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File: cia_70513_70513_01.txt
Page: 01
Total Pages: 2
Subject: IRAQI SPECIAL WEAPONS CAPABILITIES Not Finally Evaluated Intelligence TO FACILITATE ELECTRONIC ACCESS, THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REFORMATTED TO ELIMINATE INFORMATION THAT DOES NOT PERTAIN TO GULF WAR ILLNESS ISSUES OR THAT IS CLASSIFIED. A COPY OF THIS REDACTED DOCUMENT, IN ORIGINAL FORMAT, IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. PAGE: 013 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY --------------------------- NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE. JANUARY 1991 COUNTRY: IRAQ SUBJ: IRAQI SPECIAL WEAPONS CAPABILITIES 2. JANUARY 1991 THE STATE OF IRAQI WEAPON CAPABILITIES: A. A MAJOR PRIORITY OF THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT IS TO DETERMINE HOW CLOSE ITS SCUD MISSILES ARE TO THEIR TARGETS WHEN THEY ARE DESTROYED BY PATRIOT MISSILES. WHILE IRAQ HAS CHEMICAL WARHEADS FOR SCUD MISSILES IT HAS NOT YET MASTERED THE FUSE TECHNOLOGY AND TRIGGER MECHANISM TO DETONATE THE WARHEAD. IRAQI MISSILE OFFICIALS ARE THEREFORE LOOKING AT THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING A SCUD MISSILE DELIVER CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND DISPERSE THEM UPON IMPACT FROM A PATRIOT MISSILE. IN THIS WAY THE OFFICIALS BELIEVE THAT THE CHEMICALS COULD BE SPREAD OVER AN AREA OF APPROXIMATELY 60 SQUARE KILOMETERS. BY CONTRAST, A SCUD MISSILE ARMED WITH A CHEMICAL WARHEAD WHICH DETONATES UPON IMPACT WITH THE GROUND COULD ONLY SPREAD THE CHEMICALS OVER A FEW SQUARE KILOMETERS. COMMENT: THE ABOVE INFORMATION SEEMS PLAUSIBLE AND IS TECHNICALLY ACCURATE. REGARDING THE SPREADING OF CHEMICALS OVER A 60 SQUARE-KILOMETER RANGE, THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE CHEMICALS WOULD SPREAD WOULD DEPEND ON PAYLOAD SIZE, BURST HEIGHT, AND TYPE OF FILL, I.E., CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL AGENTS. B. IRAQ HAS NOW LOST THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE MANUFACTURED
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