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General Says 2nd Mobile Bioweapons Lab Found in Iraq
VOA News http://www.voanews.com/ May 13, 2003
A senior U.S. military commander in Iraq says American forces have found what appears to be another mobile laboratory to produce biological weapons. Major General David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, says the latest suspected lab is a trailer found in the Mosul area on May 9. The general says he has talked to an expert who is reasonably certain the trailer is a mobile biological agent production unit. General Petraeus says the trailer is nearly identical to one found in northern Iraq last month that the Pentagon later concluded was a mobile biological weapons lab. The general says the latest lab was actually a finished product because several welds were not finished and some parts are missing. U.S. forces have yet to find any actual weapons of mass destruction since invading Iraq March 20. The need to eliminate such weapons was one of the key justifications offered by the Bush administration for launching the invasion. Meanwhile, U.S. defense officials say they have taken custody of another top official from the former Iraqi regime - Baath Party regional command member Fadil Mahmud Gharib. He is on the U.S. list of the top 55 most wanted Iraqis. In another development, an Iraqi Shiite Muslim leader says Iraq should be ruled by a democratic government that respects Islam but represents all of the country's religious and ethnic groups. Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim's comments mark an apparent shift from his previous calls for an Iranian-style Islamic state in Iraq. Mr. al-Hakim leads the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite group that opposed Saddam Hussein. Shiites have been demanding a greater role in post-war Iraq after years of repression from the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam. Also Tuesday, U.S. officials said the head of Iraq's Health Ministry has resigned after he refused to publicly denounce Iraq's former ruling Baath Party. The U.S. Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq says Dr. Ali Shinan accepted a U.S. request for him to step down. Some information for this report provided by Reuters.
Direct Link: --http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=A73E7364-2AB1-444A-B81B700DA3EEAF9C
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