Important new translation of a Saddam document that shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that as late as 2002 Saddam was indeed very interested in his WMD’s:
On page 40 of document ISGQ-2003-00000847 there is an October 2002 document where there is a request submitted by Zoo Al Fikar Military factory to the “Iraqi Directorate of Planning and Follow up” for 500 Kilograms of SODIUM CYANIDE (NaCN), 15 tones of HYDROCHLORIC ACID ( HCL), and 30 tones of SULFURIC ACID (H2SO4). Sodium Cyanide is an important precursor to produce a Chemical Weapon called HYDROGEN CYANIDE (HCN) also known as ZYCLON B and the use of Sodium Cyanide with Hydrochloric acid or Sulfuric Acid will produce this Chemical Weapon. Although Sodium Cyanide can be used for other military and civilian applications its combination with Hydrochloric Acid or Sulfuric Acid will produce Chemical Weapons and knowing Saddam Regime obsession of acquiring Chemical Weapons and other WMD, this document has a lot of importance.
Beginning of partial Translation of Page 40 of document ISGQ-2003-00000847.
Zoo AL Fikar Factory
Number 499
Date 26/10/2002
To: The Directorate of Planning and Followup
Subject: Need
Your memo number 384 on 3/10/2002 we submit to you below our need of Chemical Materials to the year 2003 to take what is necessary with regards.
1. Name of material: Nitric Acid. Unit: Liter. Quantity: 600. Origin: Iraqi.
2. Name of material: Third Oxide of Chrome. Unit: KG. Quantity: 500. Origin: English/Chinese.
3. Name of material: Dye . Unit: KG. Quantity: 25. Origin: Western.
4. Name of material: HCL. Unit: Ton. Quantity: 15. Origin: Iraqi.
5. Name of material: Hylite Zinc. Unit: KG. Quantity: 500. Origin: Western.
6. Name of material: SODIUM CYANIDE. Unit: KG. Quantity: 500. Origin: Western.
17. Name of material: SULFURIC ACID. Unit: Ton. Quantity: 30. Origin: Iraqi.
End of Partial Translation of page 40.
This paragraph from MSDS website regarding the danger of Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) and how it can be obtained by mixing Sodium Cyanide (NaCN) and Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4):
“Exposure to 300 ppm hydrogen cyanide by inhalation can be fatal within minutes and lower doses can endanger life. The high toxicity of HCN was once exploited for the execution of prisoners in several US states; the HCN was generated as needed by dropping NaCN into a solution of sulfuric acid.”
Now requesting these items individually may not have raised many alarms since they can be dual use chemicals. But it’s highly suspicious that these items are all ordered together, and when mixed produces a WMD. In fact it produces the chemical used by the Nazi’s to kill the Jews in their death chambers.
You know who else used it in the recent past?
Yup, you guessed it….Saddam:
- Reports have indicated that during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, hydrogen cyanide gas may have been used along with other chemical agents against the inhabitants of the Kurdish city of Halabja in northern Iraq.
UPDATE
Recall that Abdul Yasin used Sodium Cyanide in his bomb that was detonated at the WTC in 1993
Yousef was assisted by Iraqi bomb maker Abdul Rahman Yasin. Yasin’s complex 1310 lb (600 kg) bomb was made of urea pellets, nitroglycerin, sulfuric acid, aluminum azide, magnesium azide, and bottled hydrogen. He added sodium cyanide to the mix as the vapors could go through the ventilation shafts and elevators of the towers.
Additionally, some chemists at FR are reporting that the quantities requested in the document may suggest these items were for a plating process instead of WMD production. It does seem odd tho that a military complex requested these items plus the fact this is coming from Saddam’s regime. Notorious for his use of WMDs.
UPDATE II
An interesting sidenote to the amount requested in this document is this interview with David Kay about pre-war Iraq becoming a marketplace for small amounts of weapons:
WALLACE: Right. You say that there were no weapons of mass destruction, but you also say that, in fact, Iraq was a very serious threat to this country. Explain.
KAY: I think Iraq was a dangerous place becoming more dangerous, because, in fact, what we observe is that the regime itself was coming apart. It was descending into worse the part of moral depravity and corruption. Saddam was isolated in a fantasy land capable of wreaking tremendous harm and terror on his individual citizens, but corruption, money gain was the root cause.
At the same time that we know there were terrorist groups in state still seeking WMD capability. Iraq, although I found no weapons, had tremendous capabilities in this area. A marketplace phenomena was about to occur, if it did not occur; sellers meeting buyers. And I think that would have been very dangerous if the war had not intervened.
WALLACE: But what could the sellers have sold, if they didn’t have actual weapons?
KAY: The knowledge of how to make them, the knowledge of how to make small amounts, which is, after all, mostly what terrorists wants. They don’t battlefield amounts of weapons.
No, Iraq remained a very dangerous place in terms of WMD capabilities, even though we found no large stockpiles of weapons.
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