A former U.N. weapons inspector charged Friday that in the late 1990's French members of the UNSCOM inspection team actually tried to help Iraq conceal evidence of its weapons of mass destruction program.
"They gave them forewarning of the inspection targets," charged Bill Tierney, a former top U.N. weapons inspector, in an interview with radio host Sean Hannity.
"Once a list of sites were designated to be inspected, the security of that list was paramount," Tierney explained. "And from the Iraqi point of view, their intelligence collection program was very easy. All they had to do was find out what that list was."
Then Tierney charged point blank, "The French would give the list to the Iraqis."
"Anytime the Iraqis would declare something a sensitive site, then only a four man team would be allowed to go in." Tierney said he was normally the American on the designated group, which would also include a French representative.
"I caught (the French representative) whispering to the Iraqis after the list had been briefed to us," Tierney added. He cited another top secret inspection of an Iraqi Scud missile site that had been compromised by French leaks.
There is additional information that I can't go into," the former UNSCOM inspector said, before adding, "It's about time we called the French on it."
Tierney also complained that former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter knew about French attempts to sabotage their work, but has never spoken out about it.
I say we all need to stick close to the TV this weekend; we're going to see a LOT of these "droppings" before Bush speaks.
And three guesses why NONE of the inspectors had to undergo backround checks...
Bump! This is important stuff! No wonder President Bush was quoted a few months back as having said, "I don't give a sh*t what France and Germany think."
France disowned the Christians in their nation decades ago, it is now a Muslim nation, so should anyone be surprised at their actions?
Aren't inspectors, as employees of the UN, supposed to take an oath to carry out the will of the UN and not be biased by their affiliation to their home country? If this Frenchman was working for France, he should've been easy to dismiss. If he was working for Iraq, he should've been even easier to dismiss. What kind of crazy operation allows agents of an enemy intelligence service to infiltrate it and hang around after being exposed? (I already know the answer, of course.)
You have only little insights from Germany. I´m sure that the Federal Government has not supported Iraq, although today it opposes evervy military actions.
You have to know, that many Germans are pacifistic and distrust military in general. The government today consists of some pacifists and Schröder took his chance to get votes with his anti-war-campaign. So, there are two reasons why the German government is opposed to a war:
1. some pacifists are Ministers today
2. Schröder himself tries to get votes in state elections on Feb 2nd and won´t break another promise he made before national elections last September (not to engage in a war).
Yes, German firms helped Saddam (so US firms did too), but that was before Desert Storm. All deliveries of weapons or technology after 1991 are forbidden and will be persecuted by German authorities, if German firms did so.
BTW the story about the French treason isn´t new.
Might find this interesting. I note that this is not updated but, find it interesting.
http://cns.miis.edu/research/wmdme/flow/iraq/seed.htm
Iraq's Biological Weapons Program
Return to Iraq's Biological Weapons Program.
Foreign Suppliers to Iraq's Biological Weapons Program
Obtain Microbial Seed Stock for Standard or Novel Agent
Agriculture and Water Resource Department:
On 3/21/86, the US Department of Commerce issued a license to the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) to export aspergillus fungal cultures, used in the production of aflatoxin, to Iraq. ATCC officials said the cultures were not delivered.[1]
Atomic Energy Commission:
Between 1985-89, ATCC made 17 shipments of "attenuated strains of various toxins and bacteria" to Iraq’s Atomic Energy Commission.[2]
Basra University:
According to a 1991 US military intelligence memo, Japanese scientists had been assisting scientists from Basra University since 1984 in researching mycotoxins produced by soil fungi, including aflatoxin. The Japanese-Iraqi team used three species of aspergillus mold to produce aflatoxin.[3]
In 1985, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) sent a shipment of West Nile Fever virus to an Iraqi researcher.[4]
College of Medicine (Baghdad):
On 11/30/84, the US Department of Commerce issued a license to ATCC to export aspergillus fungal cultures to Iraq for delivery to the College of Medicine in Baghdad. ATCC officials said the cultures were not delivered.[5]
State Establishment for Pesticide Production (SEPP):
Iraq’s State Establishment for Pesticide Production (SEPP) ordered incubators and culture media from Germany’s Water Engineering Trading (W.E.T.).[6]
Salman Pak:
In 1985, the CDC sent three shipments of West Nile Fever virus to Iraq for use in medical research.[7]
University of Baghdad:
Between 1985-1989, the ATCC supplied Iraq with several pathogens, including Clostridium botulinum, and various strains of anthrax.[8]
Unspecified Locations:
Between 1985-89, US firms exported Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Clostridium botulinum, Histoplasma capsulatam, Brucella melitensis, Clostridium perfringens (gas gangrene), Clostridium tetani (tentanus), Escherichia coli, and "dozens of other pathogenic biological agents," to Iraq.[9]
Between 1985-89, the US firm ATCC sent Iraq up to 70 shipments including 21 strains of anthrax, 15 Class III pathogens, E. coli, Salmonella cholerasuis, Clostridium botulinum, Brucella meliteusis, and Clostidium perfringens. [This may include shipments already listed to the Agriculture and Water Resource Department, Atomic Energy Commission, and College of Medicine].[10]
Between 1984-89, the CDC sent Iraq more than 80 agents, including botulinum toxoid, Yersinia pestis, dengue virus, and West Nile antigen and antibody. [This may include shipments already listed to Basra University, and Salman Pak.][11]
In 1988, Iraq unsuccessfully attempted to obtain biological agents from the UK military research center at Porton Down.[12]
In 2/87, Germany’s Sigma Chemie supplied seven ounces of trichothecene mycotoxin, including T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin, to the German firm Plato Kuehn, which indicated that the material would be exported to Iraq.[13]
In 1987, Josef Kuhn of Germany delivered 100 milligrams of trichothecene mycotoxin T-2 to Iraq.[14]
According to US Senator John McCain, Iraq obtained tularemia virus from the United States. The US Department of State said it had found no evidence to support Senator McCain’s allegation.[15]
Iraq obtained "deadly pathogens" from the Pasteur Institute in Paris.[16]
Notes:
John Hanchette and Norm Brewer, "U.N., Intelligence Reports Show Iraq Could Have Spread Deadly Aflatoxin," Gannett News Service, December 7, 1996.
Eric Nadler, and Robert Windrem, "Deadly Contagion: How We Helped Iraq get Germ Weapons," The New Republic, February 4, 1991, p. 18.
John Hanchette and Norm Brewer, "U.N., Intelligence Reports Show Iraq Could Have Spread Deadly Aflatoxin," Gannett News Service, December 7, 1996.
Eric Nadler, and Robert Windrem, "Deadly Contagion: How We Helped Iraq get Germ Weapons," The New Republic, February 4, 1991, p. 18. Bill Lambrecht, "'Satan’s Bug': U.S. Readies for Possible Iraqi Use of Bacteria," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 10, 1990, p. 1A. Chuck Raasch and Robert Barton, "U.S. Firms Sold Iraq Potential Warfare Material, Hill Officials," Gannett News Service, August 23, 1998. Michael White, "207 Western Companies Sold Chemicals, technology to Iraq, Report Says," AP, October 3, 1990.
John Hanchette and Norm Brewer, "U.N., Intelligence Reports Show Iraq Could Have Spread Deadly Aflatoxin," Gannett News Service, December 7, 1996.
"We Have Surprises," Der Spiegel, October 8, 1990, p. 148-152; in FBIS-WEU-90-196, (10 October 1990).
Valerie Kuklenski, "Western Firms Supplied Iraq with Chemical Weapons," UPI, October 2, 1990.
Although the pathogens were sent to the University of Baghdad, the order was paid for by the Iraqi military. The anthrax strains originated in the UK and US military biological weapons programs. R. Jeffery Smith, "Iraq’s Drive for a Biological Arsenal; U.N. Pursuing 25 Germ Warheads It Believes Are Still Loaded with Deadly Toxin," Washington Post, November 21, 1997, p. A1. Al J. Venter, "UNSCOM Odyssey: The Search for Saddam’s Biological Arsenal," Jane's Intelligence Review, March 1998, p. 19.
William Blum, "Anthrax for Export: U.S. Companies Sold Iraq the Ingredients for a Witch’s Brew," The Progressive, 4 (April 1998), p. 18.
Michael White, "UK Anthrax Strains ‘Sold to Iraq’," The Guardian, April 3, 1998, p. 10; Martin Hickman, "Britain Exported Anthrax to Iraq Says Lib Dem," Press Association, April 2, 1998; Keith Bradsher, "Senator Says U.S. Let Iraq Get Lethal Viruses," The New York Times, February 10, 1994, p. A9; Kevin Merida and John Mintz, "Rockville Firm Shipped Germ Agents to Iraq, Riegle Says," The Washington Post, February 10, 1994, p. A8; William Blum, "Anthrax for Export: U.S. Companies Sold Iraq the Ingredients for a Witch’s Brew," The Progressive, April 1998, p. 18; Jim Abrams, "U.S. Firms Sold Possible Biological warfare Agents to Iraq," Associated Press, February 10, 1994; "Conflict Alleged for Head of Study on Gulf War Illness," The Baltimore Sun, November 29, 1996, P. 20A.
Leonard A. Cole, The Eleventh Plague: The Politics of Biological and Chemical Warfare, (New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1997), p. 85-86.
R. Jeffery Smith, "Iraq’s Drive for a Biological Arsenal; U.N. Pursuing 25 Germ Warheads It Believes Are Still Loaded with Deadly Toxin," Washington Post, November 21, 1997, p. A1.
"W. German Firm Says Toxic Chemicals Went to Iraq," Reuters, January 30, 1989. "Magazine: German Firms Supplied Toxic Chemicals to Iraq," UPI, January 29, 1989.
"Worse Than Plague," Der Spiegel; in "Der Spiegel on German Arms Sales to Iraq – ‘Worse Than the Plague’," Telegram from the US Embassy in Bonn to the Secretary of State, August 16, 1990 (Released December 16, 1996).
Reuters, "State Department Probes Charge of U.S. Bio Weapon Aid to Iraq," January 26, 1989. Reuter, "State Department Disputes Senator on Biological Weapon for Iraq," January 26, 1989.
R. Jeffery Smith, "Iraq’s Drive for a Biological Arsenal; U.N. Pursuing 25 Germ Warheads It Believes Are Still Loaded with Deadly Toxin," Washington Post, November 21, 1997, p. A1.
Prepared by Michael Barletta and Christina Ellington, November 1998
© Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Return to the WMDME home page.
"Bill of Indictment" Summary
The 1992 "Bill of Indictment" was brought by the District Attorney’s office of the Augsberg (Germany) district court against defendants Anton Eyerle and Walter Dittel, both German nationals, and Subramanian Venkataramanan, an Indian citizen. They were charged with, among other crimes, illegally exporting fuzing systems and parts for Al-Hussein ballistic missiles and Styx anti-ship missiles from 1987-1990. Through firms they controlled, including Rhein-Bayern Fahrzeugbau GmbH and Rhein-Bayern Avionic-Dittel Gmbh, the three ultimately sent over DM29 million worth of illegal exports to Iraq (some $17 million at current exchange rates). The defendants were convicted in 1994, and will serve up to five and a half years in prison. Several aspects of the case are worthy of note: Missiles:
Over the course of their dealings with Iraq, the defendants traveled several times to Baghdad, and were provided with original parts for fuzing systems by Iraqi engineers and Iraqi military personnel. These parts were then used as the basis for reverse-engineering efforts that were subcontracted to dozens of firms throughout Germany and Europe. At the time of their arrest, the defendants appeared ready to embark on reverse-engineering of inertial guidance equipment for Iraq, including gyroscopes, accelerometers and potentiometers. This is in addition to prior exports of asbestos for warhead and airframe insulation, as well as graphite rods for use in missile nose cones and tail assembly components.
Chemical:
According to court documents, in 1987 the Iraqis were seeking precursor chemicals for sarin nerve gas production; the documents make clear that Eyerle had intimate knowledge of these requests, though it is less clear if he or his colleagues were directly contacted by the Iraqis for this purpose. However, using a German supplier and German intermediary, in 1990 the defendants obtained six "floating bodies," four of which were exported to Iraq. These bodies are containers intended for use in 122mm rocket warheads carrying chemical agents. An injection molding machine and related equipment—for production of screws and connectors for the floating bodies—was also shipped.
Nuclear:
In eight separate shipments, beginning in January 1990 and ending that May, the defendants exported to Iraq 240,000 ferrite cores and 10,000 ringband cores, components for hysterisis motors used in gas ultracentrifuges; centrifuges are used to enrich uranium . The cores were actually produced by German companies and then delivered by Eyerle and his colleagues to the Electrical Industries Establishment in Baghdad. According to one expert witness, the components were enough to produce 10,000 centrifuges. In addition, a complete stator was manufactured at the defendant’s facility and given to an Iraqi national in the spring of 1990 for later export to Iraq. Interestingly, Eyerle has been connected to the German engineer Karl-Heinz Schaab, who is charged with selling Iraq blueprints and key components for URENCO’s advanced TC-11 centrifuge. Schaab apparently stole the blueprints when he worked for URENCO affiliate MAN Technology. Both Schaab and Eyerle owned firms in Kaufbeuren, and Schaab has admitted publicly to "cooperating" with Eyerle; the court documents, however, do not make clear if the cores and stator were intended for the TC-11 centrifuge, although it seems likely.
Yugoslav connection: Several of the Styx and Al-Hussein fuzing parts delivered by Rhein-Bayern were either manufactured or assembled by Yugoslavian companies. The Yugoslavs were intimately connected with Iraq’s pre-war NBC and missile programs through the provision of technology, design expertise, and civil construction services. Moreover, post-sanction (after August 1990) shipments of fuzing components were made via Yugoslavia, and ultimately through a Yugoslav-owned company in Cyprus.
End-Use certificate:
The court notes that in February 1989, Rhein-Bayern applied for a license to export a PC workstation, peripherals and software to Iraq’s Nassr State Establishment, a key facility in Iraq’s pre-Gulf War missile program. The German export office requested further documentation, as officials determined that the equipment was intended for printed circuit board production. Eyerle responded that workstation was not intended for military use, delivering to German authorities a Nassr-provided end-user certificate claiming the equipment would be used for "warehouse management of spare parts." The bill of indictment notes the Nassr certificate was signed by "an engineer named Raad Ismaeel [sic]." What it does not note is that, in fact, General Raad Ismail is perhaps the most famous missile engineer in Iraq, having earned the title "Father of the Al-Hussein" for his lead efforts in developing Saddam’s extended-range Scuds. Ultimately, the defendants exported the PC workstation without an export license.