Comprehensive Report

Evolution of the Chemical
Warfare Program
Over a period of twenty years, beginning with a
laboratory operated by the intelligence services,
Iraq was able to begin and successfully undertake
an offensive CW program which helped ensure
the Regime’s internal and external security. By
1984, Iraq was operating a number of CW agent
production plants, producing hundreds of tons
of a range of weaponized agents annually, for
use against external and internal enemies of the
Regime. The program was supported by a complex
web of international procurement, R&D, weaponization
and indigenous precursor production
efforts. Iraq fired or dropped over 100,000 chemical
munitions against Iranian forces and its own
Kurdish population during the Iran-Iraq war and
then later to help put down the Shi’a rebellion in
March 1991.
• Iraq became the first nation to use a nerve agent on
the battlefield when it used Tabun munitions against
Iran in 1984.
• During the Iran-Iraq war, CW use helped the Iraqis
turn back Iranian human-wave attacks when all
other methods failed, buying time for Iraqi forces to
regroup and replenish. Iraq again used CW successfully
to help crush the popular revolt in 1991.
• By 1991, Iraq had amassed a sizable CW arsenal,
comprising thousands of short range rockets,
artillery shells, and bombs, and hundreds of tons
of bulk agent. It also had produced 50 nerve agent
warheads for the 650 km-range al Husayn missile.
• Despite the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution
(UNSCR) 687 in April 1991, which called
for Iraq to disarm, Iraq initially chose to retain CW
weapons, precursors and associated equipment,
making false declarations to the UN. Even when
Iraq claimed to have complied with UNSCR 687
and its successors, Saddam retained components
vital to restarting a CW program.
Regime Strategy and WMD Timeline
For an overview of Iraqi WMD programs and policy
choices, readers should consult the Regime Strategy
and WMD Timeline chart, enclosed as a separate
foldout and in tabular form at the back of Volume I.
Covering the period from 1980-2003, the timeline
shows specifi c events bearing on the Regime’s efforts
in the BW, CW, delivery systems and nuclear realms
and their chronological relationship with political
and military developments that had direct bearing on
the Regime’s policy choices.
Readers should also be aware that, at the conclusion
of each volume of text, we have also included foldout
summary charts that relate infl ection points—critical
turning points in the Regime’s WMD policymaking—
to particular events/initiatives/decisions the Regime
took with respect to specific WMD programs. Inflection
points are marked in the margins of the body of
the text with a gray triangle.
The Early Years, 1960-1980: A Slow Start
The Chemical Corps and Al-Hasan
Ibn-al-Haytham Research Foundation
Iraq’s interest in CW began in the early 1960s and
escalated in response to a perceived threat from Iran
and Israel to become a comprehensive CW research
program by the mid-1970s. The Regime initially
sent a number of Iraqi officers abroad for training
in nuclear, biological and chemical defense. These
officers later formed the nucleus of the Iraqi Chemical
Corps, established in 1964.
• According to Iraq’s Currently Accurate Full and
Complete Declaration (CAFCD), submitted to
the UN in December 2002, in 1971, a cadre of
Chemical Corps officers sought authorization to
synthesize small quantities of CW agents (mustard,
Tabun, and CS) for familiarization and experience.
The Iraqi General Staff approved the request, and
laboratories were built for the Chemical Corps at
al-Rashad near Baghdad.
Chemical
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