Subject: AL-MANA AL  BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROJECT  

Not Finally Evaluated Intelligence 

 

TO FACILITATE ELECTRONIC ACCESS, THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN 

REFORMATTED TO ELIMINATE INFORMATION THAT DOES NOT PERTAIN 

TO GULF WAR ILLNESS ISSUES OR THAT IS CLASSIFIED. A COPY OF 

THIS REDACTED DOCUMENT, IN ORIGINAL FORMAT, IS AVAILABLE ON 

REQUEST. 

 

CITE CIA 325352 

 

 

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 

 

OCTOBER  1993 

 

COUNTRY; IRAQ 

 

SUBJECT: AL-MANA AL  BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROJECT 

 

 

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF A LETHAL VIRUS (NFI) WAS 

INITIATED AT IRAQ'S AL-MANA AL FACILITY.  ACCORDING TO  

APPROXIMATELY 55 PEOPLE WORKED UNIMPEDED ON THIS PROJECT 

THROUGHOUT THE GULF WAR UNTIL AT LEAST   1992.  ASIDE FROM 

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE VIRUS, EXPERIMENTS WERE 

CONDUCTED TO SIMULATE EXPLOSIVE DISSEMINATION FROM ARTILLERY 

SHELLS AND BOMBS. 

 

3. AL-MANA AL IS LOCATED OFF THE AL-DAWRAH EXPRESSWAY, SOUTH 

OF THE AL-RASHID ARMY BARRACKS, AND NEAR AN OIL REFINERY. 

COMMENT- THE SITE IS APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES SOUTH OF 

BAGHDAD.  AL-MANA AL WAS BUILT IN A FARM AREA WHICH CAN BE 

REACHED BY TRAVELING APPROXIMATELY 20-25 MINUTES EAST ON THE 

DIRT ROAD OPPOSITE THE. ZUBAYDAH/DANRAH CITY EXIT OF THE -

DAWRAH EXPRESSWAY.) 

 

4. THE AL-MANA FACILITY CONSISTS OF THREE SEPARATE 

COMPLEXES.  THE FIRST, WHICH IS NEAREST TO THE ROAD, HAS A 

SIGN INDICATING THAT IT BELONGS TO IRAQ'S MINISTRY OF 

AGRICULTURE.  THE MAIN DOOR FACES THE STREET 

 

THE SECOND COMPLEX IS SEPARATED FROM THE MAIN BUILDING BY A 

DIRT AREA AND IS REFERRED TO AS  THE "ZONE." THIS BUILDING 

CONTAINS LABORATORIES WHICH ARE USED FOR RESEARCH AND 

DEVELOPMENT, ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS, AND WORK ON SMALL SCALE 

BIOLOGICAL WARFARE (BW) AGENT DISSEMINATION USING EXPLOSIVES 

OR AEROSOLS EXPERIMENTS WHICH SIMULATED EXPLOSIVE CONDITIONS 

SUBJECTED THE VIRUS TO HEAT, COLD, AND PRESSURE. 

THE THIRD SET OF BUILDINGS IS LOCATED BEHIND THE SECOND. 

THESE BUILDINGS HOUSE THE POWER GENERATORS, HEATING PUMPS, 

AND PURE WATER STORAGE CONTAINERS USED TO SUPPORT 

EXPERIMENTS IN THE ZONE.