Quote:
Originally Posted by Vman455
Iraq produced 10 metric tons of mustard blister agent in 1981; by 1987 its production had grown 90-fold, with late-war output aided by two American companies that provided hundreds of tons of thiodiglycol, a mustard agent precursor. Production of nerve agents also took off."
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Precursor chemicals are usually quite innocuous. Even large shipments can be easily explained away as being used for legitimate purposes. I doubt that the German construction firm knew what the actual end use of the chemical plant was to be.
Thiodiglycol is not a controlled substance and would not have been on a customs watch list at that time.
Remember the Super-Gun? The "barrel" sections were nearly identical to what would be used in a refinery or chemical plant, and that was what was on the manifest.
The chemical weapons plant Bubba blew up in Sudan turned out to be a baby formula plant -- maybe, probably. You just don't know unless you have incontrovertible proof, which is usually unavailable within the timeframe allowed for decision-making.
It is easy to condemn in hindsight.
Here is a somewhat less sensationalist article on the matter:
https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/1213/zchem1.html