- Fears grew of a chemical attack on coalition troops last
night as Saddam Hussein's top biological weapons expert was seen alongside
him at a war cabinet meeting.
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- In a video shown on Al Jazeera TV, Professor Huda Salih
Mahdi Ammash - dubbed Chemical Sally - was seated next to Saddam's youngest
son Qusay, 37, who oversees the regime's weapons development programmes.
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- She was to the right-hand of Saddam Hussein, who was
a few seats away with other high-ranking Ba'ath party officials.
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- Coalition commanders warned yesterday Saddam Hussein
has issued the Republican Guard with the "first orders" to use
chemical or biological weapons if US or British forces cross "trigger
lines" in the field.
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- And there were reports of 50- gallon drums being loaded
on to Iraqi trucks and specially-adapted shells being issued to troops
defending Baghdad from the coalition forces just 50 miles outside.
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- A senior UK source said the sighting of Professor Ammash
was significant. He said: "We take her very seriously. She is a player.
It is unclear when this picture was taken but it is the position of various
people around the table which is crucial.
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- "We know Qusay was close to the weapons of mass
destruction programme but this raises the issue to a whole new level."
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- Little is known of 50-year-old Prof Ammash's private
life but her loyalty to Saddam's regime is said to know no bounds. Some
sources claim her own father was killed on the Iraqi president's orders.
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- She is said to be the head of Iraq's biological warfare
programme and is also nicknamed Mrs Anthrax - because she has the know-how
to kill millions. She trained as a microbiologist in America and Europe.
And ironically she once studied in President Bush's home state of Texas.
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- She gained a Phd in genetics and microbiology from the
University of Missouri and is also president of the Iraqi Microbiological
Society. She is a dean at Baghdad University and in May 2001 attained a
top-level position in the Ba'ath Party command.
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- According to Arabic newspapers she is widely considered
to be "one of the pillars of the weapons programme" in Iraq.
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- Prof Ammash is described as a key player in the alleged
rebuilding chemical and biological facilities after the first Gulf War.
In January she was quoted by news agencies in Baghdad denouncing the "US
administration of evil".
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- The sighting of Prof Ammash comes as coalition commanders
claimed Saddam Hussein has issued his troops with "trigger lines"
to start using the dreaded weapons.
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- Brigadier General Vince Brooks, the coalition's Deputy
Director of Operations, said last night: "We have seen an indication
through a variety of sources that the first orders have been given that
at a certain point chemical weapons might be used.
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- "We have seen chemical protection suits and equipment
south of where we thought the red line might be.
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- "We certainly have indications. We know the capability
exists.
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- "We know the will exists. We take it very, very
seriously."
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- Speaking at US Central Command he added: "There
might be trigger lines that are out there or places which the regime would
feel threatened enough that they would use chemical weapons. As we add
that to the additional evidence we have found on the battlefield we begin
to take that very seriously."
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- Soldiers near Karbala were on chemical alert and pictured
on TV wearing full protection suits.
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- US TV reports claimed there was intelligence that hundreds
of 50-gallon drums being seen loaded on to Iraqi trucks and driven to the
front.
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- And The New York Times said prisoners of war had told
coalition interrogators that specially-adapted artillery shells had been
issued to the Medina division of the Republican Guard who are expected
to bear the brunt of the fighting.
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- The 155 millimetre shells capable of firing sarin, mustard
or nerve gas several miles, were said to have been issued more than a week
ago.
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- British and US officials say they have found hundreds
of chemical protection suits in Iraq.
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- Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie McCourt said all British troops
had annual training in how to deal with chemical weapons.
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- They carried anti-chemical pills, atropin injections
to mitigate the effects and can eat, sleep and fight in their NBC suits
and respirators. He said: "It would not be our first choice but we
are good to go."
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