In a potential break in the search for chemical and biological weapons in Iraq, a top scientist has turned himself in to American authorities, a U.S. official said today.
The U.S. has accused Emad Husayn Abdullah al-Ani of involvement with an alleged chemical weapons plant in Sudan with links to al-Qaida, the Associated Press reported.
Al-Ani was believed to be deeply involved in Iraq’s development of the deadly nerve agent VX, a substance that is difficult to make.
Military officials said U.S. troops have found no confirmed chemical or biological weapons and have not been able to verify a link between Baghdad and al-Qaida terrorist groups. They hope, however, that al-Ani will provide information on both.
The scientist headed the research and development program at Iraq’s key chemical weapons lab, the Muthanna State Establishment, and later headed Iraq’s Fallujah 2 chemical weapons plant.
U.S. officials charge that al-Ani had links with executives of the Shifa Pharmaceuticals plant in Khartoum, Sudan, alleged by then-President Clinton to be the source of a key precursor chemical used in manufacturing VX. That claim has not been substantiated, however, the AP said.
The officials said the executives who had contact with al-Ani also had ties to al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
The Sudanese plant was destroyed with cruise missiles shortly after al-Qaida bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Shifa plant officials and the Khartoum government denied involvement in chemical weapons work. Iraq, at the time, also denied al-Ani was working with Sudanese authorities and said he had never visited Sudan.
The same Iraqi statement, however, also claimed Iraq never produced stable VX precursors, while U.N. weapons inspectors concluded Iraq had made tons of VX.
