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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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013089
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01308900.035
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 45World NotesIRAQThe Poison This Time
Iraq came under widespread criticism last year after it killed
hundreds and perhaps thousands of Kurdish villagers with a
chemical-weapons attack in the gulf war. Now U.S. officials confirm
that Baghdad has been developing yet another form of warfare
expressly banned by international law: biological weapons.
While chemical substances cause fatal gas burns in the lungs,
germ warfare is designed to spawn epidemics of deadly diseases such
as typhoid, cholera and anthrax. So far, there appears to be no
evidence that Iraq has deployed germ warfare, despite allegations
last September by Kurdish rebels that an outbreak of typhoid was
caused by an Iraqi attack. But a purported document captured by
Kurdish guerrillas a year ago refers to an inventory of "chemical
and biological" materials in the hands of the Iraqi army. Dated
Aug. 3, 1986, the document was released by London-based officials
of the Kurdish Democratic Party.
According to Pentagon sources, Iraq is among at least nine
nations developing biological weapons. The others: the Soviet
Union, China, North Korea, Taiwan, Egypt, Israel, Iran and Syria.