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CounterPunch
August
20, 2002
Chemical Weapons, the US and
Iraq
What the
New York Times Left Out
by William Blum
It
was page one of the New York Times Sunday (August 18), picked
up extensively by the international media, a featured story on
America On Line. "Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite
Use of Gas", shouted the headline. Senior military officers
revealed that the Reagan administration had provided Iraq with
critical battle planning assistance in waging decisive battles
of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The assistance was given at
a time when American intelligence agencies knew that Iraq had
already employed chemical weapons and would likely continue to
do so.
This of course raises obvious questions
about the current Bush administration's near-frenzied demonization
of Saddam Hussein, particularly for his alleged chemical and
biological weapons (CBW) threat. Readers can be forgiven if they
think this is a revelation of some sort. It isn't.
 The story may add a new detail or two about the
precise nature of US tactical assistance to the Iraqis, but the
basic story has long been known. Strangely, the Times story leaves
out the most significant part -- the furnishing of chemical and
biological materials by the United States to Iraq which markedly
enhanced Iraq's CBW capability. (There is one isolated line in
the Times piece, almost at the very end, hinting at something
of the sort: "Former Secretary of State Shultz and Vice
President Bush tried to stanch the flow of chemical precursors
to Iraq.")
At the risk of sounding like I'm blowing
my own horn, I must point out that I wrote a story on this very
subject in 1998, which was published in several "alternative"
magazines, distributed widely on the Internet to this day, and
won a Project Censored award in 1999. As far as I know, the American
mainstream media has never covered this story, and if the Times
article is any guide, the censorship will continue.
Following is the crux of my article as
published in 1998:
In his recent State of the Union address,
President Clinton, in the context of Iraq, spoke of how we must
"confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons,
and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals seeking
to acquire them." He castigated Saddam Hussein for "developing
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons" and called for
strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention.
Who among his listeners knew, who among
the media reported, that the United States had been the supplier
to Iraq of much of the source biological materials Saddam's scientists
would require to create a biological warfare program?
According to a Senate Committee Report
of 1994 [1]: From 1985, if not earlier, through 1989, a veritable
witch's brew of biological materials were exported to Iraq by
private American suppliers pursuant to application and licensing
by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Amongst these materials,
which often produce slow, agonizing deaths, were: Bacillus Anthracis,
cause of anthrax. Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum
toxin. Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs,
brain, spinal cord and heart. Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria
that can damage major organs. Clotsridium Perfringens, a highly
toxic bacteria causing systemic illness. Clostridium tetani,
highly toxigenic. Also, Escherichia Coli (E.Coli); genetic materials;
human and bacterial DNA. Dozens of other pathogenic biological
agents were shipped to Iraq during the 1980s.
The Senate Report pointed out: "These
biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were
capable of reproduction." [2] "It was later learned,"
the committee revealed, "that these microorganisms exported
by the United States were identical to those the United Nations
inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare
program."[3]
These exports continued to at least November
28, 1989 despite the fact that Iraq had been reported to be engaging
in chemical warfare and possibly biological warfare against Iranians,
Kurds, and Shiites since the early 80s.
NOTES
[1] "U.S. Chemical and Biological
Warfare-Related Dual Use Exports to Iraq and their Possible Impact
on the Health Consequences of the Persian Gulf War," Senate
Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with Respect
to Export Administration, reports of May 25, 1994 and October
7, 1994.
[2] Ibid., May 25 report, pp. 36-47
[3] Ibid., October 7 report, p. 3
William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military
and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Rogue
State: a guide to the World's Only Super Power. and West-Bloc
Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir.
He can be reached at: BBlum6@aol.com
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