The Washington Post reported today that a chemical additive in the anthrax spores mailed to Senate MajorityLeader Tom Daschle made them more lethal and involved sophisticated technology thought to be available in only threecountries.

The United States, Iraq and the former Soviet Union are known to have developed three different types of anthraxpreparations which enable the spores to linger in the air, rendering them more lethal because they are easier toinhale, researchers and sources close to the investigation told the daily. US and western companies sold Iraq many ofthe components to make biological weapons in the 1980’s.

Bush Administration officials and the media have persistently tried to link Iraq either to the Sept. 11 attacks or tothe anthrax attacks of the last two weeks, even as the FBI appears to be turning its attention to the possibilitythat right wing groups at home may be responsible for the anthrax attacks. Assistant Secretary of Defense PaulWolfowitz, former CIA director James Woolsey, and columnist William Safire, among others, have also pushed for the USto extend its so called war on terrorism to include attacks on Iraq and the possible overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

With attention focused on Anthrax and the possibility of heavier attacks on Iraq, the mass media has largely ignoredthe ongoing impact of economic sanctions and the regular US bombing of the country to enforce its unilaterallyimposed no fly zone.

Guest:

• Hans Van Sponeck, former UN official in charge of the Oil for Food Program in Iraq; he resigned in protestin 1999, following his example of his predecessor Denis Halliday.