Global Security Newswire

Eight Iraqi scientists who were previously involved in Iraqi WMD efforts remain in U.S. custody, with a large number of Iraqi scientists having been released, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Dec. 1).

Out of the eight scientists still in U.S. hands, four are on the U.S. “Most Wanted” list, according to AP. Six were heavily involved in prewar Iraqi biological weapons programs and two are experts on delivery systems. All eight scientists maintain that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to U.S. officers involved in the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Those scientists still in custody should be able to explain the extent of Iraq’s former biological program, what biological agents were produced and in what quantities and when and how they were destroyed, said former U.N. weapons inspectors.

Several of the held scientists were members of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, said Alaa al-Saeed, an Iraqi scientist who previously oversaw VX stockpiles and who has now been placed in charge of the NMD. In addition, the rest of the directorate’s senior staff has been rehired to prevent them from leaving the country, AP reported (Associated Press/New York Times, Dec. 9).