: It gets thick and sicker: ==>
: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/15/1052885345584.html
: Tehran accused of bio-warfare program.
ANATOMY of a PSY-OP:
Tehran accused of biowarfare program
By Joby Warrick in Washington
May 16 2003
"Iran has begun production of anthrax and is working with at least five other pathogens, including smallpox, to build an arsenal of biological weapons, an opposition group says.
The Mujaheddin-e-Khalq, citing informants inside the Iranian Government, says the anthrax weapons are the first fruits of a program begun secretly in 2001 to triple the size of Iran's biowarfare program. The push for new biological weapons was begun in parallel with a more ambitious campaign to build nuclear facilities capable of producing components for nuclear bombs, said officials of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the group's political arm, which seeks the overthrow of the Iranian Government.
"We can say with certainty that the Iranian regime now has the capability of mass production of biological material for weapons use," Alireza Jafazadeh, the council's United States representative, said.
Although many weapons experts believe Iran maintains at least a rudimentary biological weapons program, few details are known. The CIA, in an unclassified report released this year, said Iran "probably" maintains an offensive biological weapons program and probably "has capabilities to produce small quantities" of biological agents.
The Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or People's Mujahideen, is listed by the State Department as a terrorist group, though weapons experts and intelligence officials say many of its claims about Iranian weapons plans have been largely reliable. The group first exposed a nuclear plant built near the town of Natanz to make enriched uranium, which can be used for commercial nuclear power or to make nuclear weapons.
The expansion of Iran's biological weapons program was spelled out in a four-page document called the "Comprehensive National Microbial Defence Plan", which was approved by Iran's Supreme National Security Council in 2001, Mr Jafazadeh said.
The plan called for a tripling of bioweapons production capacity by 2003, and divided responsibilities across a network of research cenres linked to Iran's armed forces or Revolutionary Guard. Among the pathogens being prepared for weapons use were anthrax, aflatoxin, typhus, smallpox, plague and cholera, Mr Jafazadeh said.
Weapons experts reacted cautiously to the claims, especially the report about smallpox. But several said the group's description of Iran's bioweapons program seemed plausible."
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Form your friendly newspaper: The Washington Post (NWO)
