Iraqi biological weapons program
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Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
(1937–2006) began an extensive
biological weapons A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrorism ...
(BW) program in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
in the early 1980s, despite having signed (but not ratified until 1991) the
Biological Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpil ...
(BWC) of 1972. Details of the BW program and a chemical weapons program surfaced after the
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
(1990–91) during the disarmament of Iraq under the
United Nations Special Commission United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was an inspection regime created by the United Nations to ensure Iraq's compliance with policies concerning Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction after the Gulf War. Between 1991 and 199 ...
(UNSCOM). By the end of the war, program scientists had investigated the BW potential of five bacterial strains, one fungal strain, five types of virus, and four
toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849– ...
s. Of these, three— anthrax,
botulinum Botulinum toxin, or botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum'' and related species. It prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from axon endings at the neuromusc ...
and
aflatoxin Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, particularly ''Aspergillus'' species. The fungi grow in soil, decaying vegetation and various staple foodstuffs and commodities such as hay, sweetcorn ...
—had proceeded to weaponization for deployment. Because of the UN disarmament program that followed the war, more is known today about the once-secret bioweapons program in Iraq than that of any other nation. The program no longer existed when the
George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic ...
cited it as justification for its
2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
and the subsequent
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
.


The program


Startup and foreign suppliers

In the early 1980s, five German firms supplied equipment to manufacture botulin toxin and
mycotoxin A mycotoxin (from the Greek μύκης , "fungus" and τοξίνη , "toxin") is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of kingdom Fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' ...
to Iraq. Iraq's State Establishment for Pesticide Production (SEPP) also ordered culture media and incubators from Germany's
Water Engineering Trading Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...
. Strains of dual-use biological material from France also helped advance Iraq's biological warfare program. From the United States, the non-profit
American Type Culture Collection ATCC or the American Type Culture Collection is a nonprofit organization which collects, stores, and distributes standard reference microorganisms, cell lines and other materials for research and development. Established in 1925 to serve as a nati ...
and the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
sold or sent biological samples to Iraq up until 1989, which Iraq claimed to need for medical research. These materials included anthrax,
West Nile virus West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever. It is a member of the family '' Flaviviridae'', from the genus '' Flavivirus'', which also contains the Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. The v ...
and
botulism Botulism is a rare and potentially fatal illness caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum''. The disease begins with weakness, blurred vision, feeling tired, and trouble speaking. This may then be followed by weakne ...
, as well as ''
Brucella melitensis ''Brucella melitensis'' is a Gram-negative coccobacillus bacterium from the Brucellaceae family. The bacterium causes ovine brucellosis, along with '' Brucella ovis''. It affects primarily sheep and goats, but cases have also been observed in c ...
'', and ''
Clostridium perfringens ''Clostridium perfringens'' (formerly known as ''C. welchii'', or ''Bacillus welchii'') is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium of the genus ''Clostridium''. ''C. perfringens'' is ever-present in nature an ...
''. Some of these materials were used for Iraq's biological weapons research program, while others were used for vaccine development. In delivering these materials "The CDC was abiding by World Health Organization guidelines that encouraged the free exchange of biological samples among medical researchers..." according to Thomas Monath, CDC lab director. It was a request "which we were obligated to fulfill," as described in WHO and UN treaties.


Facilities, agents and production

Iraq's BW facilities included its main biowarfare research center at
Salman Pak fa, , settlement_type = city , image_skyline = File:001125-TaqKasra-Iraq-IMG 7914-2.jpg , caption = Salman Pak's famous Taq Kasra, the largest single-span vault of unreinforced brickwork in the world ...
(just south of
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
), the main bioweapons production facility at Al Hakum (the "Single-Cell Protein Production Plant") and the viral biowarfare research site at
Al Manal AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
(the "Foot and Mouth Disease Center"). The Al Hakum facility began mass production of weapons-grade anthrax in 1989, eventually producing 8,000 liters or more (the 8,000 liter figure is based on declared amounts). Iraq officially acknowledged that it had worked with several species of bacterial pathogen, including '' Bacillus anthracis'', ''
Clostridium botulinum ''Clostridium botulinum'' is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming, motile bacterium with the ability to produce the neurotoxin botulinum. The botulinum toxin can cause botulism, a severe flaccid paralytic disease in humans ...
'' and ''
Clostridium perfringens ''Clostridium perfringens'' (formerly known as ''C. welchii'', or ''Bacillus welchii'') is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium of the genus ''Clostridium''. ''C. perfringens'' is ever-present in nature an ...
'' (
gas gangrene Gas gangrene (also known as clostridial myonecrosis and myonecrosis) is a bacterial infection that produces tissue gas in gangrene. This deadly form of gangrene usually is caused by '' Clostridium perfringens'' bacteria. About 1,000 cases of gas ...
) and several viruses (including enterovirus 17 uman_conjunctivitis.html" ;"title="conjunctivitis.html" ;"title="uman conjunctivitis">uman conjunctivitis">conjunctivitis.html" ;"title="uman conjunctivitis">uman conjunctivitis
rotavirus ''Rotavirus'' is a genus of double-stranded RNA viruses in the family ''Reoviridae''. Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world is infected with a rotavirus a ...
and camelpox). The program also purified biological toxins, such as botulinum toxin, ricin and
aflatoxin Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, particularly ''Aspergillus'' species. The fungi grow in soil, decaying vegetation and various staple foodstuffs and commodities such as hay, sweetcorn ...
. After 1995, it was learned that, in all, Iraq had produced 19,000 liters of concentrated botulinum toxin (nearly 10,000 liters filled into munitions), 8,500 liters of concentrated anthrax (6,500 liters filled into munitions) and 2,200 liters of aflatoxin (1,580 liters filled into munitions). In total, the program grew a half million liters of biological agents.


Human experimentation

During UN inspections in 1998, it emerged that Hussein had had prisoners tied to stakes and bombarded with anthrax and chemical weapons for experimental purposes. These experiments began in the 1980s during the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
after initial experiments on sheep and camels. Dozens of prisoners are believed to have died in agony during the program. According to an article in the ''
London Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...
'':
In one incident, Iranian prisoners of war are said to have been tied up and killed by bacteria from a shell detonated nearby. Others were exposed to an aerosol of anthrax sprayed into a chamber while doctors watched behind a glass screen. Two British-trained scientists have been identified as leading figures in the programme. … According to Israeli military intelligence sources, 10 Iranian prisoners of war were taken to a location near Iraq's border with
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. They were lashed to posts and left helpless as an anthrax bomb was exploded by remote control 15 yards away. All died painfully from internal haemorrhaging. In another experiment, 15
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...
prisoners were tied up in a field while shells containing camel pox, a mild virus, were dropped from a light aircraft. The results were slower but the test was judged a success; the prisoners fell ill within a week. Iraqi sources say some of the cruellest research has been conducted at an underground facility near
Salman Pak fa, , settlement_type = city , image_skyline = File:001125-TaqKasra-Iraq-IMG 7914-2.jpg , caption = Salman Pak's famous Taq Kasra, the largest single-span vault of unreinforced brickwork in the world ...
, southwest of
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. Here, the sources say, experiments with biological and chemical agents were carried out first on dogs and cats, then on Iranian prisoners. The prisoners were secured to a bed in a purpose-built chamber, into which lethal agents, including anthrax, were sprayed from a high-velocity device mounted in the ceiling. Medical researchers viewed the results through fortified glass. Details of the experiments were known only to Saddam and an inner circle of senior government officials and Iraqi scientists educated in the West. … The facility, which is understood to have been built by German engineers in the 1980s, has been at the centre of Iraq's experiments on "human guinea pigs" for more than 10 years, according to Israeli military sources.


Bioweaponeers

Iraqi scientist
Nassir al-Hindawi Nassir may refer to: * Nassir Abojalas Nassir Abo-Jalas (born June 11, 1994) is a Saudi Arabian professional basketball player. He currently plays for Uhud Medina of the Saudi Premier League. He represented Saudi Arabia's national basketball ...
was described by United Nations inspectors as the "father of Iraq's biological weapons program". Two of the leading researchers in the program studied in Britain.
Rihab al-Taha Rihab Rashid Taha al-Azawi ( ar, رحاب رشيد طه; born 12 November 1957) is an Iraqi microbiologist, dubbed Dr Germ by United Nations weapons inspectors, who worked in Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program. A 1999 report commissione ...
("Dr. Germ"), educated at the
University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
, was head of Iraq's military research and development institute. Another scientist received a doctorate in
molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...
from the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
. U.S. officials alleged that a third scientist —
Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash ( ar, هدى صالح مهدي عماش) is an Iraqi scientist and academic, often demonized as "Mrs. Anthrax" by Anglo-American media for her unproven association with the discontinued Iraqi biological weapons program as ...
("Mrs. Anthrax", "Chemical Sally"), who was trained at the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
— helped to rebuild Iraq's BW program in the mid-1990s after the Gulf War. Both al-Taha and Ammash were captured by U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but both were released in 2005 after they were among those an American-Iraqi board found to be no longer security threats. They had no charges filed against them.


Consequences of the program


1991 US response

During the Gulf War, US and other intelligence reports had suggested that Iraq was operating a BW program. Coalition troops trained with protective gear and stockpiled the
antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...
ciprofloxacin Ciprofloxacin is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic used to treat a number of bacterial infections. This includes bone and joint infections, intra abdominal infections, certain types of infectious diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, skin inf ...
for use as post-exposure prophylaxis against anthrax. Approximately 150,000 US troops received the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...
–licensed
anthrax vaccine Anthrax vaccines are vaccines to prevent the livestock and human disease anthrax, caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. They have had a prominent place in the history of medicine, from Pasteur's pioneering 19th-century work with cattle ...
('' BioThrax''), and 8,000 received a botulinum toxoid vaccine also approved by the FDA as an investigational new drug. Although Iraq had loaded anthrax, botulinum, and aflatoxin bio-agent into
missiles In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...
and artillery shells in preparing for the war, and although these munitions were deployed to four locations in Iraq, they were never used.


Post-war inspections

In August 1991, the UN carried out its first inspection of Iraq's BW capabilities in the aftermath of the Gulf War. On 2 August 1991, representatives of the Iraqi government announced to leaders of UNSCOM's "Team 7" that they had conducted research into the offensive use of ''B. anthracis'', botulinum toxins, and ''Clostridium perfringens'' toxins. Post-war inspections by UNSCOM, however, were confounded by misinformation and obfuscation. After Iraqi General
Hussein Kamel al-Majid Colonel General Hussein Kamel Hassan al-Majid ( ar, حسين كامل حسن المجيد) ( 1954 – 23 February 1996) was the son-in-law and second cousin of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. He defected to Jordan and assisted United Nations Spe ...
defected to
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
in August 1995, the Iraqi government further disclosed that it had operated a robust BW program at six major sites since the 1980s. It was revealed that the Iraqi program conducted basic research on ''B. anthracis'',
rotavirus ''Rotavirus'' is a genus of double-stranded RNA viruses in the family ''Reoviridae''. Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world is infected with a rotavirus a ...
,
camelpox virus Camelpox is a disease of camels caused by the camelpox virus (CMPV) of the family ''Poxviridae'', subfamily ''Chordopoxvirinae'', and the genus ''Orthopoxvirus''. It causes skin lesions and a generalized infection. Approximately 25% of young c ...
,
aflatoxin Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, particularly ''Aspergillus'' species. The fungi grow in soil, decaying vegetation and various staple foodstuffs and commodities such as hay, sweetcorn ...
, botulinum toxins,
mycotoxin A mycotoxin (from the Greek μύκης , "fungus" and τοξίνη , "toxin") is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of kingdom Fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' ...
s, and an anticrop agent ( wheat cover smut). It tested several delivery systems including aerial spray tanks and
drone aircraft An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
. The Iraqi government had weaponized 6,000 liters of ''B. anthracis'' spores and 12,000 liters of botulinum toxin in aerial bombs, rockets, and missile warheads before the outbreak of war in 1991. These bio-weapons were deployed but never used.


Non-use by Saddam

After Kamel's defection, it became known that in December 1990 the Iraqis had filled 100 R-400 bombs with botulinum toxin, 50 with anthrax, and 16 with aflatoxin. In addition, 13 Al Hussein (SCUD) warheads were filled with botulinum toxin, 10 with anthrax, and 2 with aflatoxin. These weapons were deployed in January 1991 to four locations for use against Coalition forces. Why Saddam Hussein did not use these biological weapons in 1991 is unclear, but the presumption has been that he was concerned about provoking massive retaliation. Other plausible factors include the perceived ineffectiveness of the untested delivery and dispersal systems, the probable ineffectiveness of liquid slurries resulting from poor aerosolization, and the potential hazards to the Iraqi troops themselves, as they lacked the protective equipment and training available to Coalition forces. Several defectors (see Khidir Hamza) have claimed that these weapons were intended only as "weapons of last resort" in case the Coalition stormed the gates of
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. Since this never happened, Saddam found their use unnecessary.


2003 invasion of Iraq

The Iraqis claimed to have destroyed their biological arsenal immediately after the 1991 war, but they did not provide confirmatory evidence. A covert military research and development program continued for another four years, with the intent of resuming agent production and weapons manufacture after the end of UN sanctions. Basic infrastructure was preserved, and research on producing dried agent was conducted under the guise of
biopesticide A Biopesticide is a biological substance or organism that damages, kills, or repels organisms seens as pests. Biological pest management intervention involves predatory, parasitic, or chemical relationships. They are obtained from organisms inclu ...
production at Al Hakum until its destruction by UNSCOM inspectors in 1996. The same year, operational portions of the facilities at Salman Pak and Al Manal were also supposedly destroyed, either by the Iraqis themselves or under direct UNSCOM supervision. But UNSCOM inspectors never received full cooperation from the Hussein regime and they were finally expelled from Iraq in 1998. International concerns led to renewed inspections in 2002 under
UN Security Council Resolution 1441 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 is a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on 8 November 2002, offering Iraq under Saddam Hussein "a final opportunity to comply with ...
and these facilities were again targets for the U.S. military during the
2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
as potentially still being operational. President
Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...
cited the non-cooperation with inspectors as a major justification for military action. The extent of Iraq's BW program between 1998 when UNSCOM left Iraq and the U.S. Coalition invasion in March 2003 remains unknown. Current information indicates the discovery of a clandestine network of biological laboratories operated by the
Iraqi Intelligence Service : The Iraqi Intelligence Service (Arabic: جهاز المخابرات العراقي, ''Jihaz Al-Mukhabarat Al-Eiraqii''), full name in Arabic language , Arabic]: جهاز المخابرات العامة العراقية "Jihaz almukhabarat aleama ...
(''Mukhabarat''), a prison laboratory complex possibly used for human experimentation, an Iraqi scientist's private culture collection with a strain of possible BW interest, and new research activities involving ''
Brucella ''Brucella'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria, named after David Bruce (1855–1931). They are small (0.5 to 0.7 by 0.6 to 1.5 µm), non encapsulated, non motile, facultatively intracellular coccobacilli. ''Brucella'' spp. are the caus ...
'' and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Despite diligent investigations since 2003, evidence for the existence of additional BW stockpiles in Iraq has not been documented.


2005 Iraq Survey Group report

In 2005, the Iraq Survey Group — an international group composed of civilian and military experts — concluded that the Iraqi military BW program had been abandoned during 1995 and 1996 because of fear that discovery of continued activity would result in severe political repercussions including the extension of UN sanctions. However, they concluded, Hussein had perpetuated ambiguity regarding a possible program as a strategic deterrent against
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Other conclusions were that the ''Mukhabarat'' continued to investigate toxins as tools of assassination, concealed its program from UNSCOM inspectors after the 1991 war, and reportedly conducted lethal human experimentation until 1994. Small-scale covert laboratories were maintained until 2003. Duelfer, C. (2005)
Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD''
, Washington, DC: US Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed September 15, 2009.


References


See also

*
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction Iraq actively researched and later employed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, when it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Coun ...
*
Iraqi chemical weapons program In violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the Iraqi Army initiated two failed (1970–1974, 1974–1978) and one successful (1978–1991) offensive chemical weapons (CW) programs. President Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) pursued the most extensi ...
*
History of biological warfare ''Before the 20th century'', the use of biological agents took three major forms: * Deliberate contamination of food and water with poisonous or contagious material * Use of microbes, biological toxins, animals, or plants (living or dead) in a weapo ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iraqi Biological Weapons Program Biological warfare Weapons of Iraq Military of Iraq Iran–Iraq War crimes Prisoner of war massacres