Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction

In honor of Veterans Day we would like the troops to have a little background on why they are in Iraq instead of home with their families so here is a report from the UK outlining the history of the Iraq WMD that Saddam Hussien posessed, it has not been in the mainstream press in the United States and has been overlooked in the story of why we are fighting a war in Iraq over WMD. This is a meeting in the UK parliament during July of 2004 less than 6 months ago, and the truth will soon be known by all.

Mike Hancock MP, written question, answered 6 July 2004 [43]
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2004, Official Report, column 796W, on Biological Materials (US Exports), what he has made of the 1994 US Senate Riegle Report.
Denis MacShane MP, Government answer:
The Government are aware of Senator Donald Riegle’s 1994 report. Our responses to previous questions on the supply of biological materials to Iraq from the United States have been based upon our reading of the report.

Peter Kilfoyle MP, Iraq debate, House of Commons, 20 July 2004 [44]
Curiously, when Lord Butler wrote about the background to the weapons of mass destruction, he did not mention where they actually came from. He made a cursory mention of what Iraq had before 1990, but he did not refer to the countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, that provided the very weapons of mass destruction that would later become politically problematic.

John Baron MP, Iraq debate, House of Commons, 20 July 2004 [45]
..we know that Iraq used to possess weapons of mass destruction. We know that because America and the west supplied Saddam Hussein with those weapons.

Sir Teddy Taylor MP, Iraq debate, House of Commons, 20 July 2004 [46]
I was in the minority of people who did not support the war in Iraq. I explained in the debate at the time that that was because of what I considered to be the near-hypocrisy of the western powers, and in particular of the US. Those powers complained that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world and to security, even though the Reigle report set out clearly that the US had openly supplied the most horrendous weapons of mass destruction to Saddam Hussein to allow him to invade Iran. Those weapons included anthrax, clostridium-a source of toxin-and histoplasma, which causes a disease resembling tuberculosis. There was also brucella, which damages major organs, another substance that causes gas gangrene, and seven other materials. People who talk about the threat to democracy that Saddam posed should remember the debt that we owe for the mistakes that we made.