“According to UNSCOM’s [United Nations Special Commission on Iraq] final report, submitted to the [UN] Security Council in January [25] 1999, Iraq began its effort to develop biological weapons in 1973 or 1974, when Saddam was still vice president. Iraq itself concedes that from 1974 to 1978 it conducted ‘research on micro-organisms for military purposes.’ In the mid-1970s, Iraq also began a campaign to develop and acquire chemical weapons. It constructed chemical factories, produced the raw materials for weapons, and purchased chemical ingredients from reliable suppliers like Germany and France.”
– Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, The War Over Iraq, Pages 27-28