IRAQI AL QIM CHEMICAL FACILITY

File: cia_64195_64193_01.txt
Page: 01
Total Pages: 1
Subject: IRAQI AL QIM CHEMICAL FACILITY

Not Finally Evaluated Intelligence







TO FACILITATE ELECTRONIC ACCESS, THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN

REFORMATTED TO ELIMINATE INFORMATION THAT DOES NOT PERTAIN

TO GULF WAR ILLNESS ISSUES OR THAT IS CLASSIFIED. A COPY OF

THIS REDACTED DOCUMENT, IN ORIGINAL FORMAT, IS AVAILABLE ON

REQUEST.







DEC 90          DIRECTOR 433394







CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

WARNING: INFORMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE







DIST:          DECEMBER 1990

COUNTRY: IRAQ

SUBJ: 1. COMMENTS ON IRAQI AL QAIM CHEMICAL FACILITY AND

ITS DEFENSES







DOI:      1990





E. INSIDE THE "CHOCOLATE FACTORY" BUT OUTSIDE THE

BARRACKS AREA WERE 18 METAL VATS, EACH ABOUT 20 FEET HIGH AND 10 FEET

IN DIAMETER. THERE WERE "BIG MIXING PADDLES WITH MOTORS ON TOP GOING

ALL THE TIME."           FREQUENTLY SAW TECHNICIANS, WEARING BLUE

SMOCKS AND CARRYING CLIPBOARDS, WHO WOULD TAKE SOME SORT OF READINGS;

THERE WAS ALSO A SENSOR THAT WOULD SOUND AN ALARM OCCASIONALLY. WHEN

THE ALARM SOUNDED, THE TECHNICIANS WOULD HURRY TO ASCERTAIN THE

PROBLEM. ONE DAY IN EARLY NOVEMBER THE SENSOR ACTIVATED A WATER

SYSTEM WHICH DOUSED THE 18 VATS AT THE "CHOCOLATE FACTORY." TWO DAYS

LATER, THE ENTIRE AL QAIM FACILITY WAS SHUT DOWN--OSTENSIBLY BECAUSE

OF THE           SABOTAGE EFFORTS           THE VATS WERE

OUTSIDE THE FACTORY, AND WERE ARRANGED IN THREE PARALLEL LINES, SIX

VATS TO A LINE. ON THE SIDE OF THE VATS OPPOSITE THE FACTORY WAS A

TWO-STORY CINDERBLOCK BUILDING. ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF THIS BUILDING

WERE RED AND GREEN LIGHTED INSTRUMENT PANELS WHICH WERE VISIBLE AT

NIGHT FROM THE           BARRACKS. ON THE SECOND FLOOR, TWO OR THREE

WHITE-SMOCKED PEOPLE COULD BE SEEN. BELOW THE VATS WAS A MOAT IN

WHICH THE WATER LEVEL WAS CONSTANTLY CHECKED AND ADJUSTED. THE

STAGNANT WATER IN THE MOAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR A MOSQUITO PROBLEM IN

THE COMPOUND. THE           SURMISED THAT THE VATES WERE MADE BY A

COMPANY, AS PHOTOGRAPHS OF SIMILAR VATS ON THE WALL OF THE

"CHOCOLATE FACTORY" WERE LABLED           AT THE "CHOCOLATE FACTORY"

THE           ALSO SAW           SHIPPING BOXES, WHICH SPELLED THE

LOCATION "AL KAIM."







F. DURING TRIPS TO HOSPITALS AND TO THE CABIN CAMP FOR

EXERCISE,           WAS ABLE TO OBSERVE THE AREA FROM OUTSIDE THE

"CHOCOLATE FACTORY" CONCRETE ENCLOSURE TO THE MAIN FACILITY AT AL

QAIM. THE ENTIRE FACILITY MEASURES APPROXIMATELY 8 KM BY 8 OR 10 KM,

AND GUARDS SAID IT WAS 8 YEARS OLD. THE MAIN PLANT WAS "HUGE" AND

HAD "HUGE" PILES OF GREEN AND WHITE MATERIAL OUTSIDE IT.          

THE GREEN MATERIAL PROBABLY WAS SULPHUR, THE WHITE MATERIAL

PROBABLY WAS AMMONIA.) WHEN THE WIND BLEW, THE AMMONIA-SMELLING

WHITE SUBSTANCE WOULD LIGHTLY COAT EVERYTHING.          AL

QAIM,           DEVELOPED SKIN RASHES CHARACTERIZED BY BLISTERS; THESE

RASHES DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY WHEN THE FACILITY STOPPED OPERATING.

"A LOT" OF PHOSPHOROUS WAS SEEN AT THE FACILITY. THERE WAS CONSTANT

RAIL TRAFFIC INTO AND OUT OF THE MAIN PLANT, AND THE BOXCARS--

GENERALLY 10 TO 15 PER LOCOMOTIVE--WERE ALWAYS COVERED. THERE WERE

ALWAYS AT LEAST 100 CARS SITTING ON TRAIN SPURS. THE "CHOCOLATE

FACTORY" WAS LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 200 METERS FROM A ROAD, AND THE

COULD HEAR TRUCKS CONTINUALLY PASSING BY.







C.          THE IRAQIS CONDUCTED A MISSILE

TEST-FIRING, THE MISSLE MISFIRED WENT STRAIGHT UP AND THEN FELL

AND EXPLODED           THE

MISSILE EVIDENTLY DESTROYED THE          AND, PRESUMABLY, KILLED

ONE OR TWO          AS WELL. THREE DAYS LATER THE IRAQIS DID ANOTHER

MISSILE TEST-FIRING. THIS MISSILE WENT DOWNRANGE, AND          

HEARD BUT DID NOT SEE THE EXPLOSION           NOTED THAT THESE TEST-

FlRED MISSILES WERE SURFACE-TO-SURFACE AND PROBABLY WERE OF RUSSIAN

OR          MAKE. NO ADDITIONAL MISSILE TEST-FIRINGS WERE CONDUCTED

AFTER THIS SECOND, APPARENTLY SUCCESSFUL TEST.







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