Regarding Iraq, bin Laden, as noted was in contact with 
    Baghdad's intelligence service since at least 1994. He 
    reportedly cooperated with it in the area of chemical-
    biological-radiological-nuclear (CBRN) weapons and may 
    have trained some fighters in Iraq at camps run by 
    Saddam's anti-Iran force, the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK). 
    The first group of bin Laden's fighters is reported to 
    have been sent to the MEK camps in June 1998; MEK cadre 
    also were then providing technical and military training 
    for Taliban forces and running the Taliban's anti-Iran 
    propaganda.

    Other laboratory and production facilities available to 
    bin Laden are reported in the Khowst and Jalalabad areas, 
    and in the Khartoum suburb of Kubar. The latter facility 
    is said to be a "new chemical and bacteriological 
    factory" cooperatively built by Sudan, bin Laden, and 
    Iraq, and may be one of several in Sudan. In January 1999,
    Al-Watan Al-Arabi reported that by late 1998, "Iraq, Sudan,
    and bin Laden were cooperating and coordinating in the 
    field of chemical weapons." The reports say that several 
    chemical factories were built in Sudan. They were financed
    by bin Laden and supervised by Iraqi experts.

    In pursuing tactical nuclear weapons, bin Laden has 
    focused on the FSU [Former Soviet Union] states and has 
    sought and received help from Iraq.

    We know for certain that bin Laden was seeking CBRN 
    weapons . . . and that Iraq and Sudan have been cooperating
    with bin Laden on CBRN weapon acquisition and development.
    On the last point, Milan's Corriere della Sera reported 
    that in late 1998 that Iraq's ambassador to Turkey and 
    former intelligence chief, Faruk Hidjazi, met bin Laden 
    in Kandahar on 21 December 1998. The daily said Hidjazi 
    offered bin Laden sanctuary in Iraq, stressing that Baghdad
    would not forget bin Laden's protests against U.S.-U.K. 
    air attacks on Iraq. Whether Hidjazi discussed CBRN 
    issues with bin Laden is unknown, but is [sic] interesting
    to note that Al-Watan Al-Arabi reported that in October 
    1998 the Iraqis "suggested to bin Laden to involve [in his
    search for CBRN weapons] elements from the Russian Mafia 
    who were above suspicion." It was learned that these trusted
    elements were Red Army officers who established ties of 
    friendship and trust with officers in the Iraqi army in 
    the past when Iraqi army and intelligence officers used 
    to go to the Soviet Union for training courses and Moscow 
    sent its military specialists to Baghdad.