Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=12/12/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / VX GAS (L) (CQ)

NUMBER=2-297381

BYLINE=JIM MALONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

/// EDS: ADDS IRAQI DENIAL TO INTRO. NO CHANGES TO THE TEXT ///

INTRO: A senior Iraqi general has strongly denied a published report saying Iraq may have supplied nerve gas to Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida. Lieutenant General Hossam Mohammed Amin described the report as "ridiculous," saying the Bush administration knows Iraq has no prohibited substances. As Jim Malone reports, the report first appeared in Thursday's Washington Post newspaper.

TEXT: The Post says U-S officials believe the weapon involved was the nerve agent V-X and that it was smuggled by a courier overland into Turkey.

The newspaper says U-S officials describe the source of the information as "sensitive and credible."

If the report proves to be true, it would be the first known acquisition of a chemical weapon other than cyanide by al-Qaida or any of its affiliated terrorist groups. It would also run counter to Iraq's assertion that it has destroyed all of its chemical weapons.

U-S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked about the al-Qaida-Iraq link by NBC television during his visit to the Persian Gulf state of Qatar:

/// RUMSFELD ACT ///

There al-Qaida connected to Iraq who have used that country just as there are al-Qaida in Iran and Pakistan and the United States and other countries and we also know that the al-Qaida and other terrorist networks have actively sought to gain access to chemical and biological and radiation weapons.

/// END ACT ///

The Post report says U-S officials did not know the intended target of the nerve gas but that they were concerned it might be used somewhere in Europe or in the United States.

A spokesman for U-S Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says there is no concrete evidence that al-Qaida has obtained chemical weapons. (Signed)

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