NEW YORK (CNN) -- Twelve years after the Persian Gulf War began,
some American veterans of that conflict are finding new ammunition
in their fight to find out who supplied Iraq chemicals that might
have made them sick.
More than 5,000 veterans are plaintiffs in a lawsuit that accuses
companies of helping Iraqi President Saddam Hussein build his
chemical warfare arsenal. The plaintiffs are among the tens of
thousands who came down with "Gulf War Illness," a debilitating
series of ailments that can include chronic fatigue, skin rashes,
muscle joint pain, memory loss, and brain damage.
Now, plaintiffs' attorneys have acquired, for the first time, what
they believe is strong evidence of which companies supplied Iraq
the chemicals that might have been used to produce mustard gas,
sarin nerve gas and VX.
The supplier list, shown to CNN, is included in Iraq's 1998 weapons
declaration to the United Nations, parts of which were resubmitted
to weapons inspectors last month. Sources tell CNN the list is an
authentic document, but attorneys for the companies question its
accuracy and say the lawsuit is without merit.
The Iraqi list names 56 suppliers of chemicals and equipment to
process them. A majority are based in Europe.
"If they are hit in the pocketbook, if they know the dictator they
provide this stuff to is eventually gonna turn them over to the
public and they are gonna be held accountable for what they've
done, they're less likely to sell these things to Saddam or
somebody like [him] in the future," plaintiffs' attorney Gary Pitts
said.
The lawsuit, originally filed by Pitts in a civil court in Brazoria
County, Texas, in 1994, alleges that companies knew "products
and/or manufacturing facilities supplied ... were to be used to
produce chemical and biological weapons."
The suit seeks at least $1 billion in damages for medical expenses,
lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Seven companies in the Iraqi weapons declaration have been named
defendants. Pitts said the plaintiffs will sue more of the listed
companies next.
Germany is home to the most major suppliers listed in Iraq's 1998
U.N. declaration. The Netherlands and Switzerland each are home to
three companies on the list. France, Austria and the United States
each are home to two. The declaration says Singapore was the
largest exporter of chemical weapons precursors. Other countries
home to alleged chemical exporters to Iraq include India, Egypt,
Spain and Luxembourg, with one each.
The veterans' lawsuit has moved slowly for eight years. Neither the
U.S. government nor the United Nations weapons inspection agency,
formerly the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) and now the U.N.
Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, would share
supplier information requested by Pitts.
"UNSCOM had a practice of not revealing names of companies of
suppliers of equipment to Iraq because they often had the
possibility of getting information from these companies, and the
best way to get these companies to talk to them was not to publish
their names to start with," Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector,
told CNN.
Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, contacted by Pitts,
acquired the list for the veterans during a meeting last year with
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
"I brought out a series of compact discs which contained the
totality of the Iraqi declaration," Ritter told CNN. The "full,
final and complete" weapons declaration has never been made public.
Ritter gave the CDs to Pitts.
"I am assisting United States veterans, heroes," Ritter said.
"People who put on our uniform, defended our country in time of
war, who have been abandoned by their government."
About 209,000 Gulf War veterans have filed claims with the Veterans
Administration, and 161,000 of them are receiving disability
payments.
Neither American company listed -- Alcolac International, based in
Baltimore, Maryland; and Al-Haddad Trading, based in Nashville,
Tennessee -- are still in business.
No one from Al-Haddad could be reached.
Alcolac paid a fine in 1989 under U.S. law for one charge of
exporting thiodiglycol, a chemical that could be used to make
mustard gas, but that shipment was destined for another
country.
"I am unaware of any direct sale from Alcolac to Iraq," says
attorney Ron Welsh, who represents Rhodia, which owns the defunct
Alcolac's assets.
Welsh said the veteran's lawsuit "has no meat."
One of the largest alleged suppliers to Iraq's chemical program,
according to Iraq's list, was the German company Karl Kolb. A
spokesman for the company said it has done business with Iraq for
35 years, but he denied any connection to its weapons
programs.
The German firm Preussag, since acquired by the travel conglomerate
TUI, supplied chemical precursors for sarin nerve gas, according to
Iraq's declaration. The firm told CNN that claim is untrue.
Several German manufacturers listed -- Schott Glas, Klockner Ina,
Ludwig Hammer, Heberger Bau -- denied connections to Iraq's weapons
plants and said the lawsuit's accusations are false.
"Schott Glas is a manufacturer of glass and glass components, not
of weapons," attorney Palmer Hutcheson said.
"The plaintiffs don't have a case. They have failed to show
evidence that Klockner was involved in any way in helping Iraq
produce chemical or biological weapons," attorney Brian Hurst
said.
The Dutch company Melchemie denied that it supplied "strategic raw
materials" to Iraq. It has acknowledged improperly shipping
chemicals to an Iraqi agricultural producer once, in 1984.
Melchemie paid a fine and says it bought back the containers. The
firm said its Iraqi exports are now limited to tomato and cucumber
seeds.
A Dutch-based subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum exported chemicals
to Iraq but nothing illegal, according to Sam Stubbs, an attorney
for Phillips. Stubbs said, "Any substance Phillips would have sold
to Iraq would have been a useful and beneficial product, if used
properly."
The Indian company Exomet Plastics, now part of EPC Industrie, said
the only chemicals it shipped to Iraq were for pesticides. The firm
told CNN that when it was advised of the chemicals' possible
misuse, it stopped further shipments.
"There were no restrictions for exporting these chemicals at the
time the exports were made," said EPC attorney S.R. Mate.
Despite their names being listed by Iraq, the French firm De
Dietrich and the Portuguese-owned Tafisa denied ever doing business
with Iraq.
Half of the firms listed by Iraq and now targeted by the lawsuit as
"major suppliers" are either defunct or were unreachable.
"We have thousands of American veterans who continue to suffer,"
Ritter said. I don't give a damn about these companies. If they're
innocent, they won't pay a price. If they have done something they
need to be ashamed of, then let your shame be public."
CNN's Claudia Otto in Berlin, Germany; Chris Burns in Frankfurt,
Germany; Andrei Braun and Karine Djili-Bienfait in Paris, France;
Al Goodman in Madrid, Spain; Ram Ramgopal in New Delhi, India;
Maria Ressa in Singapore; and Abighail Brigham, Shira Kavon and
Elizabeth Hathway in New York contributed to this report.
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CHEMICALS AND IRAQ
The lawsuit alleges that 31 companies from 11 countries were major
suppliers to Iraq:
Germany -- 14 companies
Netherlands -- 3 companies
Switzerland -- 3 companies
France -- 2 companies
Austria -- 2 companies
United States -- 2
Singapore, India, Egypt, Spain and Luxembourg each had one major
supplier.
* Twenty-five other companies are named as minor suppliers
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/18/iraq.chemical.suit/
