Inspectors certain Iraq will use its deadly weapons
By David Wastell, Philip Sherwell and Julian Coman in Washington
(Filed: 08/09/2002)
A former United Nations weapons inspector gave warning last night that Saddam Hussein is developing frightening new ways to deliver his arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, including smallpox and the deadly VX nerve agent.
David Kay, who headed the UN's nuclear inspection team inside Iraq during the early 1990s, said that Pentagon planners believe that Saddam is devising novel means of launching his most dangerous weapons, to replicate the surprise achieved by al-Qa'eda terrorists on September 11.
One possibility is that Saddam could use the links he had cultivated with the Palestinian refugee camps to recruit volunteers willing to be injected with the smallpox virus and then enter Israel to infect hundreds of Jews before themselves succumbing to the disease.
Mr Kay, speaking from his home in Virginia, said: "If you have someone like Saddam in power committed to developing these weapons and with a hatred of the US and Israel, then at some point he's either going to get lucky or succeed in doing something."
Mr Kay and other former UN inspectors contacted by The Telegraph last week believe that Iraq would readmit inspectors only as a way of deflecting an American attack and dividing western opinion.
None thought Iraq would co-operate adequately with a new inspection team to ensure that his entire arsenal is uncovered.
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