

Iraq:  Bush Administration to Allow IAEA Inspectors to Return Eventually

The United States will permit International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to return to Iraq at some point to verify Iraq’s compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to a diplomat cited by Reuters today (see GSN, May 6).

“There is no question that inspectors from the IAEA will eventually go back to Iraq,” said the diplomat.  “They are the guardians of the NPT,” the diplomat added.

The diplomat did not say precisely when the United States would allow IAEA inspectors to return to Iraq, but did say it was apparent that the United States envisioned the IAEA playing a “long-term role in Iraq.”

The diplomat did not address to the possible return of other inspectors from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which was reponsible before the recent war for investigating Iraq’s suspected chemical, biological and missile programs (Reuters/MSNBC.com, May 7).

A U.S. military team searching for evidence of Iraq’s past WMD efforts has found information that might shed some light on Baghdad’s nuclear weapons program, according to the New York Times.

During a search of a Baghdad building yesterday, soldiers from Mobile Exploitation Team (MET) Alpha found a “top secret” intelligence memo that describes an offer made by Islamic militants to sell nuclear materials to Iraq, the Times reported.  The memo, dated May 20, 2001, was prepared by an Iraqi intelligence station chief in an African country and detailed an offer made by a “holy warrior” to sell uranium and other nuclear materials.  While the offer was rejected at the time because of the “sanctions situation,” the source was eager to provide aid at a more opportune time, according to the memo (Judith Miller, New York Times, May 6).

Biological Weapons

Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department is expected to announce today the results of a two-week investigation of a suspected mobile biological laboratory that was recovered in Northern Iraq, a senior Bush administration official said.

Equipment found inside the truck included a fermenter attached to the floor that could be used to produce biological agents, the official said.  The truck appears to be similar to one of the mobile biological laboratories Secretary of State Colin Powell described to the U.N. Security Council during a Feb. 5 presentation on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, a senior administration official said (see GSN, Feb. 5).

The truck and its equipment had been previously cleaned with bleach, resulting in no finds of any actual agents, the official said.  Intelligence analysts, however, have determined that “there doesn’t seem to be any legitimate use for it, other than as a biolab,” the official added (Pincus/Dobbs, Washington Post, May 7).

Sanctions

Germany has agreed to support a Security Council resolution being prepared by the United States that would lift sanctions against Iraq, according to USA Today.  Germany does not plan to insist on “strict linkage” between the new resolution and evidence that Iraq no longer possesses weapons of mass destruction, a senior German official said (Barbara Slavin, USA Today, May 7).

Back to top

International Response:  IAEA Chief Offers Steps to Nonproliferation

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, in a Le Monde commentary this week, outlined steps “urgently required” if countries still intend to “try to combat the spread of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] through a collective, rule-based system of international security.”

Even as “nuclear weapons have continued to have a position of prominence as the currency of ultimate power,” ElBaradei wrote, “the objectives embodied in the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons ... are under growing stress.”

Among indicators of such stress, ElBaradei cited continued, acknowledged possession of nuclear weapons by China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as Pakistani and Indian demonstrations of nuclear capability.  He said Israel “is generally presumed” to have nuclear weapons and that North Korea, which has repudiated the treaty, “is suspected of working to acquire” them, adding that poorer countries have sought biological and chemical weapons and that “subnational groups” could follow suit.

“Faced with this reality, must we conclude that it is futile to try to combat the spread of WMD through a collective, rule-based system of international security — and that we have to acquiesce to living in a world plagued with the constant threat of a nuclear holocaust or other disasters?”  ElBaradei asked.  “I do not believe so.  But reliance on a system of collective security to curb the proliferation of WMD will require bold thinking, a willingness to work together and sustained effort.”

The director general called for modernizing collective security via the United Nations “in terms of both preventive diplomacy and enforcement action.”  He recommended a change in Security Council membership “to include the major political and economic powers in today’s world”; “new working concepts, tools and methods”; early intervention mechanisms; the development of sanctions “that target governments rather than the governed”; limits on veto power; and a broadening of the council’s “definition of what situations ‘constitute a threat to international peace and security’ to cover efforts to acquire WMD, as well as the brutal suppression of human rights.”

ElBaradei’s other recommendations were an end to “pre-emptive strikes,” steps to “delegitimize the acquisition or use of WMD,” “a comprehensive regime to ensure that WMD and their components will not fall into the hands of terrorists,” decisive action on “chronic disputes that create the greatest incentives for acquiring WMD” and a collective effort to “address global sources of insecurity and instability” — including by narrowing the gap between rich and poor, improving governance and addressing the “increasingly perceived schisms between cultures and civilizations” (IAEA release, May 5).

Back to top

Iraq:  United States Denies IAEA Access to Tuwaitha Nuclear Complex

U.S. arms control officials yesterday rejected an International Atomic Energy Agency request for access to Iraqi nuclear facilities at Tuwaitha, believed to be the main site in Iraq’s former nuclear weapons program.  Agency officials are seeking to return there to determine what materials may have been stolen during looting, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (see GSN, May 5).

IAEA officials criticized the U.S. decision, demanding access to conduct an “immediate inspection.”

“If this happened anywhere else in the world, we would demand an immediate inspection,” said agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky.  “We want an immediate inspection to determine what has been taken.  We also must place new safeguards over the material still remaining,” he said.

Gwozdecky warned that radioactive materials looted from the site could pose both environmental and security risks.

“We are concerned about environmental contamination, people who could have been exposed to the radioactive material, and whether nuclear security has been compromised,” Gwozdecky said.  “We do not want this material to end up with terrorists,” he added.

Nonproliferation experts also agreed that the possible looting of the Tuwaitha complex was a cause for concern.

“If you wanted to blow the entire operation in Iraq, a good way to do that would be to have haphazard security for known facilities where weapons of mass destruction were developed,” said Michael Barletta of the Monterey Institute of International Studies.  “It’s one thing to see people looting antiquities from museums.  It’s another to learn that radiological sources may have been taken out of Tuwaitha, the best known atomic weapons site in the entire country,” he said (Carl Prine, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 6).

The United States still has not determined if IAEA inspectors will be granted access to Iraqi nuclear sites, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday.

“We have been in touch with the IAEA.  We’re in touch with them on various issues all the time,” Boucher said.  “But there is no decision at this point about what role they may or may not play in terms of evaluating and monitoring at this point,” he said.

Boucher refused to comment on reports of looting at Iraqi nuclear sites.  He instead said that coalition forces have worked to secure such sites and the materials they contain.

“Coalition forces have secured the facilities that housed the natural- and low-enriched uranium that was at those sites,” Boucher said.  “None of this material is usable in nuclear weapons.  All of this uranium would require significant processing in order to be suitable for enrichment for weapons use,” he said (U.S. State Department release, May 5).

Biological Weapons

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected today to claim that the United States has found an Iraqi mobile biological weapons laboratory, Defense Department officials said yesterday (see GSN, April 29).

Late last month, U.S. forces captured a truck south of Mosul and they suspected it contained a biological laboratory.  The truck has been determined to contain equipment to produce biological agents, but no such agents were found inside, Pentagon officials said.  Rumsfeld may cite the truck during a Pentagon press briefing today, they said (Jamie McIntyre, CNN.com, May 6).

U.S. forces have also taken into custody Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a senior biologist suspected of being highly involved in Iraq’s biological weapons program, according to a Pentagon official.

Ammash, a former dean of the Iraqi College of Women and later of the College of Science at Baghdad University, has long been believed to have been heavily involved in Iraq’s biological weapons efforts, according to the New York Times.  She traveled outside of Iraq several times in the late 1990s to obtain equipment and materials for genetic research, said former U.N. inspector Richard Spertzel. 

“Several defectors have also said that she was involved in the germ warfare program,” Spertzel said.

Nissar Hindawi, a founder of Iraq’s biological weapons program, has also said Ammash was involved in Iraq’s efforts to develop such weapons.  Hindawi said colleagues had told him that Ammash had escaped to Syria prior to the war along with Rihab Taha, another senior Iraqi biological weapons scientist.

U.S. military officials in Iraq would not comment on how Ammash was captured or when she was taken into custody (Judith Miller, New York Times, May 6).

Sanctions

The Bush administration is considering a proposal to unilaterally lift U.S. sanctions against Iraq without a similar move by the United Nations — a move likely to be opposed by many on the U.N. Security Council, according to the London Independent (see GSN, May 2).

A legal team headed by the National Security Council is examining such a move and its possible ramifications within international law, according to the Independent.  While the United States has called on the United Nations to lift sanctions against Iraq, several Security Council members have said inspectors must first determine if the country is free of weapons of mass destruction.

“If the U.N. embargo drags on too long, we will have to find a way out of that system,” a senior Bush administration official was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying (Rupert Cornwell, London Independent, May 6).

The United States is also working to create a “principal” Security Council resolution that would end sanctions against Iraq and create a “coordinating” role for the United Nations in Iraq’s reconstruction, the State Department said yesterday.  The first resolution would then be followed by several “auxiliary” measures aimed at various reconstruction tasks, the department said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to travel next week to three Security Council members — Bulgaria, Germany and Russia — to obtain support for the new resolution, according to the Washington Times.

“We’ve had some discussions of language at this point within the U.S. government and with a few of the other members of the council,” Boucher said.  “We expect to broaden this discussion in coming days and have discussion with other members of the council as soon as we can, as soon as we can have language for them,” he said (Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, May 6). 

Back to top

U.S. Response:  New Passive Attack Weapon Could be Used Against WMD Targets

The U.S. Air Force used a new conventional weapon designed to destroy suspected biological and chemical facilities without scattering dangerous materials during the Iraq war, a service official said last week (see GSN, May 5).

The new weapon is called the CBU-107 Passive Attack Weapon and is filled with 3,700 nonexplosive penetrator rods, according to Col. James Knox, area attack program director at the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.  The weapon is designed for use against unshielded targets where explosive fills are not needed or are undesirable, such as chemical and biological weapons targets, Knox said.

The new weapon, a modified Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser, works the same way as a traditional munitions dispenser but fires the nonexploding rods instead of explosive munitions, according to Aerospace Daily.  The weapon holds 350 14-inch rods, 1,000 7-inch rods and 2,400 2-inch rods.  It was used in combat during the Iraq war after a 98-day, $40 million development program, Knox said.

Knox refused to say how the Air Force used the new weapon in Iraq or how often it was used.  He did confirm, however, that the weapon was used, adding that he has received “no negative feedback” (Stephen Trimble, Aerospace Daily, May 5).  

Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP