During the period 1992-1998, Iraq changed its declaration on the quantity of bombs it had produced from 1,200 to 1,550. Over the same period, Iraq changed its declaration as to the types of CBW agent fill, leaving UNMOVIC with little confidence in either the numbers produced or types of agent filled. It is not clear from Iraqi statements and documentation how many R-400 bombs had been ordered for CW purposes and the fill between unitary weapons and binary components. Although Iraq has stated that it ordered the production of 200 R-400A bombs, this may not have been the only order.
In addition, photographic evidence shows that R-400A bombs had been located at Al Walid Airbase in October 1991. This contradicts the declaration by Iraq that R-400A bombs had only been deployed to Al Azzizziyah and Airfield 37 and that all such bombs had been destroyed in July or August 1991.
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However, questions remained with regard to the manner of the destruction of 160 aerial bombs that Iraq declared as having been destroyed during the Gulf War. These questions may have implications on the accounting of aerial bombs filled with biological agents.
In the absence of further documentation, it cannot be ascertained whether Iraq developed its true binary weapons system for Sarin into large-scale production of binary artillery shells and rockets. To help resolve this issue, Iraq should identify all facilities (in addition to MSE and TRC) that had been involved in production/modification of artillery shells and rockets as true binary weapons. In addition, Iraq should also provide clarification of all details concerning its design for binary weapons systems.
To produce Sarin-type agents, Iraq must have the key precursor MPC as well as hydrogen fluoride (HF) and alcohols. No MPC has been declared or noted during inspections. The alcohols are widely available and have legitimate civilian uses in Iraq. Some 300 tonnes of HF was declared stored at the Arab Detergent Company (ARADET) in December 2002. This represents a significant increase from the amount declared stored there in 1988.
UNSCOM could not fully verify Iraq’s accounting for precursors it had acquired for the production of Sarin-type agents due to the manner in which they were destroyed and stored. Iraq may have retained imported chemicals to produce MPC, which is stable if properly stored. Such imported chemicals, thionyl chloride and phosphorus trichloride (PCl3) (if redistilled), may be viable after years in storage. Documentary evidence and the properties of PCl3, support to some extent Iraq’s assertion that the chemical was lost during storage. However, it cannot be excluded that Iraq has retained some portion of the 1772 tonnes UNSCOM could not account for. The import of thionyl chloride and PCl3 became problematic for Iraq, from 1988 onwards, due to export/import restrictions introduced by the Australia Group. Thionyl chloride and PCl3 were subsequently included in the UN export/import monitoring lists.
