Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/16/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT (CQ)

TITLE=IRAQ / RAID (L O)

NUMBER=2-302264

BYLINE=ALISHA RYU

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///EDITORS: Resending to correct sex of Rahib Taha from male to female. Third graf in text calls her Mr. Taha. Audio will be changed to conform with text. No other changes.///

INTRO: U-S troops have raided the Baghdad residence of an Iraqi scientist believed to have been in charge of a secret biological laboratory. V-O-A Correspondent Alisha Ryu in Baghdad has details.

TEXT: U-S Special Forces troops and several dozen heavily armed marines conducted an early morning raid on Wednesday at the home of Rahib Taha.

A U-S military spokesman says the troops have recovered several boxes of documents inside the house and have detained three men for questioning. The whereabouts of the Iraqi scientist, known as Doctor Germ, is unknown.

Rahib Taha is an Iraqi microbiologist who is believed to have run a secret laboratory that manufactured the biological agent anthrax for use in weapons.

The raid follows the surrender of Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, Lieutenant General Amer al-Saadi, to U-S forces four days ago. At the time of his surrender, the general insisted that Iraq had no banned chemical or biological weapons left in its arsenal.

U-S Special Forces and intelligence officials in Iraq have been hunting for proof that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein never destroyed or never turned over such weapons to U-N inspectors. They have found tantalizing hints such as chemical suits and antidotes. They have also discovered a number of suspect items like half-buried chemical drums and vials of powder. But most have turned out to be harmless.

U-S officials insist much of the country still has not been searched. Suspect sites that have been found are being tested and getting results of those tests, they say, could take time. (Signed)

NEB/AR/KL