May 19, 2013
Government records show that when Iraq began its bio-weapons program in the 1980s, it did so with help from the United States.
Records show that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent samples directly to several sites in Iraq. The transfers were made during the time the U.S. supported Iraq in its war against Iran.
The records show that Iraq received anthrax, and the bacteria that make botulinum toxin. Iraq also got the germs that cause gas gangrene.
A former UN weapons inspector said it probably wouldn't be accurate to say the U.S. deliberately helped start the Iraqi biological weapons program.
But he said it was "naive" of U.S. officials to believe that Iraq really wanted to use the samples for a public-health purpose.
