British Gas Masks For Iraq

November 20, 2002
byYvonne Ridley

IRAQ is secretly trying to purchase gas masks and protective suits for more than a million of its population - and Saddam has ordered his dealers to "buy British".

The highly confidential instruction in Arabic was despatched to a "neutral" buyer in the United Arab Emirates and marked "urgent". Its contents will increase fears that Iraq intends to use chemical and biological weapons against invading forces.

The document and its contents, which have been authenticated by Middle Eastern and other intelligence sources, was shown to Globe-Intel last week.

"He either fears a chemical or gas attack on his own people, or he intends using them against his enemies, but it is obvious he wants to protect his people at the same time.

"The order is for 1.25 million gas masks and nuclear, chemical and biological suits which would protect all his supporting Ba'ath Party members, soldiers and friends," said the source.

A senior army officer speaking from the Army's United Kingdom Land Forces headquarters said:

"I think this a strong indication, if it were needed, that Saddam is going to throw something nasty at invading soldiers. Of course the trouble with chemical weapons is that things can easily go wrong, something as simple as the wind changing direction can cause chaos.

"He obviously wants to make sure that if his side gets hit, or something goes wrong, then he needs to protect his people with gas masks and NBC suits. This order would cover a sizeable population.

"It is well known that the British manufacture the best suits and masks, so I am not surprised by his instruction to buy British."
A spokesman from the Ministry of Defence added: "Clearly, anyone who is considering throwing chemical weapons around would want to protect his own people."

Globe-Intel understands that export orders, made in several quantities from a number of British manufacturers, will identify a different
end user as the recipient rather than Iraq which is still the subject of strict UN sanctions. The full extent of the details contained in the document cannot be published for fear of exposing some of the parties involved in the sales order to danger.

Details of this order for gas masks and NBC suits has emerged only days after US officials accused Iraq of stockpiling a powerful antidote to nerve agents.

Iraq had ordered 1.25m doses of atrophine from Turkish suppliers which could be used in the event of a gas attack and further requests had
been made for auto-injectors to deliver the antidote. The American administration is now asking Turkey, a NATO ally, to stop selling any more antidotes to Iraq.

Atrophine can be given to heart attack patients so its sale to Iraq would normally be permitted under UN sanction rules if it was purely for medical use.

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