"Saddam Hussein The Politics of Revenge" by Said K Aburish; paperback version published 2001 in UK by Clays Ltd.

This biography of Saddam details the Iraqi govts dealings with western powers. From page 136 it describes negotiations between the iraqi government and the US government in which the US "knowingly helped Iraq obtain the technology to build its first chemical warfare plant. This took place after the Iraqis had made an open request to buy such a plant from the USSR, a request which the Russians turned down".

The book goes into a lot of detail of this, giving information about negotiations with the Pfaulder Corporation of Rochester, New York in late 1974, who provided the iraqis with the required blueprints and specifications. At this point the state dept objected. page 139 details how the iraqis then built the plant in sections from italy, west germany and east germany. the author, a former member of the iraqi govt living in exile in london, quotes a huge number of sources in this and other examples of western complicity in Saddams regime's pursuit of weapons of war. it goes on and on...

freda