Comprehensive Report

Al Muthanna in order to strengthen the cover story.
Additionally, Baghdad sought to acquire necessary
equipment to pursue BW-related work at Al Hakam.
In 1995, for example, Iraq attempted to purchase
two turnkey 50 cubic meter fermentor plants from
a Russian Company that purportedly had expertise
in botulinum toxin production. Iraq negotiated a
deal with that Russian Company for equipment and
assistance. A team of Iraqi scientists and technicians
traveled to Russia. The deal fell through
because the company did not receive an export
license.
Collaboration with TABRC brought together groups
of experts and organizations whose work had direct
bearing on future BW work. Jabbar Al Ma’dhihi,
Head of TABRC, for example was instrumental in
designing the process that resulted in reconfiguring Al
Hakam to produce Bt bioinsecticide. Dr. Al Ma’dhihi
also developed a novel solution to Iraq’s need for BW
growth media. Unlike traditional bacterial growth
media, Al Ma’dhihi’s creation was cheap and of
domestic origin—made from waste products from
food and agricultural processes. He noted that his
media induced near 100% sporulation rates in Bt with
little or no additional additives or intensive monitoring
of the fermentation process. In ISG’s view, this
media would probably be a suitable media for anthrax
spore production. Rihab, herself, has conceded that
this media may support growth and sporulation of
anthrax and admitted that the use of this media would
make monitoring difficult.
• Separately, Dr. Rihab described the purpose of her
group’s research into alternative media, which was
to circumvent the effects of sanctions imposed on
Iraq after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Nasir Al
Hindawi worked on alternative media for Brucella.
Mosul University, worked on plants as a source
of peptone media for anaerobic organisms. Some
of the plant media was purportedly suitable for
growing pathogens such as Clostridium botulinum.
Rihab was angry that Mosul’s research might attract
UNSCOM attention.
A strategic objective from the earliest days of the
BW program was to produce dry agent. Dr. Rihab
was aware that liquid agent had a relatively short
shelf life and this was demonstrated to her when in
1991, she found that liquid BW agent recovered from
bombs and bulk storage containers “was ruined.” She
therefore found the work at TABRC on drying Bt by
Dr. Al Ma’dhihi of great interest. Al Ma’dhihi was
able to dry Bt at bench-scale and was working toward
pilot-scale levels. This technology was directly applicable
to drying anthrax although safety precautions
would have been necessary.
• Dr. Al Ma’dhihi used bentonite provided by Al
Hakam. The particle size was of 1 to 10 micrometers
and Al Ma’dhihi realized that this was too fine
for agricultural work. However, such technology is
applicable to BW.
Dr. Rihab was pleased with the biopesticide formulation
Al Hakam produced. Al Hakam produced
approximately 40 tons of dry formulated product each
year from 1992 to 1996. In about 1994, Al Hakam
slowed down the production of Al Nasr in order to
improve the formulation for the farmers. However,
there was disagreement among the developer, producers,
and end-users on the utility and use of the
Al Hakam’s dry Bt product called Al Nasr (or “Victory”).
Farmers found it cumbersome to use, having
to apply it by hand one plant at a time; spraying the
product as a liquid slurry by mixing it with water was
not successful. Al Hindawi stated, “The Bt produced
there was not very popular with the farmers and was
not a profitable endeavor.” The former minister of
agriculture corroborated this view.
• Dr. Al Ma’dhihi, the developer of this product,
explained that it was intended to be used by sprinkling
the dry material directly on to plants. He
commented that farmers did not like the product
because the powder was too fine; it aerosolized into
a cloud when applied and did not form an adequate
residue on the plants.
• Those who produced Al Nasr, Dr. Rihab and Mr.
Thamir ‘Abd-al-Rahman thought otherwise on the
use and value of the product. They both described
mixing the dry powder with water to form a slurry
and spraying the product using hand sprayers. They
thought the product was well received.
ISG’s assessment is that whatever the intention of
Iraq’s Bt drying technology it was more applicable
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