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<div class="entry-date">September 27-29, 2013
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/27/syrias-secret-chemical-weapons-sources/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/27/syrias-secret-chemical-weapons-sources/</a></div>
<h1 class="article-title">Syria’s Secret Chemical Weapons Sources</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle">by M. KOOHZAD</div>
<div class="main-text"><big> </big>
<p><big><big>A few retired American generals tell us, mainly on the
24-hour news channels, that possessing chemical weapons is illegal.
This is true, according to the Geneva Convention of 1925. But,
countries that have not signed this document are not obligated to
follow the law. The US did not sign it until 1975, right after using
the largest amount of chemicals ever used in warfare, including Agent
Orange in Vietnam. The mainstream media also tell us that Iraq and
Syria were not among the signatories. Many of the reporters do not know
why! Actually, Iraq and Syria did not even exist in 1925. Iraq obtained
independence from the British in 1932 and Syria received independence
in 1946 from the French. Indeed, many of the present problems in both
nations are among the unsolved legacies of European colonialism.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Of course, owning and using the chemical materials are
illegal acts, but what about producing and selling them? Essentially,
we need to know who is supplying these weapons to Syria. I put this
question to four activists-authors-scholars who I thought might know.
Before receiving any answer, I googled my own question. I got one big
hit. According to an article in the <i>Guardian</i>, the British
government issued a license to a British company allowing the sales of
chemical arsenals to Syria.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>From two of those individuals that I contacted, I have
received no reply. The other two answered via emails. One said these
materials came from Iraq and another one alleged they came from Saudi
Arabia. It is not astonishing, however, if both Iraq and Saudi Arabia
presently have chemical arsenals. But, Iraqis and Saudis still had to
buy the chemical weapons or the raw materials from somebody else. In
the case of Iraq, the chemical arsenals might be the leftovers of what
Western manufacturers, including the US, sold Saddam.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>On September 4, 2013, I left a comment/question at the end
of Mr. Mufid Abdulla’s (2013) article dealing with similarities between
Assad and Saddam’s chemical attacks. I wrote “Does anybody know what
countries/companies produce and supply Syria with these chemical
weapons?” To my surprise one reader by the penname of Nuha left a link
under my question leading me to a site belonging to <i>rt.com</i>.
Apparently, <i>rt</i> or <i>Russia Today</i>, is an international
multilingual Russian-based television network located in Moscow. It is
registered as an autonomous non-profit organization. Evidently, it is
the most popular news channel in Britain after the BBC and Sky.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Most of the information in the <i>rt.com’s</i> brief
article came from two British newspapers, the <i>Daily Mail </i>and the <i>Sunday
Mail. </i>The site reported that “Between July 2004 and May 2010, the
British government issued five export licenses to two companies,
allowing them to sell Syria <b>sodium fluoride</b>, necessary for the
production of <b>Sarin</b>, a nerve gas that is hundreds of times
deadlier than <b>cyanide</b>, is considered one of the world’s most
dangerous chemical warfare agents. It works on the nervous system,
over-stimulating muscles and vital organs, and a single drop can be
lethal in minutes.” The site also reported, “The January<b> </b>2012<b> </b>licenses
were given in the knowledge that both substances could also be used as
precursor chemicals in the manufacture of chemical weapons…”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>There is hardly any research done with regards to
similarities between Iraq and Syria’s sources of the chemical weapons.
It is well known, however, that the Western powers received cash
rewards and were compensated for producing and providing Saddam Hussein
with all types of poisonous gases that he used to kill civilian Kurds.
John Simpson of BBC was on the ground in <b>Halabja</b> in 1988. He was
one of the few Western journalists who tried to count the dead bodies
of the victims of Western technology and Eastern brutality in this
city. Simpson was sure that more than 5,000 mainly Kurdish children
were killed by chemical weapons in Halabja. He wrote in 2012, in the
only investigative recordings so far available, “There is a clear
political sense that as long as those <b>foreign companies</b> that <b>knowingly</b> supplied
these awful weapons remain <b><i>unpunished</i></b>, this tragic
chapter will never fully be closed.” (My emphasis).</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Apparently, Iraq had the basic capability to produce some
rudimentary forms of these types of weapons locally. It is highly
likely that producing poisonous gases to kill the Kurds in Iraq goes
back to the time when the British Royal Air Force initiated killing the
Kurds in northern Iraq. Sir Winston Churchill approved the use of
leftover mustard gas from WWI against the Kurds in May of <b>1919</b>.
But, according to Simpson (2012) the Soviet Union was the most
important supplier of the raw materials, machineries, and training of
the Iraqis in the use and application of these killing materials in
Kurdistan.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Based on many of the shells found at Halabja, Simpson
reported, “With regard to Western companies, there is data pointing to <b>85
German</b>, <b>19 French</b>, <b>18 British</b> and<b>18 US</b> suppliers.”
Thus, a total of <b>140 Western corporations</b> participated in being
“merchants of death” to Saddam Hussein. More importantly, more than
half, 61%, of the companies were German owned. But, it is still not
possible to learn who sold Saddam the most gas or received most of the
money from Baghdad. It is probable that a single American or British
manufacturing corporation could have supplied the largest amount and
even received less cash rewards. Ankara, Baghdad, Tehran, and Damascus
could not have killed the largest numbers of civilian Kurds without
direct support, sales, and participation from the West.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The Kurds have been murdered longer and more frequently
than any other ethnic group in the history of mankind. The caves and
the mountains of Kurdistan are the most gassed places in the world. The
British work of killing Kurds from above was continued by Ataturk in
1925 and 1937-38. His adopted daughter, <b>Sabiha Gokcen</b>, Turkey’s
first woman pilot, actively took part in the air campaign against the
Kurds. She carried out bombing sorties over civilian-populated areas.
The countries that supplied the largest amount of chemical weapons to
Saddam knew well ahead of time that he was going to kill more Kurds,
over 182,000 of them.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>In all of these mass-murders, acts of genocide, the
Western colonial powers – including the American, the British, the
French, the Germans, and the Russians – were willing participants.
Actually, the American corporations selling as merchants of death were
competing with the European ones in selling Saddam whatever he wished
to buy. These countries/companies benefited financially from the
killing of the Kurds because of their ethnicity. The sources and
suppliers of the chemical weapons are no longer a secret. The Western
corporations that <b>knowingly</b> provided chemical weapons to Saddam
or Assad must not remain <b><i>unpunished</i></b>.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><em><strong>Dr. <strong>M. </strong>Koohzad</strong> is
a Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern Studies in the United States. </em></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><strong>Sources:</strong></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Abdulla, Mufid. “Assad’s chemical attack is reminiscent of
Saddam.” <i>Kurdistan tribune.com,</i> September 4, 2013. <a
href="http://kurdistantribune.com/2013/assads-chemical-attack-reminiscent-of-saddam/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://kurdistantribune.com']);"
target="_blank"><i>http://kurdistantribune.com/2013/assads-chemical-attack-reminiscent-of-saddam/</i></a></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>rt.com. “UK delivered Syria chemicals needed for sarin
production ‘for 6 years’”<i>rt.com, </i>Published time: September 08,
2013 12:03. Edited time: September 09, 2013 05:33. <a
href="http://rt.com/news/uk-sarin-syria-weapons-chemical-573/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://rt.com']);"
target="_blank"><i>http://rt.com/news/uk-sarin-syria-weapons-chemical-573/</i></a></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Simpson, John. “Halabja chemical weapons: A chance to find
the men who armed Saddam.” <i>bbc.co.uk,</i> 2 December 2012 Last
updated at 19:02 ET.<a
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/%20news/magazine-20553826"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.bbc.co.uk']);"
target="_blank"><i>http://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/magazine-20553826</i></a></big></big></p>
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