U.S. team in Iraq hunts WMD evidence
From Barbara Starr
CNN
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A team of U.S. military, CIA and private-contractor personnel are operating at a number of sites inside Iraq in hopes of finding evidence of weapons of mass destruction, terrorist activity and possible war crimes, according to Pentagon sources.
The so-called Intelligence Exploitation Unit is modeled on many of the lessons learned during the war in Afghanistan, when the U.S. military and CIA forces examined hundreds of sites for clues to al Qaeda activities. However, this effort relies on private contractors with scientific and forensic expertise.
The military, including special operations troops, continues to provide security for the team members as they move to various locations in Iraq. The team hopes to eventually travel to hundreds of sites.
The unit could begin functioning in a U.S. unilateral effort to replace U.N. weapons inspectors even after the war is over, some sources say. U.S. personnel involved with previous U.N. inspection efforts are now involved in this program.
The intelligence unit is conducting three tasks:
• Exploitation of sites believed to contain weapons of mass destruction. Personnel from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency and private contractors carry portable laboratory equipment to perform initial field evaluations of suspect substances. Officials said the equipment assists in making an identification of the substance within an 85 percent determination.
• Next is the exploitation of documents, computers, maps and other intelligence gathered at sites that may house paramilitary fighters or Baath Party loyalists. This is being done by CIA and DIA intelligence analysts after Army and Marine Corps units in the field gather material. If it is deemed sufficiently important, the material is then entered in a government-wide intelligence database for further evaluation and dissemination.
• The third element of the effort is interrogation of prisoners of war and other Iraqis who may be taken into custody. U.S. special operations forces are hunting in Iraq for key Iraqi officials, according to U.S. officials. All Iraqis in custody are being questioned for what they know, and it is hoped they may provide vital clues about weapons of mass destruction programs.
According to sources, some samples have been collected at sites both in southern Iraq and at a suspected ricin facility in northern Iraq. It is not known if any of the material has come back to the United States yet, but it is to undergo rigorous evaluation, and a strict chain of custody is to be maintained so the Bush administration can present any possible evidence to the world.
