Iraq Has no Fissile Material Facilities: Report

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Iraq Has no Fissile Material Facilities: Report

A respected think-tank said here on Monday that Iraq does not possess the facilities for production offissile material in sufficient amounts for nuclear weapons.

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A respected think-tank said here on Monday that Iraq does not possess the facilities for production offissile material in sufficient amounts for nuclear weapons.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) also said it "would require at least several years and extensive foreign assistance to build such fissile material production facilities" for Iraq.

Iraq could assemble nuclear weapons within months, but only "ifmaterials from foreign sources were obtained," the IISS said in a report titled "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction".

Iraq's ability to produce and use weapons of mass destruction is weaker now than before the 1991 Gulf War, said the report. The country's current interest in radiological weapons is unknown, though Baghdad could divert civil-use radio-isotopes or seek to obtain foreign material for a crude device, it added.

The report also contained the following assessments:

BIOLOGICAL

-- Iraq probably retained substantial growth media and biological weapons agents -- perhaps thousands of liters of anthrax -- from pre-1991 stocks.

-- It is capable of resuming biological weapons agent production at short notice -- within weeks -- from existing civilian facilities and could have produced thousands of liters ofanthrax, botulinum toxin and other agents since 1998. Actual stocks are unknown.

-- The country's production of viral agents and possession of smallpox are unknown.

CHEMICAL

-- Iraq probably retained a few hundred tons of mustard gas, ingredients for a few hundred tons of sarin/cyclosarin and perhapsVX nerve gas from pre-1991 stocks.

-- It is capable of resuming chemical weapons production at short notice -- within months -- from existing civilian facilitiesand could have produced hundreds of tons of mustard gas and nerve agents since 1998. Actual stocks are unknown.

BALLISTIC MISSILES

-- Iraq probably retained a small force of 650-km (406-mile) range al-Hussein missiles, perhaps around a dozen missiles.

-- It does not possess the facilities to produce long-range missiles, and would require several years and extensive foreign assistance to construct such facilities.

-- It may have produced some al-Samoud missiles, with ranges upto 200 km (125 miles).

-- It is capable of manufacturing rudimentary chemical and biological weapons warheads, but development of more advanced designs is unknown.

-- The country is capable of converting civilian vehicles into mobile launchers.

The report said Iraq is capable of delivering chemical and biological weapons in various impact-fuse tactical munitions, including artillery shells, rockets and aerial bombs.

It also has the capability of delivering biological weapons with simple airborne wet spray devices; development of more advanced devices for wet spraying or systems for disseminating dryagents is unknown.

The Iraqi military has a small inventory of modern strike aircraft -- MiG-23 and Mirage F1 -- with a 750-km (469-mile) combat radius; some ground attack aircraft (Su22, Su24, Su25); helicopters and possibly unmanned drones based on the L-29 trainer.

It could also use special forces and "terrorists," according tothe report.

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