Pentagon Questions Use Of Iraqi Facilities

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2001 - The Defense Department is
keeping a wary eye on some rebuilt factories outside
Baghdad, Iraq, that once produced material suitable for
chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction,
officials said.

American and British fliers bombed the buildings in 1998
during Operation Desert Fox, after the Iraqi government
forced UN weapons inspectors to leave the country, said DoD
spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley at a Jan. 23
Pentagon news briefing.

"We have seen their reconstitution of some of the
infrastructure that existed prior to some of our attacks in
December of 1998," Quigley said. "What we don't know is:
What is going on in those facilities? That is a cause for
concern to us, given Saddam Hussein's past track record of
obfuscation and denial of his programs of [weapons of mass
destruction]."

Iraq is required to destroy all of its chemical, biological
and nuclear weapons of mass destruction as part of the 1991
UN Security Council resolutions it signed at the conclusion
of the Persian Gulf War, Quigley noted.

He said Iraqi authorities have given plausible explanations
for the use of the facilities and cited recent press
reports that say one of the facilities produces chlorine,
which can be used for water purification, while another
makes oil for brake fluid.

However, those reports also note that chlorine can be used
for poison gas, and that a biological toxin can be made
from castor oil.

Quigley admitted the Pentagon "cannot say with certainty
that we know exactly what is going on inside those
facilities that we have seen." However, he added that DoD
isn't inclined to automatically believe any statements
provided by Saddam Hussein's regime as to the purpose of
those factories.

"Given his past track record, it will remain a matter of
concern for us," he said.