A UN inspector from the United Kingdom takes a sample of nerve agent from a container, October 7, 1991. (UN Photo)
UNSCOM’s work to uncover Iraq’s illicit biological weapons program: A primer
By Stephen Black, Henrietta Wilson, Filippa Lentzos, July 21, 2021
https://thebulletin.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/UN7729334_560_-150x150.jpg
A UN inspector from the United Kingdom takes a sample of nerve agent from a container, October 7, 1991. (UN Photo)
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Keywords: Iraq, UNSCOM, biological weapons, chemical weapons, verification, weapons of mass destruction
Topics: Chemical Weapons, Nuclear Risk, Special Topics
Stephen Black
Stephen Black worked for the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), serving as Historian (1993–99), as well as Deputy Chief Inspector,... Read More
Henrietta Wilson
Henrietta Wilson conducts policy-relevant research on armaments and arms regulations on a freelance and employed basis, and teaches undergraduate and... Read More
Filippa Lentzos
Filippa Lentzos is Co-Director of the Task Force on Research with Pandemic Risk and an Associate Professor in Science & International Security at... Read More
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Looks like false news – 3 mistakes in 1 photo. 1- Their hood isn’t sealed around their respirator. 2- Looks more like M40 PPE, not a British S10 Respirator. 3- Desert DPM NBC smocks were not available until 1995 – same for the ribbed NBC outer gloves. The 1991 gloves were not ribbed and shiny – they were straight-edged and matte. Basically, anyone who’s done EOD will know that’s not real nerve agent, simply because the hood isn’t sealed. Also the photo is probably not from 1991 for the following reason… Apart from the modern uniform, the image resolution is… Read more »
Although sealed good enough for outside work – we survived 😉 . Besides taken samples from a sealed container, using a relative small opening.which you cannot see at all in this picture ….. PPE / Mask was an example of our nice ‘collaboration’ or symbiosis between NL/UL/USA developments during our UNSCOM missions – plus several other representatives from various countries. Multidisciplinary effort organized and in operation in Iraq – included a very short tuim building and operation preparation time. We served USCOM between 1991 and 1994… Elegant container for CWA isn’t it, still 10% intact compound from at least 1000… Read more »
Well Peter. I can tell you the image is real as am I who took it as the official UNSCOM photographer (1991-96). The camera was a Nikon 801s or an Olympus OM4 (I was transitioning from Olympus with manual focus (really hard to focus through a mask) to Nikon who just launched an affordable AF camera).It was made on film by me and scanned on a Nikon Coolscan negative scanner. The place is Al Muthanna in Iraq. The mask was given to (some) of us by USAF EOD. We were told they had been issued in survival kit for pilots.… Read more »