Saddam Hussein is planning to arm a Palestinian group with biological weapons to attack either American or Israeli targets, a British report said. A detailed assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program, which has been circulated to the British Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet ministers, is understood to focus on Iraq’s biological weapons capability.
Using mobile laboratories for their research, the Iraqi team of scientists is believed to be developing a range of biological agents that can be “delivered” by an aerosol system, The Times of London reported Saturday. The latest assessment in Washington and London is that Saddam’s plan is to produce a basic weapon that can be used by a Palestinian group to attack the United States and Israel, the report added.
According to the British paper, the Palestinian connection is now at the heart of intelligence thinking. Despite the belief in some quarters in America that a senior officer in Saddam’s intelligence service met an al-Qaeda terrorist in Prague last year, before September 11, this is given no credence by the CIA, the FBI or by British Intelligence.
Saddam has transferred money to Palestinian groups for many years, and the British assessment now is that the Iraqi leader may see that the best way of taking revenge against the US and Israel is by using a Palestinian organization, The Times concluded. (Albawaba.com)
