In the 1970s, Iraq was unsuccessful in negotiations with France to purchase a plutonium production reactor similar to the one used in France's nuclear weapons program. With French assistance, Iraq then built the Osiraq 40 megawatt light-water nuclear reactor near Baghdad. When Israeli intelligence confirmed Iraq's intention to produce weapons at Osiraq, the Israeli government decided to attack. According to some estimates, Iraq in 1981 was still as much as five to ten years away from the ability to build a nuclear weapon. Others estimated, at that time, Iraq might get its first such weapon within a year or two. On June 7, 1981 Iraqi defenses were caught by surprise and the reactor at Osiraq was destroyed.
It is estimated that the Iran/Iraq war cost the two sides a million casualties. Iraq used chemical weapons in that war extensively from 1984. Some twenty thousand Iranians were killed by mustard gas, and the nerve agents tabun and sarin. This marked the first time a country had been named for violating the 1925 Geneva Convention banning the use of chemical weapons.
On March 16, 1988, the Iraqi Air Force appeared over the city of Halabja. At the time, the city was home to roughly eighty thousand Kurds. The attack on Halabja was the most notorious and the single deadliest gas attack against the Kurds killing 5,000 civilians and injuring 10,000 more. But, it was just one of some forty chemical assaults staged by Iraq against the Kurdish people.
On April 3, 1990, four months prior to the invasion of Kuwait, the Los Angeles Times reported, "Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared Monday that his military machine has nerve gas and the means to deliver it, threatening to destroy 'half of Israel' if it attacks Iraqi targets." The LA Times also reported that, the week prior, five Iraqi agents were arrested in London attempting to smuggle nuclear triggering devices to Baghdad.
After invading Kuwait, Iraq attempted to accelerate its program to develop a nuclear weapon by using radioactive fuel from the Osiraq reactor. It made a crash effort in September, 1990 to recover enriched fuel from this supposedly safe-guarded reactor, with the goal of produced a nuclear weapon by April, 1991. The program was only halted after Coalition air raid destroyed key facilities on January 17, 1991.
After the first Gulf War, on April 3, 1991, the U.N. adapted ceasefire resolution 687. As part of this agreement, Iraq was required to destroy, under international supervision, all chemical and biological weapons and stocks of agents and all related development, research, and manufacturing facilities. In the following years, however, Iraq would not cooperate with inspectors. At the end of the second Gulf War, U.S. forces found over 500 chemical weapons proving that Iraq never destoyed their WMD in violation of this ceasefire agreement.
On January 13, 1993 warplanes from the United States, France and Britain bombed missile sites in southern Iraq. About 80 strike aircraft and 30 support planes took part. The New York Times reported that, "At the same time, Iraq offered to halt its raids into Kuwait. They have been taking place for several days and were a violation of United Nations resolutions. Iraq has also deployed missile batteries in forbidden areas and fired an Iraqi missile at an American plane, actions the United States has described as brazen provocations by Baghdad. In a further warning to Mr. Hussein that he could not continue to flout the will of the United Nations, Mr. Bush announced the dispatch of a battalion-sized task force, composed of about 1,250 American troops, to neighboring Kuwait, where they will act as a deterrent to further Iraqi incursions."
On January 18, 1993 the Seattle Post-intelligencer reported that the United States launched a cruise missile attack delivering "the political and diplomatic point" that Iraq must comply with United Nations resolutions. "In a dramatic crescendo for President Bush's final weekend in office, U.S. forces shot down a MiG-23 warplane and struck an Iraqi air defense installation. Hours later, U.S. warships launched about 40 Tomahawks into the night skies near Iraq's capital," they reported. It was the second strike on Iraq within five days. A White House Spokesman said a nuclear weapon fabrications plant was targeted in response to a series of weekend military provocations by Iraq.
On January 21, 1993, the day after President Bill Clinton was inaugurated, the Los Angeles Times reported, "A solid majority of Americans favor U.S. military intervention to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq." The Times cited a recent poll which asked Americans whether they would back an all-out effort to remove Saddam Hussein even "at the risk of losing some American lives" and 60% of those questioned said yes while only 30% said no.
On September 15, 1996 the Washington Post reported the CIA had spent $100 million, or an average of $20 million a year, in efforts to topple Saddam Hussein since the Gulf War. The Post reported that, "Although no U.S. order was given to any Iraqi dissident to kill Saddam, the CIA provided funds to groups that it knew were attempting to do so." When the covert program was expanded early in the year, the agency was authorized by the White House to support acts of sabotage inside Iraq that would create an image of a country descending into chaos. Several Iraqi dissidents claimed a military rebellion failed to materialize because Washington withheld a promised aerial bombardment of Iraqi military positions, but the Clinton administration dismissed the claim that aerial support was promised.
On March 26, 1997 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright proclaimed, "the evidence is overwhelming that Saddam Hussein's intentions will never be peaceful." In a major foreign policy speech at Georgetown University the Secretary of State was highly critical of the Iraqi dictator. "Consider that Iraq admitted producing chemical and biological warfare agents before the Gulf War that were sufficiently lethal to kill every man, woman and child on earth. Consider that Iraq has yet to provide convincing evidence that it has destroyed all of these weapons. Consider that Iraq admitted loading many of those agents into missile warheads before the war. Consider that Iraq retains more than 7,500 nuclear scientists and technicians, as well as technical documents related to the production of nuclear weapons. Consider that Iraq has been caught trying to smuggle in missile guidance instruments. And consider that according to Ambassador Ekeus, UNSCOM has not been able to account for all the missiles acquired over the years. In fact, Ekeus believes that it is highly likely that Iraq retains an operational Scud missile force, probably with chemical or biological weapons to go with it."
On November 16, 1997 the Sunday Times reported that Iraq was manufacturing poisonous gas at a secret location in Sudan. "Bypassing the ban on weapons of mass destruction which the United Nations imposed on Baghdad after its defeat in the Gulf war, Saddam Hussein and the Islamist government of General Omar al Bashir in Khartoum are making and stockpiling mustard gas for their mutual benefit." Since production started, the article reported, the Sudanese armed forces were known to have used mustard gas against the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) on at least two occasions.
On November 20, 1997 the New York Times reported that no arms inspections had taken place in Iraq since October 29 when Baghdad threatened to expel Americans on the monitoring teams. The Times also reported that the head of the United Nations inspection team recently went to the Security Council with photographs and documents demonstrating that Iraq continued to pose a threat in almost every area of weapons development. The photographs showed a convoy of trucks entering and leaving a factory after inspectors indicated it was a site they wished to visit. As an example of how Iraq changed its accounting, a chemical weapons expert said that in 1995 Iraq admitted to having made 160 kilograms of VX nerve agent. Then Iraq altered its figures to 240 kilograms, then to 1,250 kilograms. By June 1996, the Iraqis acknowledged they produced at least 3.9 tons of VX.
On November 23, 1997 CBS News "60 Minutes" ran an interview with Iraqi defector and former chief of military intelligence Wafiq al-Sammarrai. During this interview, Sammarrai said that Iraq had an active biological weapons program. He said the U.N. weapons inspectors were being deceived and that they would never be allowed inside the Presidential Palace because of documents kept there. Wafiq Sammarrai also said that Saddam Hussein had considered carrying out a biological weapons attack against the United States using anthrax.
On December 15, 1997 the Associated Press reported that Defense Secretary William Cohen had ordered all 1.5 million men and women in uniform to be inoculated against anthrax. The article mentioned, "The move comes amid the confrontation with Iraq's Saddam Hussein and the United Nations' efforts to uncover his weapons of mass destruction." The Chattanooga Free Press reported at the time that Saddam had 2,100 gallons of anthrax toxin.
On January 28, 1998 Senate Concurrent Resolution 71 was introduced "condemning Iraq's threat to international peace and security." Among the co-sponsors of this bill were Tom Daschle, John Kerry, Bob Graham, Patrick Moynihan, Robert Byrd, Patrick Leahy, and Christopher Dodd. This resolution "urges the President to take all necessary and appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." In defense of President Clinton's inclination to use military force in Iraq, Daschle said this resolution would "send as clear a message as possible that we are going to force, one way or another, diplomatically or militarily, Iraq to comply with international law."
On February 10, 1998, Yossef Bodansky, director of the U.S. House of Representatives Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, published a task force report compiled from information obtained from Arab opposition movements as well as from British, German and Israeli intelligence sources. The report said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at that time including anthrax, nerve gas, and mustard gas. It also claimed that some Iraqi nuclear materials were being held in Algeria. Yossef Bodansky said a chemical weapons factory was being built at that time, with the help of Iraqi experts, south-west of Sudan's capital Khartoum for Islamic terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden. This 1998 report concludes, "And so, the US is planning an instant-gratification bombing campaign that would neither destroy Iraq's WMD operational capabilities nor touch its main WMD production lines in Libya and Sudan."
On February 17, 1998 President Clinton said, "Now, let's imagine the future. What if he fails to comply, and we fail to act, or we take some ambiguous third route which gives him yet more opportunities to develop this program of weapons of mass destruction and continue to press for the release of the sanctions and continue to ignore the solemn commitments that he made? Well, he will conclude that the international community has lost its will. He will then conclude that he can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction. And some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal. And I think every one of you who's really worked on this for any length of time believes that, too."
By late February 1998, U.S. forces in the gulf region had reached more than 40,000 and were reinforced with British and other allied contingents. The U.S. military build-up was due to Iraq's obstruction of U.N. (UNSCOM) weapons inspections. On February 18, 1998 President Bill Clinton said, "If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." Five days later, however, Kofi Annan struck a deal with the Iraqi dictator that once again allowed U.N. inspectors permission to inspect. As the crisis receded, U.S. forces were drawn back down to their pre-1997 levels. Ten months after Saddam accepted Annan's offer, Saddam kicked U.N. weapons inspectors out of Iraq for good.
On February 26, 1998 CNN reported that Iraq is attempting to develop an unmanned aircraft capable of delivering nerve gas or the biological agent anthrax.
On March 2, 1998 Senate Concurrent Resolution 78 was introduced relating to the indictment and prosecution of Saddam Hussein for war crimes and other crimes against humanity. The bill co-sponsored by Tom Daschle and John Kerry resolved that President Clinton should "call for the United Nations to form an international criminal tribunal for the purpose of indicting, prosecuting, and imprisoning Saddam Hussein and any other Iraqi officials who may be found responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide, and other violations of international humanitarian law."
On March 24, 1998 the Daily Mail reported that Saddam Hussein was planning a deadly anthrax attack inside Britain. A top secret alert was sent out to security officials manning ports and airports demanding vigilance after intelligence sources alerted the British Government to the plot. It was reported that Saddam had plans to smuggle large amounts of anthrax inside "hostile countries" with bottles normally containing spirits or cosmetics as well as in cigarette lighters and perfume sprays.
On May 1, 1998, President Clinton signed Public Law 105-174, which made $5,000,000 available for assistance to the Iraqi democratic opposition for such activities as organization, training, communication and dissemination of information, developing and implementing agreements among opposition groups, compiling information to support the indictment of Iraqi officials for war crimes, and for related purposes.
On August 3, 1998 the House of Representatives voted 407-6 to condemn Iraq for its "material breach" of U.N. resolutions and international agreements. Signed on August 14, 1998 by President Bill Clinton this resolution (Public Law 105-235) urged the President to take appropriate action to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations. It listed dozens of violations dating from 1991 and culminating with recent evidence that Iraq had produced chemical warheads for missiles.
On August 20, 1998, President Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack against a chemical weapons factory in Sudan. The chemical weapons factory the U.S. hit was funded, in part, by Osama bin Laden who the U.S. believed responsible for the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Thomas Pickering, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, told reporters, "We see evidence that we think is quite clear on contacts between Sudan and Iraq. In fact, El Shifa officials, early in the company's history, we believe were in touch with Iraqi individuals associated with Iraq's VX program."
On August 27, 1998 NPR's Mike Shuster reported that US justification for destroying a pharmaceutical factory in the Sudan had shifted from focusing on links to Saudi dissent Osama bin Laden, to alleged Iraqi chemical weapons experts believed to have been working in the Sudan to avoid UN weapons inspections in their homeland. US officials said Iraqi technicians came to the Sudan soon after Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War to continue their work on chemical weapons in Sudanese pharmaceutical plants.
On October 23, 1998 the BBC reported a Chief Petty officer in the Royal Navy was sentenced to 12 months in jail for leaking information to the media about a plot by Saddam Hussein to launch anthrax attacks inside the UK. The deadly toxin was to be smuggled into the UK disguised as harmless liquids. The story appeared in The Sun on March 24, 1998 under the headline 'Saddam's Anthrax in Our Duty Frees.'
The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-338) passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 31, 1998 stated, "It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime." This legislation also allocated $97,000,000 to aid Iraqi democratic opposition organizations.
On November 15, 1998 the New York Times reported a massive air strike involving hundreds of cruise missiles was called off after a last-minute flurry of diplomatic activity. The New York Times reported, "Administration officials said Mr. Clinton had been urged by senior advisers to begin the air strikes earlier this week, if only to avoid the situation that is now unfolding, with the United States left once again in the awkward position of rushing a huge force to the Persian Gulf to confront Iraq, only to have the Iraqis back down at the last minute. But Mr. Clinton, they said, had decided to delay the attack until today so that more American warplanes and ships could be in place near Iraq. Officials said they feared that the Administration, which had largely abandoned hope that the United Nations weapons inspections would be allowed to resume in any meaningful way, was left with the worst of all scenarios: an ineffective inspection program, President Hussein still fully in charge, and a large American military force in the Persian Gulf without a clear mission."
On December 16, 1998 President Bill Clinton ordered an attack on Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. Clinton said, "Heavy as they are, the costs of action must be weighed against the price of inaction. If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will strike again at his neighbors. He will make war on his own people. And mark my words, he will develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them. Because we're acting today, it is less likely that we will face these dangers in the future."
On December 17, 1998 The Washington Post reported, "The opening U.S. attack against Iraq yesterday involved more than 200 cruise missiles launched from ships in the Persian Gulf and scores of bombs dropped from aircraft flying from the carrier USS Enterprise against targets across the country, defense officials said. With the strikes planned to last at least three days and possibly longer, officials said U.S. and British warplanes stationed in Persian Gulf states and B-52 bombers operating out of the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia would join the effort, which aims to pummel a broad range of targets critical to Iraq's weapons manufacturing and President Saddam Hussein's hold on power."
In an August 3, 1999 interview, Richard Butler, former chief weapons inspector for UNSCOM, said that Saddam Hussein had an "addiction" for weapons of mass destruction.
On September 8, 2001 the Washington Times wrote about a recently declassified semiannual CIA report covering the period from July to December of 2000. The CIA reported to congress that, "In the absence of UNSCOM or other inspections and monitoring since late 1998, we remain concerned that Iraq may again be producing biological warfare agents. Iraq has continued working on its L-29 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program, which involves converting L-29 jet trainer aircraft originally acquired from Eastern Europe. It is believed that Iraq has conducted flights of the L-29, possibly to test system improvements or to train new pilots. These refurbished trainer aircraft are believed to have been modified for delivery of chemical or, more likely, biological warfare agents." The CIA reported that, "Although we were already concerned about a reconstituted nuclear weapons program, our concerns were increased last September when Saddam publicly exhorted his 'Nuclear Mujahidin' to 'defeat the enemy'."
On November 25, 2001 The Washington Post wrote an article with details regarding Iraq's germ warfare program. According to the article, U.N. weapons inspectors got their first glimpse of Iraq's biological weapons program during an August 1991 inspection of Salman Pak, one of Iraq's premier biological weapons facilities. Iraqi documents later obtained by the United Nations indicated that Baghdad subsequently filled more than 50 bombs and missile warheads with a liquid form of anthrax. The Washington Post also reported that Iraq acknowledged producing at least 19,000 liters of botulinum toxin, using more than half to fill at least 116 bombs and missile warheads.
On September 12, 2002 George W. Bush gave a speech before the United Nations. Armed with a point-by-point list of Saddam Hussein's transgressions included in a White House paper entitled "A Decade of Deception and Defiance" of the United Nations, the President detailed how Saddam continued to develop weapons of mass destruction, engage in egregious human-rights violations, participated in international terrorism, and sought to evade economic sanctions and kept Kuwaiti property that should have been returned after the 1991 Gulf War.
On September 24, 2002, the British government released a report titled "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government." It was the judgement of the British government that Iraq had: continued to produce chemical and biological agents; tried covertly to acquire technology and materials which could be used in the production of nuclear weapons; sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa; and had learnt lessons from previous UN weapons inspections and had already begun to conceal sensitive equipment and documentation in advance of the return of inspectors. In his January 28, 2003 State of the Union address, George Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This quote would later be referred to as his "famous 16 words."
United Nations weapons inspectors returned to Iraq on November 27, 2002 for the first time since December 1998. In February 2003, one month prior to the outbreak of war, 14 shells containing mustard gas were destroyed in Iraq under UN supervision. According to the official United Nations report (page 30), samples taken from these shells showed the mustard gas produced over 15 years earlier was not degraded and "still of high quality."
On March 19, 2003 President George Bush announced, "My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger." Bush said, "We will meet that threat now, with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of fire fighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities."
During the 9/11 hearings, former Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen testified that the manager of a chemical weapons plant in Sudan (which was funded by Osama bin Laden and later destroyed by U.S. cruise missiles on Aug. 20, 1998) met in Baghdad with an Iraqi nerve gas expert.
On May 17, 2004, the U.S. military said a roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent had recently exploded near a U.S. military convoy. The discovery of nerve gas was followed by a second revelation from the military that another shell, equipped with mustard gas, had been found two weeks earlier.
On January 25, 2006, Former Iraqi General Georges Sada gave an interview to FOXNews regarding Iraq's missing WMDs. Sada, a top military advisor and the number two man in the air force, claims that Iraq's chemical weapons were moved to Syria prior to the war. Georges Sada is the author of the book called, "Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein."
On April 12, 2006 the White House issued a press release in response to an article in the Washington Post that criticized the administration’s claims about weapons of mass destruction and the justifications for war. It stated, "The Washington Post cites Iraqi WMD evidence as the only reason offered by President Bush for unseating Saddam Hussein..... But the President provided many other reasons for liberating Iraq." The press release from the White House listed six other reasons for the war: 1) Saddam Hussein Violated United Nations Security Council Resolutions; 2) Patrolling The UN-Mandated No-Fly Zone, U.S. And Coalition Forces Were Regularly Attacked; 3) Saddam Hussein Brutalized Iraq's Civilian Population; 4) Saddam Hussein Supported And Harbored Terrorist Organizations; 5) Saddam Hussein Had A History Of Pursuing And Using WMD; and 6) Removing Saddam Hussein Brought Freedom To The Heart Of The Middle East.
WMD found in Iraq. On June 21, 2006, Senator Rick Santorum (R, PA) called press conference and stated, "We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons." Reading from a declassified report Santorum said, "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."
On January 28, 2011 United States Central Command (CENTCOM) declassified information regarding weapons of mass destruction (WMD) found in Iraq after the war. This information was obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and the report received stated that 4,251 various types of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) weapons were found by multinational forces after the war. This count included filled as well as empty munitions. The report stated this number was not an official count as CENTCOM does not receive information from other government agencies. It is also possible additional weapons were found after the requested report as the information was dated December 2008 and (from the report) it appears chemical weapons were still being found in Iraq as late as October of that year.
On February 25, 2014 the Department of Defence declassified some information regarding Iraq's biological weapons program. A site exploitation team discovered 300 bags of castor beans at the Al Aziziyah Warehouse. A declassified report noted that castor beans could be used to make ricin poisen and it determined these were probably an element of lraq's CBW program. Another declassifed report stated that more than 80 vials of material were found in a baby milk container under the sink at a scientist's home. The vials contained clostridium botulinum, clostridium perfringens, bacillus thuringensis israelis, and other unidentified cultures. The report stated that Dr. Rihab Taha kept "good material" and worked on an anthrax program. The report concluded, "Materials could be used as seed-stock for restarting a BW program. Storage of cultures at homes indicates an intent to maintain a BW capability despite UN restrictions."