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N iraq kurdish { August 20 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38461-2002Aug20.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38461-2002Aug20.html
Toxic Gas Tests Draw U.S. Study
Kurdish Group in N. Iraq Accused
By Dana Priest and Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 20, 2002; Page A05
The Bush administration recently considered launching a covert military attack against a tiny, radical Kurdish group in northern Iraq that might be experimenting with toxic agents, according to administration officials.
U.S. officials said yesterday that a couple of members of Ansar al Islam, a small, Islamist Kurdish group, had been testing primitive forms of ricin and poisonous cyanide gas on farm animals in a makeshift dwelling. Ricin, a derivative of the castor plant bean, is highly toxic to humans.
In broadcasts last night, ABC News and CNN characterized the operation as a chemical weapons program in a laboratory. But officials said it was neither that advanced nor that sophisticated.
The reports, and the discussion within the administration over whether to take military action against such an inconclusive threat, point to the heightened pressure on the administration to make its case against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. In recent days, a number of prominent Republican leaders, including former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, have publicly questioned the administration's stance against Iraq.
Sources said the administration did not make a decision about the group or its facilities, which leaves open the possibility of some military or paramilitary action.
Another administration official said that military action was one of many options reviewed, and that while a decision was made not to proceed with the operation at this time, details of the plan remain highly classified.
News of the potential raid comes amid recent reports that senior Pentagon officials are looking at a variety of covert operations to expand the role of Special Operations forces in the war on terrorism.
Air Force Gen. Charles R. Holland, chief of the U.S. Special Operations Command, met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld earlier this month to review options.
It could not be determined last night which forces were considered for the raid, although one official said it had been conceived as a combined CIA and Pentagon operation and presumably would have involved Special Operations units such as Delta Force or Navy SEALs and their associated air crews.
Ansar al Islam is a fundamentalist Islamist group that operates outside of the territory controlled by Saddam Hussein and is thought to number up to 300 members. Some 10 to 15 Ansar al Islam members are thought to have gone to Afghanistan for training by al Qaeda in the past several years.
Intelligence officials, whose operatives would be supplying the Bush administration with information on the chemical weapons and terrorism threat from Iraq, do not know whether the group members involved in the experimentation were those trained by al Qaeda. Nor do they know whether Saddam Hussein was aware of their activities.
Ansar al Islam's link to Saddam Hussein is tenuous. The Iraqi leader is said to pass them arms and other equipment so they might harass the larger Kurdish nationalist groups operating freely in northern Iraq and seeking an independent state.
Asked to comment yesterday on reports of a pending attack on Ansar al Islam, White House National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton told Reuters: "We don't confirm whether something was, is, or might be a military target."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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