Subject: IRAQ BIOLOGICAL WARFARE PROGRAM 

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. 

 

MSR 

SUBJ: STATUS AND BACKGROUND ON IRAQ BIOLOGICAL WARFARE 

PROGRAM 

 

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FEB 92        CIA  252025 

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 

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NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE. 

 

 

 

FEBRUARY 1992 

 

COUNTRY: IRAQ 

 

SUBJ: STATUS AND BACKGROUND ON IRAQ BIOLOGICAL WARFARE 

PROGRAM 

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92 7384010    MSR  

                                                                  

FEB 92        CIA 252025 

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2.   IRAQ HAS CURRENTLY STOPPED ITS BIOLOGICAL WARFARE (BW) 

PROGRAM AND, AS OF EARLY FEBRUARY 1992, HAS NO SPECIFIC 

PLANS TO RESTART THE PROGRAM. ALSO, IRAQ CURRENTLY HAS     

NO PLANS TO EITHER RECONSTRUCT FACILITIES FORMERLY 

ASSOCIATED WITH THE BW PROGRAM OR BUILD NEW BW SITES. 

 

3. THE THREE BW AGENTS INTO WHICH IRAQ CONDUCTED RESEARCH 

ARE CLOSTRIDIUM BOTULINUM A TOXIN, BACILLUS ANTHRACIS, AND 

CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS. COMMENT: THE ORGANISM CLOSTRIDIUM 

PERFRINGENS NOT ITS TOXIN WAS USED IN RESEARCH.) ALL 

RESEARCH TOOK PLACE AT SALMAN PAK BUT THE LOCATION OF THE 

PRODUCTION SITE IS UNKNOWN.   IRAQ WAS THE FOLLOWING AREAS 

OF RESEARCH IN REGARDS TO EACH AGENT: 

 

A. CLOSTRIDIUM BOTULINUM A TOXIN: PRODUCTION OF THE 

EXOTOXIN; CONCENTRATION TO ABOUT 10 FOLDS, STORAGE, EFFECT 

ON ANIMALS AND MEANS OF APPLICATION. 

 

B. BACILLUS ANTHRACIS: GROWTH OF THE ORGANISM; OPTIMAL 

MEDIA AND  CONDITIONS FOR SPORULATION; CONCENTRATION; 

STORAGE AND EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS.  

C. CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS: SUITABLE MEDIA AND CONDITIONS 

FOR SPORULATION; AND EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS. THERE WAS NO 

RESEARCH INTO TOXIN PRODUCTION 

4. RESEARCH FOR IRAQ'S BW PROGRAM BEGAN AT THE IBN AL-

HAITHAM IN BAGHDAD WHILE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAD BEEN 

DEVOTED TO THE PROGRAM ALL EFFORTS AT THIS FACILITY WERE 

STOPPED     RESEARCH WAS RESUMED AT AL-MUTHANA AND WAS LATER 

TRANSFERRED TO SALMAN PAK.  WORK ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF 

CLOSTRIDIA WAS BEGUN   AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BAGHDAD.  

PRODUCTION OF BW AGENTS WAS ACHIEVED IN LATE 1989.  COMMENT: 

IT IS BELIEVED THAT SEVERAL THOUSAND LITERS OF CLOSTRIDIUM 

BOTULINUM