Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

mented that all systems broke down and there wasno chemical ammunition distribution system duringOIF. Even if units had received chemical ammunition,they would have buried it, not fired it.• General ‘Amir Husayn Al Samarra’i, commander ofthe Iraqi chemical corps, said the Iraqi army had noplans to use chemical weapons during OIF, accordingto reporting. If there had been a strategy forregular army forces to use chemical weapons, hewould have known about it.• Iraqi use of WMD would deeply embarrass Franceand Russia, whom has cultivated Iraq.• Use of WMD during Operation Iraqi Freedomwould serve to justify US and UK prewar claimsabout Iraq’s illegal weapons capabilities. Such ajustification would also serve to add resolve tothose managing the occupation.• The Commander of 2nd RG Corps stated it was hisfirm belief that Iraq did not have chemical weapons.If WMD existed, Saddam may have opted not to useit for larger strategic or political reasons, because hedid not think Coalition military action would unseathim. If he used WMD, Saddam would have shownthat he had been lying all along to the internationalcommunity and would lose whatever residual politicalsupport he might have retained in the UNSC.From the standpoint of Regime survival, once heused WMD against Coalition forces, he would foreclosethe chance to outlast an occupation. Based onhis experience with past coalition attacks, Saddamactually had more options by not using WMD, andif those failed, WMD always remained as the finalalternative. Although the Iraqi Government mightbe threatened by a Coalition attack, Saddam—theultimate survivor—believed if he could hold outlong enough, he could create political and strategicopportunities for international sympathy and regionalsupport to blunt an invasion.• Asked by a US interviewer in 2004, why he hadnot used WMD against the Coalition during DesertStorm, Saddam replied, “Do you think we are mad?What would the world have thought of us? Wewould have completely discredited those who hadsupported us.”68