More making the case via indirection - a list of WMD Saddam already possesses:
>>Saddam to be target of Britain's 'E-bomb'
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 26/08/2002)
The Pentagon is planning to use a British weapon that can
disable electronic and electrical systems without killing
anyone to attack Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological
weapons sites.
The "radio frequency weapon", or E-Bomb, developed at a
secret site in south-west England, sends out a high-intensity
radio wave with similar effects to the electromagnetic pulse
from a nuclear blast.
It is also able to penetrate the underground bunkers where
Saddam's chemical and biological weapons are stored as
protection from allied bombing. The radio pulse will travel
easily down the bunkers' power and ventilation ducts.
One of the biggest problems facing allied troops if they were
sent into Iraq would be that, with any attack aimed at
removing him from power, Saddam knows he has nothing to
lose in using his weapons of mass destruction.
Bombing the sites would only spread the chemical or
biological agents, killing innocent Iraqi civilians and
threatening invading forces.
By using the E-bomb to cripple the plants' refrigeration and
computer systems, the allies would ensure that the weapons
could not be used in any effective way.
Although the weapon is still in the final stages of
development, American defence sources said they were
interested in acquiring it for immediate deployment in any
attack on Iraqi chemical and biological weapons sites.
The E-Bomb can be made to have a limited range and be
delivered by cruise missile, by smart bomb, or by one of the
unmanned aerial vehicles which proved their effectiveness
during the campaign in Afghanistan, one British official said.
As it approaches its target, an array of aerials spring out and
its capacitors discharge themselves, sending out a burst of
high-powered microwave energy to disable electrical and
electronic systems.
The weapon was developed by the novel technology
department of Matra BAe Dynamics. It gives credence to the
nightmare scenario of a high-technology war when the
enemy could disable the radio, radar, and computer systems
on which modern defences depend.
The weapon can also bring civil infrastructure to a standstill,
closing national electricity grids, stopping telephone, radio
and television systems.
The discovery that Russia was close to producing the
E-bomb sparked a race to build similar weapons and
counter-measures to protect against them in which Britain
has become the world leader.
MI6 has told ministers that Iraq may still possess tons of
chemical warfare agents, the necessary materials to produce
thousands of litres of biological agents and as many as 10
Scud missiles with which to deliver them.
Iraq has admitted that before the Gulf war it manufactured
100 botulinum bombs, 50 anthrax bombs, and seven
aflatoxin bombs. Five missile warheads were filled with
anthrax, 16 with botulinum, and four with aflatoxin.
The Iraqi chemical warfare arsenal is known to include:
The nerve agents Sarin and VX. Colourless and tasteless,
they cause death by respiratory arrest in one to 15 minutes.
Blister agents such as mustard gas. Severely incapacitating,
they damage tissue, causing extensive large blisters.
Psychoactive agents such as Agent 15. Symptoms include
dizziness, vomiting and hallucinations lasting for days.
Biological warfare agents produced by Iraq include:
Anthrax. Symptoms initially resemble that of a common cold
and are only identifiable in the fatal phase. Once this begins,
vomiting, severe head and joint pain, and respiratory distress
will lead to death in one to three days.
Botulinum. Causes botulism. Symptoms include nausea,
diarrhoea, paralysis of the throat and convulsions, followed
by death due to respiratory arrest.
Aflotoxins. Poisons produced by fungi and mould, they have
the capacity to cause liver cancer.
Ricin. Inhalation leads to weakness, fever and pulmonary
oedema within 24 hours followed by death.
Clostridium perfringens. A bacterium which causes
gangrene.<<
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