Iraq weapons dossier at-a-glance

Ministry of Defence picture of Iraq chemical bombs

Here are the main points of the British Government's 50-page dossier of evidence against Saddam Hussein.

Iraq dossier in full
Click here for the document

Overview

• Iraq has "military plans" for the use of chemical and biological weapons, even against its own population

• Saddam is one or two years off building a nuclear weapon if he manages to obtain weapons-grade material from abroad

• Chemical and nuclear programmes are "well funded" through illicit earnings of up to $3 billion

• Iraq has "tried covertly to acquire technology and materials which could be used in the production of nuclear weapons"

• Iraq is preparing to conceal evidence of weapons and incriminating documents from weapons inspectors in the future

• Saddam regards the possession of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles as the basis of Iraq's regional power

• Saddam practises torture, execution and coercion against enemies within Iraq

• Tony Blair writes in the dossier: "I am in no doubt that the threat is serious and current, that he has made progress on weapons of mass destruction and that he has to be stopped"

  Nuclear programme

• Iraq is five years away from producing a nuclear weapon on its own

• Iraq has constructed engine test equipment for a missile capable of striking British military bases in Cyprus, Nato members Greece and Turkey and Iraq's Gulf neighbours and Israel

• Saddam has tried to acquire "significant quantities" of uranium from Africa despite having no civil programme that could need it

• Iraq's nuclear programme is "almost certainly" seeking an ability to enrich to weapons quality uranium mined in Iraq

• Approach is based on a process known as gas centrifuge uranium enrichment, but he lacks certain key pieces of equipment

• Specialists have been recalled to work on a nuclear programme

  Chemical and biological weapons

• Iraq has continued to produce chemical and biological weapons

• Some weapons are deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them

• It retainssome such weapons from pre-Gulf War stocks

• Saddam also retains the capability to produce the mass-casualty chemical agents mustard gas, tabun, sarin, cyclosarin and VX

• Iraq has developed mobile laboratories for military use

  Missile programmes

• Iraq has retained up to 20 al-Hussein missiles, with a range of 650km, capable of carrying chemical or biological warheads

• It has started deploying its al-Samoud liquid propellant missile and extended its range to at least 200km, beyond the 150km UN limit

• Iraq has started producing the solid-propellant Ababil-100 and is trying to extend its range to 200km

• Latest intelligence reports suggest Iraq has begun developing missiles with a range of more than 1,000km, and if sanctions remained effective it would be able to produce such weapons by 2007

  Saddam's power

• Saddam has retained authority over command and control arrangements to use chemical and biological weapons

• Intelligence reports say he may have delegated authority to his son Qusai

• Saddam does not regard weapons of mass destruction as a last resort

  Funding

• Chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missile programmes are "well funded"

• Iraq generates income outside UN control to an estimated $3bn in 2002

• Illicit earnings are used to maintain Iraq's armed forces and to develop or acquire military equipment including chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic programmes

• Illicit earnings have increased from around $1bn in 1999 to $3bn in 2002

  Iraq under Saddam

• Saddam uses patronage and violence to motivate supporters and control or eliminate opposition

• He pursues a long-term programme of persecution against Iraqi Kurds, including the use of chemical weapons

• People are arrested and detained for alleged political or religious activities

• Executions carried out without due process of law with thousands of prisoners executed

• Women prisoners at Mahjar are routinely raped by guards

• Prisoners at Qurtiyya Prison in Baghdad and elsewhere left in metal boxes to die if they do not confess

• Penalties for criminal offences include amputation, branding, cutting off ears and mutilation

• "Slander" against Saddam results in having tongues removed

• Some 40 Saddam relatives, including women and children, killed

  UN weapons inspections

• April 1991 first resolutions passed to enable UN to dismantle Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programmes

• These programmes were in contravention of Iraq's treaty commitments

• Iraq has "persistently" obstructed UN weapons inspectors

• It has been state policy to retain all weapons programmes despite agreements to do otherwise

• Weapons inspectors banned from going to eight "presidential" sites

• Iraq has admitted to having a system for hiding proscribed material from inspectors

• Weapons inspectors have been intimidated by Iraqi officials

• Forged documents used to account for proscribed materials for the growth of anthrax and botulinum toxin

• Iraq has destroyed weapons unilaterally to stop the UN being able to account for them

  Blair's view

• In the dossier, the prime minister says that although gathering intelligence inside Iraq is not easy he and other ministers are satisfied with the authority of the information

• He says it is "unprecedented for the government to publish a document of this kind"

• He says he has become "increasingly alarmed" in recent months by evidence that Saddam Hussein is developing weapons of mass destruction in contravention of UN resolutions

• He says: "I am quite clear that Saddam will go to extreme lengths, indeed has already done so, to hide these weapons and avoid giving them up."

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The Iraq Dossier in full
Click here for the document (428kb)

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