SYRIA'S BW COULD BE BOLSTERED BY IRAQI WMD

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States is concerned that Syria's biological
weapons program has been bolstered by expertise and components from Iraq.

U.S. officials said Syria has received both expertise, material and
components from Iraq during the last year of the regime of President Saddam
Hussein. They said the haboring of at least a dozen Iraqi WMD scientists in
Syria could provide Damascus with the ability to weaponize BW agents in
missile warheads and artillery shells.

"Syria has long wanted the ability to weaponize BW agents and it might have
obtained a short-cut that could result in the development and production of
biological weapons in the near future," an official said.

In April, the CIA said in a report that Syria was believed to be developing
an offensive BW capability. The unclassified report to Congress did not cite
any supplier to Syria's BW program.
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