Al Qa'qaa

Iraq's program suffered serious setbacks due to the Israeli destruction of the experimental reactor at Osirak in June 1981 and a massive accidental explosion at Al Qa'Qaa in August 1989, which severely damaged the plant and was heard hundreds of miles away.

British-Iraqi journalist Farzad Bazoft attempted to investigate the incident by disguising himself as a medical technician in order to infiltrate Al Qa'qaa.

In March 1990, customs officials at Heathrow Airport in London seized a case of military electrical capacitors - key components of triggers for explosive lenses - which was bound for Al Qa'qaa.

Although phosgene has industrial uses in small quantities, there are no legitimate nonmilitary uses for such large scale production, and it is capable of being used as a chemical weapon, as was done by Germany in World War I.

The British and Americans also alleged that a large consignment of 81 mm aluminium tubes delivered to the plant were to be used as rotors in centrifuges to produce enriched uranium.