Comprehensive Report

imported anhydrous chlorine gas from China, with
the permission of the UN, for use within its chemical
and sewage treatment industries.
• Formalene and phenol, both ostensibly produced
indigenously, were imported by the resin facility
north of Baghdad because of a lack of consistent,
quality supply from local producers.
Sulfur Mustard process and key chemicals/
associated Iraqi facilities.
Ethylene + Chlorine (aq) = Chloroethanol
Chloroethanol + Na2S = thiodiglycol
Thiodiglycol + HCl = Sulfur Mustard
Figure 2.
ISG judges that the longstanding intent of the
Regime was to restart WMD production once UN
sanctions were lifted. Based on an investigation of
facilities, materials, and production outputs, ISG
also judges that Iraq had a break-out capability
to produce large quantities of sulfur mustard CW
agent, but not nerve agents.
• Iraq declared to the UN an experimental sulfur
mustard production route from locally available
chemicals—sulfur, chlorine, and ethylene, all of
which Iraq had access to at the time of OIF (see
Figure 2).
• Iraq retained the necessary basic chemicals to produce
sulfur mustard on a large-scale, but probably
did not have key precursors for nerve agent production.
With the importation of key phosphorusbased
precursors, Iraq could have produced limited
quantities of nerve agent as well.
• Mustard production could have started within days
if the necessary precursor chemicals were colocated
in a suitable production facility; otherwise
production could have started within weeks. Nerve
agent production would have taken much longer,
because of the complexity of the process, according
to Dr. Mahmud Faraj Bilal, a senior Iraqi scientist
and CBW expert, and the lack of advanced phosphorus
precursors in country. Bilal believed a covert
offensive CW program was unlikely because the
program would require 400-500 witting personnel.
Chemical
Iraq at OIF possessed a large range of corrosion-resistant
production equipment, tagged and
monitored by UNMOVIC, and procured for civilian
purposes by non-CW associated facilities. However,
ISG did not encounter any production units specifically
configured to produce key precursors or CW
agents.
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