Belgian Chemical Warfare Expert Interviewed on Iraqi Weapons

Isa Van Dorsselaer
De Standaard (Belgium, in Dutch, FBIS Translation), 14 April 2003

Subslug: Report on interview with Jean Pascal Zanders, chemical warfare expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, by Isa Van Dorsselaer, in Brussels, date not given: "You Cannot Find What Does not Exist"

Brussels Nearly one month after the start of the war, the United States is still unable to show the world a smoking gun. The only unexpected windfall was the surrender on Saturday [12 April] of General Amer Hammoudi alSaadi, Saddam's leading scientific adviser. He immediately proclaimed that Iraq does not have any weapons of mass destruction. "Indeed, it appears that Iraq does not have any large stocks of these weapons," said Jean Pascal Zanders. Zanders, a Belgian, is an expert in chemical warfare at the renowned Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and recently took over as head of the Bioweapons Prevention Project, an international nongovernmental organization. He has been closely following the US-UK search for weapons of mass destruction the official reason for the war.

According to The Observer, documents have been found, which show that intelligence services had to hide information about the arms programs in their homes. And the United States has said it has found missile warheads with traces of chemical munitions. Now it is a matter of waiting for further analysis. All the other claims, which have been made along these lines in recent weeks, have turned out to be groundless in the end.

"There was always a suspicion that not many banned weapons are left," said Zanders. After the last Gulf War the United Nations Special Committee (Unscom) (the predecessor of Hans Blix's UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) arms inspection team, ed.) found large quantities of both chemical and biological weapons and destroyed them. The nuclear arm was also dismantled.

"Between 1998 and 2002, when there were no inspections, Iraq had little opportunity to manufacture weapons of mass destruction," Zanders said. "People always act as if making chemical and biological weapons is a piece of cake. It is easier than making nuclear weapons. But Iraq had to get hold of raw materials, the equipment for production plants, and new knowledge. And all that under a sanction regime."

Although US and UK troops have not yet provided any direct evidence of these weapons, they point to the Iraqi protection suits and gas masks, which they have found. "We know that Iraq had a chemical arms program," Zanders said. "So it is not strange that they have these suits. The date on the equipment turned out to be from 19871988, the end of the war with Iran, during which chemical weapons were used."

"What does surprise me is that they are not finding any trace whatsoever of these weapons," said Zanders. "If there are chemical weapons on the ground, then an accident always happens. That was the case in the previous Gulf War. A chemical shell, which is fired off in panic, or a storage place, which is bombed. But the sensitive measuring equipment of the United States has not sounded the alarm bell yet."

Is that because the United States spared possible storage places during the bombardments? "In the previous Gulf War, you saw that they attacked those places first, in order to eliminate the threat. And now they have very precise munitions, which can bore into a bunker and incinerate its contents and therefore chemical or biological agents too."

"After all, now they have conquered the main places," Zanders said. "And they have not found even one item of these munitions in one place or another." Did the Iraqi Army clean up the sites in advance? "You would be able to see that," Zanders said. Or taken them to Syria? "That route is monitored continually. Large convoys like when many weapons are involved would have stood out."

According to Zanders, before the war the United States was also unable to demonstrate that the immediate threat from Iraq had grown. "But note, there is definitely a discrepancy between the Iraqi statements and what the arms inspectors found," Zanders said. "We do not know precisely how many weapons were manufactured, how many were destroyed, and how many could still exist. Perhaps Iraq destroyed everything, and never said that in order to maintain the threat."

In addition, chemical weapons in particular, like VX nerve gas, quickly become unstable and unusable. On the other hand mustard gas as proven by the shells from World War One, which are still found in the Westhoek area of Belgium lasts for a long time. "And between 1998 and 2002, the Iraqis could have improved the production process, which is used to keep nerve gas stable," Zanders said.

"They will not find large quantities," Zanders said. "Will they find nothing at all? Perhaps there are small amounts nevertheless, which the Iraqi militias are keeping in hand for a guerilla war. If the United States does find a mustard gas shell, or sarin missile, then they will hold it high in the air and say: We fought the war for this. But the results of the US and UK inspectors will always be suspect. Simply because they come from that camp."