U.N. report warns of chemical arms peril

Attacks in Iraq using chlorine and explosives to kill and injure civilians underline the danger of insurgents obtaining chemicals and other toxic agents to use as weapons, U.N. inspectors said Tuesday.

Small amounts of biological agents for bioterrorism or even criminal activities also could be produced in Iraq's research or diagnostic laboratories or at clandestine sites, the report said.

In its quarterly report to the Security Council, the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission said there had been at least 10 reported attacks in Iraq using various quantities of chlorine, "while several other attempted attacks using chlorine and other toxic products have reportedly been foiled by the security forces."

The attacks involved setting off explosives attached to containers of chlorine gas rather than a true chemical weapon that disperses the deadly agent, but arms experts have warned that insurgents could improve their abilities to handle such technology.

The commission's report focused on the danger of "small quantities of chemical and biological warfare agents" outside Iraqi government control falling in to the hands of insurgents, terrorists, militia members and criminals.

"Given the current security situation in Iraq, it is possible that some non-state actors will continue to seek to acquire toxic agents or their chemical precursors in small quantities," it said. "In addition to using the available supplies of chlorine spread throughout Iraq, non-state actors could also seek to acquire other, more toxic agents that are either indigenously produced or procured from abroad."

The commission cited a number of factors in Iraq that heighten the danger.

Iraq has hundreds of scientific and technical personnel who were involved in past chemical weapons programs under Saddam Hussein's regime and know where to buy chemicals to produce small quantities of chemical warfare agents, it said. Civilian equipment easily turned to producing chemical agents also might still be intact, the report said.

It also said chemical munitions from the Saddam Hussein era could still be in Iraq. Artillery shells containing deadly mustard gas might still be active, it warned, but said rocket warheads filled with nerve agents would be less of a threat today because of deterioration.

The commission is an outgrowth of a U.N. inspections process created after the 1991 Gulf War in which the Iraqi army was ousted from Kuwait. U.N. inspectors were responsible for certifying that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles were dismantled.

Inspectors from the commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was responsible for overseeing the dismantling of Iraq's nuclear program, left Iraq just before the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003 war that toppled Saddam.

U.S. officials barred them from returning, but the commission's inspectors have used satellite imagery in an effort to keep track of equipment with dual civilian and military uses, which they had been monitoring on the ground.

Since 2005, the U.S. and Iraq have been seeking to get the Security Council to wrap up the work of the commission, known as UNMOVIC. "We're hopeful that we can circulate a resolution on UNMOVIC's future by the end of the week," said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

The commission's report said satellite photos had allowed its inspectors to identify a number of buildings and structures that once contained chemical production equipment and were demolished or damaged by 2004.

"The fate of this equipment, which can be utilized for the production of small/single batches of chemical weapons agents or their precursors, and the fate of equipment in buildings that remained intact is unknown," the report said.

Small-scale production of chemical agents mainly requires standard glass equipment, the report said. It also said sales of small quantities of chemicals with both civilian and military uses is not highly regulated internationally unlike trade in industrial-scale chemicals.