This post is from February 2005. Facts and links may have changed since. See more from that month

Article1 min read

Iraq: No Large-Scale Chemical Warfare Efforts Since Early 1990s

No kidding.

Arm Chair Generalist, a promising progressive international security blog, beats me to this one:

The LA Times reports that the CIA has released a classified document noting that Baghdad abandoned its chemical weapons program in 1991 and “Iraq probably did not pursue chemical warfare efforts after 1991.” This report, dated January 18, is largely based on the findings by the Iraq Survey Group, led by David Kay and, later, Charles Duefler.

The Los Angeles Times article wraps up with a couple of tidbits, including revelation of a 4 January 2005 report focused delivery systems and forthcoming reports to revise CIA estimates regarding Iraq’s stockpiles of biological weapons and nuclear weapons programs.

As far as I can tell, the way to think of the documents is as updated fact sheets, based on the Iraq Survey Group. For those us without clearances, I recommend Paul’s article in the November 2004 Arms Control Today.

Jeffrey Lewis

Writing on ACW 2004–2026

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is the founding publisher of Arms Control Wonk.com. He is the Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. His also a non-resident affiliate at Stanford's Center for Security and International Cooperation and a Contributing Editor to Survival.

All posts by Jeffrey Lewis