- A chemical plant which the US says is a key component
in Iraq's chemical warfare arsenal was secretly built by Britain in 1985
behind the backs of the Americans, the Guardian can disclose.
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- Documents show British ministers knew at the time that
the £14m plant, called Falluja 2, was likely to be used for mustard
and nerve gas production.
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- Senior officials recorded in writing that Saddam Hussein
was actively gassing his opponents and that there was a "strong possibility"
that the chlorine plant was intended by the Iraqis to make mustard gas.
At the time, Saddam was known to be gassing Iranian troops in their thousands
in the Iran-Iraq war.
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- But ministers in the then Thatcher government none the
less secretly gave financial backing to the British company involved, Uhde
Ltd, through insurance guarantees.
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- Paul Channon, then trade minister, concealed the existence
of the chlorine plant contract from the US administration, which was pressing
for controls on such exports.
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- He also instructed the export credit guarantee department
(ECGD) to keep details of the deal secret from the public.
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- The papers show that Mr Channon rejected a strong plea
from a Foreign Office minister, Richard Luce, that the deal would ruin
Britain's image in the world if news got out: "I consider it essential
everything possible be done to oppose the proposed sale and to deny the
company concerned ECGD cover".
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- The Ministry of Defence also weighed in, warning that
it could be used to make chemical weapons.
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- But Mr Channon, in line with Mrs Thatcher's policy of
propping up the dictator, said: "A ban would do our other trade prospects
in Iraq no good".
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- The British taxpayer was even forced to write a compensation
cheque for £300,000 to the German-owned company after final checks
on the plant, completed in May 1990, were interrupted by the outbreak of
the Gulf war.
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- The Falluja 2 chlorine plant, 50 miles outside Baghdad,
near the Habbaniya airbase, has been pinpointed by the US as an example
of a factory rebuilt by Saddam to regain his chemical warfare capability.
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- Last month it featured in Colin Powell's dossier of reasons
why the world should go to war against Iraq, which was presented to the
UN security council.
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- Spy satellite pictures of Falluja 2 identifying it as
a chemical weapons site were earlier published by the CIA, and a report
by Britain's joint intelligence committee, published with Tony Blair's
imprimatur last September, also focused on Falluja 2 as a rebuilt plant
"formerly associated with the chemical warfare programme".
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- UN weapons inspectors toured the Falluja 2 plant last
December and Hans Blix, the chief inspector, reported to the security council
that the chemical equipment there might have to be destroyed.
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- But until now, the secret of Britain's knowing role in
Falluja's construction has remained hidden.
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- Last night, Uhde Ltd's parent company in Dortmund, Germany,
issued a statement confirming that their then UK subsidiary had built Falluja
2 for Iraq's chemical weapons procurement agency, the State Enterprise
for Pesticide Production.
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- A company spokesman said: "This was a normal plant
for the production of chlorine and caustic soda. It could not produce other
products".
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- The British government's intelligence at the time, as
shown in the documents, was that Iraq, which was having increasing difficulty
in obtaining precursor chemicals on the legitimate market, intended to
use the chlorine as a feedstock to manufacture such chemicals as epichlorohydrin
and phosphorous trichloride. These in turn were used to make mustard gas
and nerve agents.
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- Paul Channon, since ennobled as Lord Kelvedon, was last
night holidaying on the Caribbean island of Mustique. He issued a statement
through his secretary, who said: "He can't object to the story. So
he's got no comment."
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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