I recall the reports during the 80s and Iran-Contra, but like you said memories are short, and a lot folks now in mid-level leadership positions were too young to be aware of these events, so if they weren't covered in their history classes it is probably new, so I felt it was worth posting. I posted principally to compare our views of WMD then and now, based on our recent efforts to draw a line in the sand with Syria due to chemical weapons use.
Is this a thread about 'Backgrounds of Iraqi Chemical Weapons', or about 'Iraqi Chemical Weapons (as such)'?
Namely, it sounds like the former, but the title indicates the later. And if it would be the later, then we should be talking about such stuff like Spanish-made (Expal) BR.250s and BR.500s, filled with chemical agents, which were the primary CW of the Iraqi Air Force.
BTW: the weapons in question were actually Spanish-made variants of the US-made Mk.80-series (manufactured under licence, of course). The Iraqis particularly 'loved' the BR.500 (Mk.84), and this was not only used while filled with CWs, but also - in conjunction with South-African-made Jupiter fuzes (with Daisy cutters) - as HE-bomb.
Indeed, when the Soviets refused to deliver their FAB-500Ts (a special variant of the FAB-500M-62 HE-bomb, made for deployment on MiG-25RB recce-fighter), the Iraqis equipped one of their MiG-25RBs with Spanish-made MERs and BR.500s, and have shown it to the Soviet Air Attach in Baghdad.
The guy flipped out, of course, and made a few hasty calls to Moscow. To keep a long story short: one week later, the IrAF has got the demanded FAB-500Ts and necessary bomb shackles, and flew the first 'Blitz' on Tehran...
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