Iraq tries to develop nerve gas missiles-BBC
Copyright 1997 by Reuters
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 16:42:12 PST
LONDON (Reuter) - Iraq has stockpiled supplies of chemical
weapons and is working on developing long-range missiles which
could shower Moscow and London with nerve gas, BBC Television
said Thursday.
It said United Nations weapon inspectors were certain that
Iraq, defeated in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, now had chemical
weapons that were much more advanced than had been believed.
The inspectors believed Iraq was conducting a campaign of
systematic deception and was stockpiling an unstable nerve gas
called VX. It had also developed a means of stabilizing VX so it
could be used more easily, the BBC said.
The inspectors believe Iraq is trying to develop missiles,
based on Scud missiles used during the Gulf War, to carry the
nerve gas. They fear guidance systems from Scuds that were
supposed to have been destroyed after the war have been
salvaged, the BBC said.
The missiles being considered by Iraq could extend the Scud
range to almost 2,000 miles, putting European capitals within
reach, the BBC said.
But it said there was no evidence that Iraq had actually
built any missiles. In an interview U.N. arms envoy Rolf Ekeus
said inspectors were also certain that nerve gas production by
Iraq had been stopped.
``We are convinced that production is not going on because
we have our inspectors covering all production facilities,''
Ekeus said.
``But we are convinced that all elements to establish a
production line may be in the country and we would watch that
they never put that production line in place.''
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