Hi Kids-
Further elaboration on Iraqi weapons in Sudan from US NEWS. It seems there are many countries (our allies) involved:
Moving Target Iraq has secretly built chemical weapons plants in Sudan
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[ Latest News From Sudan At Sudan.Net ]
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News Article by USNEWS on February 16, 1998 at 11:04:09:
Moving Target Iraq has secretly built chemical weapons plants in Sudan,
transferred nuclear materials to Algeria, and sent a dozen of its top
scientists to develop a biological warfare complex in Libya.
BY ALAN COOPERMAN
U.S. airstrikes cannot eliminate Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass
destruction for the simple reason that Iraq has smuggled many of them to
other Arab countries for safekeeping.
That is the conclusion of a draft report by the U.S. House of
Representatives Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare which
was obtained by U.S. News & World Report magazine.
The report -- based on American, German, and Israeli intelligence --
says that Iraq has secretly built chemical weapons plants in Sudan,
transferred nuclear materials to Algeria, and sent a dozen of its top
scientists to develop a biological warfare complex in Libya.
The Clinton administration has dispatched three aircraft carriers to the
Persian Gulf and is now building international support for a military
strike to punish Saddam Hussein for defying United Nations weapons
inspectors.
But "no bombing campaign against Iraq, and even an occupation of that
country for that matter, is capable of destroying the hard core of
Saddam Hussein's primary WMD [weapons of mass destruction] development
and production programs,'' the congressional report states. "The reason
is that under current conditions these programs are run outside of Iraq
-- mainly in Sudan and Libya, as well as Algeria (storage of some hot
nuclear stuff).''
The transfer of Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons
technology began even before the Gulf War. As Saddam Hussein realized
that the coalition led by the United States was going to bomb his
country in 1991, he hastily smuggled know-how, equipment, and key
materials to his close allies. And the smuggling has continued right up
to the present.
In March/April 1991, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz got
permission from Sudan's president, Umar al-Bashir, to move about 400
Scud missiles and chemical weapons to Sudan for "safekeeping.'' At the
same time, Iraq smuggled nuclear materials, documents, and weapons parts
-- including 27.5 pounds of highly-enriched uranium-235 -- to Sudan via
Jordan using diplomatic mail privileges. For example, barrels of uranium
were hidden in a truck marked "furniture'' that went from the Sudanese
Embassy in Iraq to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in January 1992.
Since Sudan has no nuclear facilities, most of the nuclear materials
were later shipped to a Chinese-built research reactor in the Algerian
town of Ain Oussera, where they are still being stored, according to the
report.
In 1995, Iraq and Sudan jointly built a plant to produce choking mustard
gas near Wau in southwestern Sudan. The chemical weapons plant is
located in a former fruit factory staffed by Iraqi technicians. The gas
has been used at least twice by the Sudanese government against the
rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army in southern Sudan.
In May 1996, the Iraqis and Sudanese tested chemical agents in the
desert, and residents got sick when winds shifted suddenly and carried
residues into the city of Omdurman.
Last year, Sudan and Iraq completed a far more sophisticated chemical
weapons plant along the Blue Nile in the Kafuri region north of
Khartoum. The plant is believed to have begun test runs of nerve agents
and is producing 122mm and 152mm artillery shells as well as rocket and
tactical missile warheads. Iraqi intelligence agents recruited experts
from Egypt, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Russia to help with the plant
according to the report.
The Iraqis also built a chemical weapons plant at the Yarmook Industrial
Complex in the Mayu area south of Khartoum using German-made machines
acquired by Iraqi intelligence and smuggled via Bulgaria. Computers were
purchased in France. The site includes a mosque, medical clinic, and
guest houses for foreign experts from Iraq and Iran. It even has a
special farm to keep the "guests'' well fed on fresh milk, vegetables,
and dates.
In 1995, the congressional report says, Iraq signed a secret agreement
to provide Libyan leader Muammer Qadhafi with experts on ballistic
missiles. Iraq also sent nuclear fuel and specialists to work on nuclear
weapons development at a secret site in Sidi Abu Zurayq, in the desert
about 240 miles southwest of Tripoli.
Since the mid-1990s, Iraqi agents have been buying sensitive technology
in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, then diverting it to Libya. Late
last year, Iraq sent some of its top experts in chemical weapons to the
Libyan chemical weapons facility inside a mountain at Tarhunah, 40
milies southeast of Tripoli.
About a dozen Iraqi scientists involved in biological weapons research
arrived in Libya at the beginning of this year. They are helping the
Libyans develop a new biological warfare complex under the guise of a
medical facility called General Health Laboratories. This secret
program, codenamed Ibn Hayan, is aimed at producing bombs and missile
warheads filled with deadly anthrax and botulism agents, according to
the report. |
