Search engines can be frustrating… Type in weapons of mass destruction, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and you get a million hits. It is very difficult to find actual facts (at least for me it is).
So on to the question; did the US government give Saddam biological or chemical weapons? If the answer is no, did the US government give Saddam WMD precursers or technical assistance that helped Saddam develop said weapons?
I seem to recall seeing a document that some clever doper found that gave proof that we gave him weapons of mass destruction. The document was from a senate report or some other non-partisan source of information that could be assumed to be accurate. Is there any proof out on the web from an accurate source, relatively non-biased source?
Iraq did purchase pathogens for use in biological weapons from American firms. Congress in the mid-90’s cracked down on biosecurity at American germ banks in part because of this and to help prevent bioterrorism.
When Iraq began using CBWs against civilians, the US initially blamed it on Iran to help Iraq cover its tracks, since they were our good buddies in the fight against Iran.
Iraq purchased materials for its WMD programs from American (and other) companies, such as production materials, without interference from the US Gov’t.
In short, the US did not actually give them weapons, but through inaction (knowing) allowed them to aquire the tools to build their own.
The September 23, 2002, edition of Newsweek included an article, “How Saddam Happened.” Referenced in this article is the Reagle Report, which was produced by the Senate Banking Committee in 1993. That report found that the Commerce Department throughout a significant portion of the 1980s approved export licenses to ship dangerous germs and other materials to Iraq’s Atomic Energy Commission. Unfortunately, this report, to my knowledge, is not online, but portions of it appeared in the Congressional Record here. (this may be a temporary file)
As I stated, it is known that the materials were shipped to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission, which worked on various WMD projects. However, it is not known whether the materials provided (anthrax, botulinum, etc) were actually weaponized. So the best factual answer that can be provided is that: yes, we did send potential WMD agents to Iraq, but there is insufficient evidence to state conclusively that Iraq developed any biological weapons capability because of the United States.
Go to thomas.loc.gov, go to Search Congressional Record, click on “107” at the top of the page, and then search for "S8994’. Click on the response that comes up called “How Saddam Happened,” and then click on S8994. That and subsequent pages are what you’re looking for. it looks like there’s about four pages worth of detail on what was shipped and when.