Saddam's Chemical Weapons

[JWing]

At that time plenty of western countries were ready and willing to build chemical and nuclear plants that had dual use capabilities and even after it was pretty apparent they were being used for weapons neither the companies nor countries really cared unless they were a committed enemy. Thus German, French, and U.S. companies all contributed to Saddam chemical and biological weapons and nuclear programs. The Reagan administration provided targeting for the Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq War and knew about the chemical weapons and actually released some statements blaming Iran for the attacks. When Saddam attacked the Kurds in Halabja, Washington again denied that anything bad had happened and even stymied an investigation if my memory serves me right. Halabja was actually part of the Iran-Iraq War having been captured by Iranian and Kurdish forces before the chemical attack.

Iran after the 1979 Revolution was the new bogeyman and the U.S. was perfectly happy to see Saddam use any means he had at his disposal to fight Khomeini.

That Foreign Policy article just came out at the end of last year, but it was all common knowledge even when it happened in the 1980s and was reported in the mainstream press, and again during the Gulf War, and for a third time during the first round of inspections. It's just that either people forgot about it, or Iraq was not a main topic of their studies.

[Bill Moore]

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.

[CrowBat]

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...