Central Intelligence Agency - Dependency on Foreign Sources lyrics

Dependency on Foreign Sources The Iraqi chemical warfare effort is heavily dependent on foreign sources for technology, chemical defense, training, sonctruction, equipment, and chemicals. The USSR is the main supplier of chemical defensive equipment to Iraq. West European firms have been the main suppliers of Iraq's offensive chemical warfare capability [redacted] The Iraqi Chemical Corps, like most of the Iraqi military, is modeled on that of the USSR. As a result, Iraq has been purchasing protective clothing, masks, decontamination equipment, and probably prophylaxis from the Soviets since the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the Soviets provided modern chemical warfare defensive equipment that we have identified at 19 military installations in Iraq. Based on special intelligence, we know the Soviets provided extensive defensive chemical warfare training to the Iraqi military since the 1960s. In 1983 Iraq also attempted to purchase protective garments from Western sources and investigated setting up a factory to produce gas masks and other protective equipment [redacted] [next three pages blank/restricted] The training for many of the Iraqi personnel now involved in the chemical warfare program was provided by both the USSR and the Western countries. A reliable report indicates that early in the 1960s Iraqi officers were sent to the USSR and the United States for military chemical warfare training. The officers trained in the USSR received specialized chemical-biological-radiological warfare training at military schools. Some officers and many promising civilian students were sent to the USSR, the United States, and West European universities to obtain degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering. Many students received advanced degrees in organophosphorus chemistry, the area of chemistry fundamental to the development of chemical agents. The best scientists were used at the chemical warfare research and development center. The most promising military officers were used as managers for the chemical weapons program. [redacted] West European a**istance, particularly by numerous West German firms and several Swiss, Dutch, French, and Italian firms, has been critical to Iraq's efforts to develop an offensive chemical weapons capability. Indeed, without West European a**istance, we believe Iraq would not have been able to develop chemical weapons on the militarily significant scale described here. [redacted] [redacted] for example, a key player in the recent research and production effort, has been involved in the Iraqi effort to develop chemical weapons even as early as 1969. [redacted remainder of paragraph]