10/15/1989

“…in October 1989 the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a private research foundation, issued a report entitled ‘The Genie Unleashed,’ which cataloged Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons production and suggested that the West might already have lost the battle to halt the proliferation of such weapons. The report stated: ‘Significantly, Iraq has continued and even expanded its efforts since the cessation of fighting with Iran in July 1988,’ and went on to say that international efforts to undermine the chemical weapons program by starving it of raw materials were increasingly irrelevant as Iraq was on the verge of becoming self-sufficient. ‘Baghdad’s willingness to invest substantial resources in its chemical and biological weapons programs suggests that its leaders believe that these programs will continue to be of tremendous strategic importance.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Con Coughlin, Saddam: His Rise and Fall, Page 243