http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraqi_mobile_plants/(Tenet order CYA published 28 May 2003) Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants
The plant's design possibly could be used to produce hydrogen using a chemical reaction, but it would be inefficient. The capacity of this trailer is larger than typical units for hydrogen production for weather balloons. Compact, transportable hydrogen generation systems are commercially available, safe, and reliable
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/15/sprj.irq.no.labs/CNN.com - Tests rule out suspect bio-labs - Apr. 15, 2003
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=cache:7ODBP2bo-wkJ:daga.dhs.org/joel/iraqarticles/weapons/Observer__IraqiMobileLabs.pdf+author:%22Beaumont%22+intitle:%22Iraqi+mobile+labs+nothing+to+do+with+germ+warfare,+report+finds%22Iraqi Mobile Labs Nothing to do with Germ Warfare, Report Finds
Peter Beaumont, Antony Barnett and Gaby Hinsliff
The Observer Sunday 15 June 2003
Source:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/061603A.shtmlAn official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they are not mobilegerm warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the productionof hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist.The conclusion by biological weapons experts working for the British Government is an embarrassmentfor the Prime Minister, who has claimed that the discovery of the labs proved that Iraq retained weaponsof mass destruction and justified the case for going to war against Saddam Hussein.Instead, a British scientist and biological weapons expert, who has examined the trailers in Iraq, told TheObserver last week: 'They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for makingbiological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were -facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons.'The conclusion of the investigation ordered by the British Government - and revealed by The Observerlast week - is hugely embarrassing for Blair, who had used the discovery of the alleged mobile labs as partof his efforts to silence criticism over the failure of Britain and the US to find any weapons of massdestruction since the invasion of Iraq.The row is expected to be re-ignited this week with Robin Cook and Clare Short, the two CabinetMinisters who resigned over the war, both due to give evidence to a House of Commons inquiry intowhether intelligence was manipulated in the run-up to the war. It will be the first time that both have beengrilled by their peers on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee over what the Cabinet was told in the run-up to the war.MPs will be keen to explore Cook's explanation when he resigned that, while he believed Iraq did havesome WMD capability, he did not believe it was weaponised.The Prime Minister and his director of strategy and communications, Alastair Campbell, are expected todecline invitations to appear. While MPs could attempt to force them, this is now thought unlikely tohappen.The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, is expected to give evidence the week after.The revelation that the mobile labs were to produce hydrogen for artillery balloons will also causediscomfort for the British authorities because the Iraqi army's original system was sold to it by the Britishcompany, MarconiCommand & Control.(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those whohave expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educationalpurposes.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/international/middleeast/17POWE.html?ex=1130472000&en=5babc23a421ce00e&ei=5070 Powell Says C.I.A. Was Misled About Weapons
By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: May 17, 2004
WASHINGTON, May 16 — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said for the first time on Sunday that he now believes that the Central Intelligence Agency was deliberately misled about evidence that Saddam Hussein was developing unconventional weapons.
He also said, in his comments on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," that he regrets citing evidence that Iraq had mobile biological laboratories in his presentation to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003.
The assertion about the mobile labs was one of the most dramatic pieces of the presentation, which was intended to make public the Bush administration's best case for invading Iraq. For days before his speech, Mr. Powell sat in a conference room at the C.I.A., examining the sources for each charge he planned to make.
But on Sunday, Mr. Powell argued that the C.I.A. itself was misled, and that in turn he was, too. "Unfortunately, that multiple sourcing over time has turned out not to be accurate," Mr. Powell said, going farther than he did on April 2 when he conceded that the intelligence was not "that solid."