ON IRAQ MILITARY

File: 092596_cia_62639_62639_01.txt
Page: 01
Total Pages: 1
Subject: ON IRAQ MILITARY

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.







AUG 90







ON IRAQ MILITARY







DATE:  ULTIMO 1988







NOT SEEN THE MEANS OF DELIVERY USED IN A

CW ATTACK,          ESTIMATED THIS TO HAVE BEEN DONE BY MRL (BM 21 ?)

AS WELL AS BY AIRPLANES.          SEEN SEVERAL MRLS AT THE FRONT

TOWARDS IRAN          FROM AUGUST 12TH TIL PRIMO

OCTOBER 1988.

THE FRONT WAS PACKED WITH MILITARY "HARDWARE" OF ALL KINDS

SO THAT TO DETERMINE WHICH MEANS OF DELIVERY HAD ACTUALLY BEEN

USED WAS NOT POSSIBLE.

OBSERVATION OF DISPOSABLE SYRINGES AS WELL AS

GAS-MASKS AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING (OF DDR ORIGIN) BY THE HUNDREDS

IN A TOTALLY DESTROYED DEFENSIVE AREA ON THE IRANIAN SIDE, IN

THE MARSHES E OF AL AMARAH,          HAD MADE THE CONCLUSION THAT

PREDOMINANT USE OF NERVE-GASSES HAD TAKEN PLACE. IN THE AREA

THERE WERE NO CORPSES, THEY HAD ALL BEEN REMOVED. IN OTHER

AREAS WHERE IRANIAN SOLDIERS HAD BEEN KILLED BY OTHER MEANS,

THE CORPSES WERE AT SOME PLACES STACKED IN HEAPS. APPARENTLY,

NOBODY BOTHERED TO MOVE THEM, POSSIBLY FOR FEAR OF MINES IN

THE AREA

THE IRANIANS MAY HAVE USED THE

SYRINGES, BELIEVING THEY WERE UNDER ATTACK OF NERVE-GASSES,

WHEREAS THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO OTHER TYPES OF GASSES

USED BY THE IRAQIS, OR POSSIBLY A MIXTURE.

WHETHER OR NOT THE IRAQIS CARRIED OUT A RECCE AFTER THE

CW ATTACKS, OR THEY JUST WAITED FOR A CERTAIN TIME TO ELAPSE

BEFORE FOLLOWING UP THE ATTACK,          NO FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE,

BUT ESTIMATED THAT A FOLLOW UP HAD BEEN THE CASE USING BRDM-2

(RHK?) VEHICLES, OF WHICH          OBSERVED SEVERAL AT THE FRONT.

POSSIBLY THIS FIRST RECCE WAS THEN FOLLOWED BY THE ADVANCE OF

OTHER FORCES, BUT THIS IS PURE SPECULATION

ONE IRAQI OFFICER HAD MADE THE STATEMENT THAT "MANY MANY

SOLDIERS" WERE KILLED AT THIS POINT IN THE DEFENCE AREA.

ESTIMATED THAT APPROXIMATELY 4,000 IRANIAN TROOPS

HAD BEEN IN ACTION AT THIS POSITION, AND ACCORDING TO THE IRAQI

OFFICER ALL HAD BEEN KILLED AT THE SAME TIME BY A CW ATTACK.

NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRAINING PRACTICES OF THE IRAQI

SOLDIERS WITH REGARD TO CW. THE ONLY PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

ABLE TO OBSERVE WAS THE GAS-MASKS, WHICH THEY CARRIED BY

THEM AT ALL TIMES, AS WELL AS HELMETS AND PERSONAL WEAPONS.

THE ORIGIN OF THE GAS-MASKS WAS POSSIBLY USSR OR GDR.

THE IRAQI APPLICATION OF CW WAS DONE IN A

THOROUGHLY PLANNED MANNER (NO INDICATIONS OF PANICKY ACTION).

IT TOOK PLACE MOSTLY DURING ATTACKS ON IRANIAN DEFENCE POSITIONS

THAT COULD NOT BE DEFEATED BY OTHER MEANS.

THE REASONING BEHIND THIS CONCLUSION IS BASED ON THE PAIN-

STAKING PREPARATION WHICH THE IRAQIS APPARENTLY ALWAYS UNDERTOOK

BEFORE THE USE OF CW. FRONTLINE UNITS WERE DRASTICALLY CUT IN

NUMBERS, THUS WITHDRAWING SOME UNITS TO A DISTANCE OF 8-10 KM

FROM THE FRONT LINE. THE REMAINING UNITS AT THE FRONT LINE

WERE "COOLED DOWN" I.E. STAYING IN "SAND-BAG HUTS", COOLED WITH

CRYSTAL ICE WEARING THEIR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING, UNTIL IT WAS NO

LONGER NEEDED.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE PRACTICE OF USING "SAND-BAG HUTS"

AS DESCRIBED ABOVE IS          NOT BASED ON ACTUAL

FACTS. THE DELIVERY, HOWEVER, OF ICE BY LORRIES OF TYPE TATRA

(TATRA 805 ?) IS CONFIRMED          AND STILL USED TODAY.

THE ORDERS TO IMPLEMENT A CW ATTACK IN THE

FINAL PHASES OF THE IRAN/IRAQ CONFLICT, WERE GIVEN BY THE CORPS

COMMANDER. HE MAKES ALL THE DECISIONS WITHIN HIS AREA OF RESPON-

SIBILITY, NO MATTER THE SIZE OF THE PROBLEM. THIS CREATES A VERY

SLOWLY WORKING COMMAND SYSTEM WHICH IS TOTALLY CENTRALIZED IN

THE COMMANDER IN QUESTION.

ALL TRAINING, PRINCIPLES, AND

TEACHING WITH REGARD TO THE PRACTICE OF THE USE OF CW, ARE TAKEN

CARE OF BY THE          INSTRUCTORS WITH THE EXCEPTION, HOWEVER,

OF THE ACTUAL PARTICIPATION IN THE ATTACKS.          NEVER SAW

AT THE FRONT, BUT HE HAS SEEN THEM BY THE HUNDREDS (INSTRUCTORS ?)

IN BAGDAD, WHERE YOU COULD FIND THEM EVERYWHERE. THEY WERE

DRESSED IN IRAQI UNIFORMS WITH NO INDICATIONS OF RANK.







BATTLE AREAS WERE SCATTERED WITH THE DEBRIS OF GRENADES,

AMONG THESE WERE LOTS OF RPG (LIKE STRAWS IN A FIELD). MANY

WERE UNEXPLODED,          COULD NOT TELL IF CHEMICAL MUNITIONS

WERE AMONG THEM.          NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE WAY THE UNEXPLODED

MUNITION WAS HANDLED OR MARKED (IF AT ALL), NEITHER          SEEN

ANY SPECIAL MARKINGS ON GRENADE DEBRIS.

ACCORDING TO          STATEMENTS, COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT GIVEN

BY IRAQI OFFICERS, THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR CW WAS 100 PERCENT

WHEN USED AND LEFT NO SURVIVORS. CASUALTIES WERE CAUSED EITHER BY

THE GAS ITSELF OR BY THE EXTREME HEAT IN CONNECTION WITH THE

WEARING OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING. ONCE THE GAS HAD EVAPORATED,

IT WAS QUITE SAFE TO MOVE INTO THE AREA, SINCE NOBODY WAS LEFT

ALIVE.

THE CW WAS ONLY USED BY

THE IRAQIS WHEN THEY ATTACKED ENEMY DEFENSIVE AREAS, WHICH

COULD NOT BE OVERCOME BY OTHER MEANS.

CONCLUSION BECAUSE OF THE "ICE-COOLING" PRACTICE, WHICH HE

CONSIDERS UNFIT FOR USE IN DEFENSIVE SITUATIONS WHERE FEAR

OF HITTING THEIR OWN FORCES, NOT "COOLED", REFRAINED THE

IRAQIS FROM USING THESE MEANS.

NO KNOWLEDGE OF ANY VACCINATION OF THE IRAQI FORCES

TO PROT ECT THEM AGAINST CW.          FOUND IT QUITE

INTERESTING THAT AN IRANIAN DOCTOR STATED IN CONNECTION WITH

THE TREATMENT OF A HEAT-STROKE, THAT THERE HAD BEEN, IN THIS

PARTICULAR SUMMER OF 1988, REMARKABLY MANY HEAT-STROKES AMONG

IRAQI SOLDIERS. THE DOCTOR THOUGHT THAT THIS MAY HAVE BEEN

CAUSED BY DRUGS ADMINISTERED TO THE IRAQIS, WHICH HAD THE SIDE-

EFFECT OF MAKING THEM LESS RESISTANT TO EXTREME HEAT.

NOT KNOW WHICH DRUG THE IRAQI SOLDIERS RECEIVED, BUT HE NOTICED

THAT THE DOCTOR SUSPECTED A POSSIBLE CONNECTION WITH CHLORAKINE

(TABLETS AGAINST MALARIA, WATER PURIFICATION, OR THE LIKE).

THE IRAQIS ARE EXPERTS IN THE USE OF CW.

THEY GENERALLY USE THE CW AT THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN TEMPERATURES

ARE THEIR HIGHEST AND AT NOON WHEN THEY REACH ON OR ABOVE 50

CENTIGRADES.

THEY ARE EXTREMELY COMPETENT AT MOVING THEIR

UNITS AT SHORT NOTICE AND AT A VERY GREAT SPEED, FACTS WHICH

TOGETHER WITH THEIR EXTENSIVE TRANSPORT CAPACITY MAKE THIS

WHOLE SYSTEM VERY FLEXIBLE AND EFFECTIVE.







THAT IN THIS ENCOUNTER CW HAD ALSO BEEN USED BY THE IRAQIS, A

SUSPICION WHICH HAS BEEN CONFIRMED







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