IRAQ NEWS, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2003
The CSIS website carries notes by Anthony Cordesman from a recent trip to Iraq.
Those covering an interview with David Kay on Iraq's weapons programs (pps 6 &
7, lower left #'s ) are at:
http://www.csis.org/features/031114current.pdf
The notes underline the importance to Saddam of Iraq's biological weapons
program: "Situation is complicated by shift of bio program from Al Hakim to
Tuwaitha in 96 [ie after Hussein Kamil defected], which fooled the UN because
Tuwaitha was seen as a nuclear site at [sic] looked at by IAEA and not UNSCOM."
Is Kay suggesting that his group has found significant aspects of Iraq's BW
program that were unknown to UNSCOM, so well was this program hidden?
Regarding the nuclear progran, "Kay said people still misunderstand the
aluminum tube issue. Never able to track overall progress in centrifuge design
after 1991. Knew Iraq used aluminum tubes for rockets, but Iraq steadily
upgraded specifications after 1999 for tubes that were never delivered but
could be used for centrifuges. Said government that opposed war (Germany or
France) blocked the shipment and warned US could be used for centrifuges."
The Sunday Times (UK), today, carries a story, "Spies close in on Saddam's
ailing terror mastermind," by Richard Miniter. It includes more information on
Iraq's BW program:
" Two top Iraqi scientists, codenamed Charlie and Alpha, are helping the
coalition to learn more about Iraq's anthrax programme, Kay said. The Iraqis
had made shocking innovations in the milling and drying processes needed to
weaponise anthrax. 'Almost every week there is a new discovery that boggles
your mind,' Kay said."
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