The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
Dear Mil & All - The article asked for could be 'New threat from old foe', in 'T2',reportage, p.4. Mainly about U.S.S.R./Russia, it begins with some sentences about Iraqi biological weapons etc. The article is described as the final extract from the book, by Robert Harris & Jeremy Paxman,'A Higher Form of Killing'. If that isn't what you're looking for, then I can't help you (could the article be from some other day?). I did try to email it through, some 5-6 times, but "The system was unable to communicate with the server". Greetings, Bert G. >From: Milan Rai <milanrai@btinternet.com> >Reply-To: milanrai@btinternet.com >To: CASI list <soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk> >Subject: Times article deserves response >Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 00:22:23 -0000 > >Dear all > >The Times is running a series by Paxman and Robert Harris about >Iraq's WMD. > >The most interesting bit is the subheading: 'While George Bush >names Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an axis of evil, Saddam Hussein's >huge chemical and biological weapons arsenal emerges as the biggest >threat to world peace'. > >Whatever view one takes, there is no basis for stating as fact that Iraq >has a 'huge' CBW arsenal, and The Times should get rapped for >saying so. > >letters@thetimes.co.uk > >The article which is really of interest to us is about Iraq's WMD - also >by Harris and Paxman - immediately after this article in the paper >version of the Times today, but I can't find it on their website. >Perhaps if someone else does they will post it to the list? > >It is full of the usual 'could have/may have' stuff. Neatly avoids the >'inspectors booted out in 1998', and refers to US nuclear threats >against Iraq in 1991. > >Cheers > >Mil > >http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,7-204432,00.html > >Times 2 - features > >February 11, 2002 >Cover story >The bio-terror time bomb >by Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman > >Subheading: While George Bush names Iraq, Iran and North Korea as >an axis of evil, Saddam Hussein's huge chemical and biological >weapons arsenal emerges as the biggest threat to world peace > >Proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is the most urgent >problem facing Western military planners. Apart from Iraq — which >stands in an appalling category of its own — the quartet of Iran, Syria, >Libya and North Korea now appear to be co-operating in the >development of weapons of mass destruction. Iranian oil wealth has >helped to enable North Korea to develop a sophisticated long-range >missile programme. > >Tehran has also provided Syria with financial assistance to enable it to >threaten Israel by buying North Korean Scuds. Libya has expressed a >desire to buy North Korean missiles with a range of 1,000km. All four >countries have chemical and biological weapons programmes in >various stages of development. North Korea is believed to have a >stockpile of 300-1,000 tons of chemical weapons agents, including >nerve gases, and to be experimenting with anthrax, cholera, bubonic >plague and smallpox. > >Syria is producing chemical weapons at three sites, employed cyanide >against a rebellion by Sunni Muslims in 1982 (according to Amnesty >International) and is “pursuing the development” of biological >weapons. Iran — which made use of mustard and cyanide gases in its >war with Iraq — has continued to develop chemical weapons, has a >biological weapons manufacturing capability, and is alleged to have >stocks of anthrax and botulinum. Libya used chemical weapons against >Chad in 1987, has a chemical weapons production facility, and >appears to be trying to acquire the means to manufacture biological >agents. > >Expert advice is not lacking. The image of a footloose, amoral scientist, >skilled in developing weapons of mass destruction and prepared to >sell himself to the highest bidder, is usually the stuff of thrillers. But >in >this case, reality has kept pace with fiction. The collapse of the Soviet >Union left hundreds of scientists involved in its biological weapons >programme surplus to requirements. Some were re-employed in >legitimate industries. Some were paid a pension by the Americans in >return for their discretion. But as the plants at which they worked >rusted away, others found that curious visitors began calling. >American diplomats were warned in 1997 that Iranian delegations >had offered biologists new careers developing a biological warfare >capability in the Islamic republic. Most seem to have declined the >invitations. Others, whose salaries had not been paid for months, >apparently found the lure of a steady income irresistible. > >It is the risk from those countries with a reputation for sponsoring >terrorism which is now most exercising governments around the >world. So far the terrorist use of chemical and biological weapons has >been the province of cults and cranks. In September 1984, for >example, in the United States, devotees of the Bhagwan Shree >Rajneesh poisoned 751 people in the Oregon town of Wasco, >contaminating drinking glasses and salad bowls with salmonella. >Mercifully there were no fatalities, even though the salmonella had >been bought from the same company which supplied anthrax and >botulinum to the University of Baghdad. > >Much more serious were the activities of the Japanese cult, Aum >Shinrikiyo, which made two ineffectual attacks with biological agents >— botulinum toxin in 1990 and anthrax in 1993 — neither of which >caused any injuries, before resorting to nerve agents. In June 1994, >the cult used home-made sarin on the inhabitants of an apartment >block in Matsumoto, killing seven and injuring 300. Then, in March >1995, came the worst incident of all. Five terrorists, each carrying >plastic bags containing small amounts of sarin, boarded separate >Tokyo subway trains, and at 8am simultaneously punctured the bags >with umbrellas. Twelve people died; more than 5,000 were injured. > >Most recently there have been the anthrax attacks in the United >States, carried out by means of contaminated letters. Five people have >been killed by military-grade anthrax, reported to contain one trillion >spores per gram. The letter sent to the US Senate majority leader, >Tom Daschle, alone contained two grams of anthrax — theoretically >enough to kill 200 million people (a figure which demonstrates both >how easy it is to be alarmist about biological weapons, and how >astonishingly lethal they could be if the right means of dispersal could >be employed). The high concentration would seem to indicate that >this agent was originally procured from a national weapons >programme — possibly even from America’s own former biological >stockpile. > >The most frightening aspect of all these attacks — apart from the >malice and contempt for human life which inspired them — is the >ease with which they were mounted. And yet the perpetrators were, >essentially, amateurs. If professionally trained terrorists, backed by the >resources of a chemical and biological weapons-capable state, were to >mount similar attacks, the results could be devastating. There have >been intelligence reports that the al-Qaeda organisation has acquired >botulinum toxin from a laboratory in the Czech Republic, paying >$7,500 (£4,700) a phial. Anthrax “in some form” is also said to have >been obtained from an Indonesian company. > >One of the hijackers who helped to carry out the suicide attacks of >September 11 is known to have inquired about purchasing a crop- >dusting aircraft — a perfect means of dispersing chemical and >biological agents over a target population. A terrorist who was >infected with smallpox, and who sought contact with as many people >as possible before succumbing to the disease, would be the ultimate >walking suicide bomb. In one exercise, undertaken by officials in >Washington in 1999, the progress of smallpox was tracked as it >spread through an unvaccinated American population. Within two >months, 15,000 people were dead; within a year, the figure was 80 >million. > >A Higher Form of Killing by Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman >(Arrow, £8.99) is available from The Times Bookshop (0870 160 >8080) for £7.64 + 99p p&p > > >-- >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq >For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk >CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.