The 1991Gulf War
On August 2, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and was widely condemned internationally. The policy of the United States on Hussein’s government changed rapidly, as it was feared Saddam intended to attack other oil-rich nations in the region such as Saudi Arabia as stories of atrocities from the occupation of Kuwait spread, several of which later proved false, older atrocities and his WMD arsenal were also given attention Iraq’s nuclear weapons program suffered a serious setback in 1981 when the reactor used to generate source material for its bomb was bombed by Israel. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists concurs with this view: there were far too many technological challenges unsolved, they say an international coalition of nations, led by the United States, liberated Kuwait in 1991. In the terms of UN ceasefire set out in Security Council Resolution 686, and in Resolution 687, Iraq was forbidden from developing, possessing or using chemical, biological and nuclear weapons by resolution 686. Also prescribed by the treaty were missiles with a range of more than 150 kilometres. The UN Special Commission on weapons (UNSCOM) was created to carry out weapons inspections in Iraq, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was to verify the destruction of Iraq’s nuclear program.
Q.32: A Inspection team of UNO list the Iraq for destruction of mass destructive weapon, in the light of Inspector’s views USA attacks on Iraq what do you think, about this attack.
Ans: UNSCOM Inspections 1991-1998
The United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) was set up after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait to inspect Iraqi weapons facilities. It was headed first by Rolf Ekeus and later by Richard Bulter. During several visits to Iraq by UNSCOM, weapons inspectors interviewed British-educated Iraqi biologists Rihab Rashid Taha. According to a 1999 report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency, the normally mild-mannered Taha exploded into violent rages whenever UNSCOM questioned her about al-Hakam, shouting, screaming and, on one occasion, smashing a chair, while insisting that al-Hakam was a chicken-feed plant. “There were a few things that were peculiar about this animal-feed production plant”, Charles Duelfer, UNSCOM’s deputy executive chairman, later told reporters, “beginning with the extensive air defenses surrounding it.” The facility was destroyed by UNSCOM in 1996. In 1995, UNSCOM’s principal weapons inspector, Dr. Rod Barton from Australia, showed Taha documents obtained by UNSCOm that showed the Iraqi government had just purchased 10 tons of growt mediu from a British company called Oxoid. Growth media is a mxture of sugars, proteins and minerals that provides nutrients for microorganisms to grow. It can be used in hospitals and microbiology/molecular biology research laboratories. In hospitals, swabs from patients are placed in dishes containing growth medium for diagnostic purposes. Iraq’s hospital consumption of growth medium was just 200 kg a year; yet in 1988, Iraq imported 39 tons of it. Shown this evidence by UNSCOM, Taha admitted to the inspectors that she had grown 19,000 litres of botulism toxin; 8,000 litres of anthrax, 2,000 litres of aflaxins, which can cause liver failure; Clostridium perfringenes a bacteria that can cause gas gangrene, and ricin, a castor-bean derivative which can kill by impeding ____. She also admitted conducting research into cholear, salmonella, foot and mouthj disease, and caned pox, a disease that uses the same growth techniques as smallpox, but which is safer for researchers to work with. It was because of the discovery of Taha’s work with camel pox that the US and British intelligence services feared Saddam Hussein may have been planning to weaponize the smallpox virus. Iraq had a smallpox outbreak in 1971 and the Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation and Arms Control Center (WINPAC) believed the Iraqi government retained contaminated material.
UNSCOM also learned that, in August 1990, after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, Taha’s team was ordered to set up a program to weaponize the biological agents. By January 1991, a team of 100 scientists and support staff had filled 157 bombs and 16 missile warheads with botulin toxin, and 50 bombs and five missile warheads with anthrax. In an interview with the BBC, Taha denied the Iraqi government had weaponized bacteria. “We never intended to use it”, she told journalist Jane Corbin of the BBC’s Panorama program. “We never wanted to cause harm or damage to anybody”. However, UNSCOM found the munitions dumped in a river near al-Hakam. UNSCOM also discovered that Taha’s team had conducted inhalation experiments on donkeys from England and on beagles from Germany. The inspectors seized photographs showing beagles having convulsions inside sealed containers.
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