Short Descriptor: Source of fermenters for Al-Hakam; training of Technical Research Center (TRC) personnel on fermentation line

Details:

Iraq declares that Hakam acquired and installed VRL's fermentation line only in late 1988. However, documents provided by Iraq indicated consideration of its use in situ at the VRL, and spare parts for this line were ordered by the BW program beginning in late May 1988. Eight mobile double-jacketed tanks were part of the VRL line transferred to Hakam.

Other Information:

...The Salman Pak BW facility was assessed to be the primary facility in the Iraqi BW program. Other facilities were the...Abu Ghurayb BW Production facility Al-Kindi.... Additional information on these facilities can be found in the attached documents....[Appendix I]...Abu Ghurayb Vaccine Plant, Al Kindi 33-l8-28N/044-15-49, probable site of botulinum toxin production...[Appendix II: BW Targets Attacked During Desert Storm]...Abu Ghurayb BW Production 3318N 04412E [approximate date of attack] 3 February 1991. [1]

...Al-Kindi Company//Geocoord: 3318N04411E; [deleted]//. (field comment: also referred to as the Abu Ghurayb Suspect BW Facility.) During Operation Desert Storm, [deleted], a laboratory building was destroyed by Coalition bombing. [2]

...Iraq was producing biological warfare (BW) agents at the Salman Pak BW facility, located approximately 32km southeast of Baghdad. Other sites suspected of producing BW agents were the Taji Facility just north of Baghdad, the Abu Ghurayb Vaccine Plant, Al-Kindi in the west Baghdad suburbs, and a plant at Latifiyah, within the Al QaQa Military Complex just southwest of Baghdad. [3]

...Al-Kindi Company, Abu Ghraib--We believe this to be the supplied clostridium vaccine plant located in Abu Ghraib. The Coalition forces destroyed this facility during the war. The plant was probably the site of botulinum production. [4]

...During the last five years, the Iraqis have initiated two projects. Both of these are the construction of plants for veterinary vaccine production. The first is the Foot and Mouth Disease Institute at Daura//Geographic Coordinates 33-49N/044-42E//Iraq. This project has been openly carried out from its inception. The other project was the construction of a clostridial veterinary vaccine plant. After two years of work, all references to this project vanished. [deleted]. This facility is said to have eight fermenters of various volumes with a total capacity of 13,000 liters. How it is run and what it produces are unknown. It is very distinct from the legitimate human vaccine plant in Abu Ghraib (coordinates unknown). The veterinary faculty of Baghdad University is located at Abu Ghraib. Vaccine research is carried out there. BW applicable topics are carried out at several science centers including the college of agriculture research. [5]

Key Sources:
[1] GulfLINK, "Information on Iraq's Biological Warfare Program," Armed Forces Medical Intelligence, 12 November 1993, File 008me.93d12.
[2] GulfLINK, "Suspect BW Sites in Iraq," Joint Staff Washington, October 1991, File 961031_950719_60210003_92d.txt.
[3] GulfLINK, "Responses to Rep. Kennedy's Questions of 22 February 1994," DIA, March 1994, File: 961031_950811_006me_94.txt.
[4] GulfLINK, "Iraq BW/CW," CIA, n.d., File: cia_65717_65717_01.txt
[5] GulfLINK, "Biological Warfare Production and Use," Joint Chiefs of Staff, June 1988, File: 961031_950719_22010883_88a.txt.

	Updated February 2006