U.N. Report Warns of Chemical Arms Peril
Pastor Dale Morgan
U.N. Report Warns of Chemical Arms Peril*
By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 5, 2007; 6:54 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- Attacks in Iraq using chlorine and explosives to kill
and injure civilians underline the danger of insurgents obtaining
chemicals and other toxic agents to use as weapons, U.N. inspectors said
Tuesday.
Small amounts of biological agents for bioterrorism or even criminal
activities also could be produced in Iraq's research or diagnostic
laboratories or at clandestine sites, the report said.
In its quarterly report to the Security Council, the U.N. Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission said there had been at least 10
reported attacks in Iraq using various quantities of chlorine, "while
several other attempted attacks using chlorine and other toxic products
have reportedly been foiled by the security forces."
The attacks involved setting off explosives attached to containers of
chlorine gas rather than a true chemical weapon that disperses the
deadly agent, but arms experts have warned that insurgents could improve
their abilities to handle such technology.
The commission's report focused on the danger of "small quantities of
chemical and biological warfare agents" outside Iraqi government control
falling in to the hands of insurgents, terrorists, militia members and
criminals.
"Given the current security situation in Iraq, it is possible that some
non-state actors will continue to seek to acquire toxic agents or their
chemical precursors in small quantities," it said. "In addition to using
the available supplies of chlorine spread throughout Iraq, non-state
actors could also seek to acquire other, more toxic agents that are
either indigenously produced or procured from abroad."
The commission cited a number of factors in Iraq that heighten the danger.
Iraq has hundreds of scientific and technical personnel who were
involved in past chemical weapons programs under Saddam Hussein's regime
and know where to buy chemicals to produce small quantities of chemical
warfare agents, it said. Civilian equipment easily turned to producing
chemical agents also might still be intact, the report said.
It also said chemical munitions from the Saddam Hussein era could still
be in Iraq. Artillery shells containing deadly mustard gas might still
be active, it warned, but said rocket warheads filled with nerve agents
would be less of a threat today because of deterioration.
The commission is an outgrowth of a U.N. inspections process created
after the 1991 Gulf War in which the Iraqi army was ousted from Kuwait.
U.N. inspectors were responsible for certifying that Iraq's weapons of
mass destruction and long-range missiles were dismantled.
Inspectors from the commission and the International Atomic Energy
Agency, which was responsible for overseeing the dismantling of Iraq's
nuclear program, left Iraq just before the U.S.-led invasion of March
2003 war that toppled Saddam.
U.S. officials barred them from returning, but the commission's
inspectors have used satellite imagery in an effort to keep track of
equipment with dual civilian and military uses, which they had been
monitoring on the ground.
Since 2005, the U.S. and Iraq have been seeking to get the Security
Council to wrap up the work of the commission, known as UNMOVIC. "We're
hopeful that we can circulate a resolution on UNMOVIC's future by the
end of the week," said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission
to the United Nations.
The commission's report said satellite photos had allowed its inspectors
to identify a number of buildings and structures that once contained
chemical production equipment and were demolished or damaged by 2004.
"The fate of this equipment, which can be utilized for the production of
small/single batches of chemical weapons agents or their precursors, and
the fate of equipment in buildings that remained intact is unknown," the
report said.
Small-scale production of chemical agents mainly requires standard glass
equipment, the report said. It also said sales of small quantities of
chemicals with both civilian and military uses is not highly regulated
internationally unlike trade in industrial-scale chemicals.