A former senior Iraqi air force officer says Saddam Hussein’s air force has developed a sophisticated delivery and detonation system for weapons which can allow lethal chemicals to be mixed
in bombs moments before detonation for maximum effect, according to a report in the London Telegraph.
The former officer, who has been in hiding since fleeing Baghdad last year, claims Baghdad was still pursuing its chemical weapons program when he left Iraq – despite its insistence that it
had abandoned its weapons of mass destruction project after the Gulf war.
”Saddam will never surrender these weapons,” he told the Telegraph. “They are as much a part of his life as eating and drinking.”
The former Iraqi officer described in detail how the chemical bombs and sprays were fitted and operated. He said he last witnessed the new bomb mechanism being tested – with water and oil rather than chemicals – in 2000. He says former colleagues confirm the program is still running.
He said the bombs were divided in two by an internal partition. When loaded with chemicals, there was a black liquid in one compartment and a yellowish one in the other.
The pilots were trained to hit a switch to open the partition when they approached their targets, allowing the two substances to combine and reach their greatest potency. A few seconds later, outer doors on the bottom of the weapon would open automatically, releasing the mixture.
The former officer also detailed another binary-system bomb, designed to explode after its release in mid-air. It was intended for the Iraqi air force’s more modern jets, but an alternative delivery method was developed for slower planes and helicopters,
according to the Telegraph.
U.N. weapons inspectors based in New York said yesterday they want to debrief the former officer as soon as possible.
”If what he says can be confirmed then this is a very big discovery. It would be proof that Iraq has continued with the
development of a new type of weapon,” said a weapons inspector contacted by the Telegraph.
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