>ZNet Commentary
>What The New York Times Left Out August 20, 2002
>By William Blum
>
>It was page one of the New York Times Sunday (August 18), picked up
>extensively by the international media, a featured story on America On
>Line. "Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas", shouted
>the headline. Senior military officers revealed that the Reagan
>administration had provided Iraq with critical battle planning assistance
>in waging decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
>
>The assistance was given at a time when American intelligence agencies
>knew that Iraq had already employed chemical weapons and would likely
>continue to do so. This of course raises obvious questions about the
>current Bush administration's near-frenzied demonization of Saddam
>Hussein, particularly for his alleged chemical and biological weapons
>(CBW) threat.
>
>Readers can be forgiven if they think this is a revelation of some sort.
>It isn't. The story may add a new detail or two about the precise nature
>of US tactical assistance to the Iraqis, but the basic story has long been
>known. Strangely, the Times story leaves out the most significant part --
>the furnishing of chemical and biological materials by the United States
>to Iraq which markedly enhanced Iraq's CBW capability.
>
>(There is one isolated line in the Times piece, almost at the very end,
>hinting at something of the sort: "Former Secretary of State Shultz and
>Vice President Bush tried to stanch the flow of chemical precursors to Iraq.")
>
>At the risk of sounding like I'm blowing my own horn, I must point out
>that I wrote a story on this very subject in 1998, which was published in
>several "alternative" magazines, distributed widely on the Internet to
>this day, and won a Project Censored award in 1999. As far as I know, the
>American mainstream media has never covered this story, and if the Times
>article is any guide, the censorship will continue.
>
>Following is the crux of my article as published in 1998:
>
>In his recent State of the Union address, President Clinton, in the
>context of Iraq, spoke of how we must "confront the new hazards of
>chemical and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and
>organized criminals seeking to acquire them." He castigated Saddam Hussein
>for "developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons" and called for
>strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention. Who among his listeners
>knew, who among the media reported, that the United States had been the
>supplier to Iraq of much of the source biological materials Saddam's
>scientists would require to create a biological warfare program?
>
>According to a Senate Committee Report of 1994 {1}: From 1985, if not
>earlier, through 1989, a veritable witch's brew of biological materials
>were exported to Iraq by private American suppliers pursuant to
>application and licensing by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Amongst
>these materials, which often produce slow, agonizing deaths, were:
>
>Bacillus Anthracis, cause of anthrax.
>
>Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum toxin.
>
>Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal
>cord and heart.
>
>Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria that can damage major organs.
>
>Clotsridium Perfringens, a highly toxic bacteria causing systemic illness.
>
>Clostridium tetani, highly toxigenic.
>
>Also, Escherichia Coli (E.Coli); genetic materials; human and bacterial DNA.
>
>Dozens of other pathogenic biological agents were shipped to Iraq during
>the 1980s. The Senate Report pointed out: "These biological materials were
>not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction." {2}
>
>"It was later learned," the committee revealed, "that these microorganisms
>exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations
>inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program."{3}
>
>These exports continued to at least November 28, 1989 despite the fact
>that Iraq had been reported to be engaging in chemical warfare and
>possibly biological warfare against Iranians, Kurds, and Shiites since the
>early 80s.
>
>NOTES
>
>{1} "U.S. Chemical and Biological Warfare-Related Dual Use Exports to Iraq
>and their Possible Impact on the Health Consequences of the Persian Gulf
>War," Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with Respect
>to Export Administration, reports of May 25, 1994 and October 7, 1994.
>
>{2} Ibid., May 25 report, pp. 36-47 {3} Ibid., October 7 report, p. 3
>
>Written by William Blum, author of "Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA
>Interventions Since World War II" and "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's
>Only Superpower". http://members.aol.com/superogue/homepage.htm