Iraq's 'Mrs Anthrax' taken into US custody

7.30am

WASHINGTON - US forces say they have taken into custody a US-educated microbiologist dubbed "Mrs. Anthrax", who they say was active in germ warfare development under President Saddam Hussein.

Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, the only woman included in the US military's list of 55 most-wanted Iraqi fugitives, was taken into custody in Baghdad on Sunday by US troops, said defence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.


Ammash was designated as No. 53 on the list and was the five of hearts in the US military's deck of cards of wanted Iraqis. Eighteen of the 55 have been taken into custody, with another three dead, according to the Pentagon.


A US official said Ammash may have potentially useful information.


"She has intimate knowledge of the workings of Iraq's BW (biological warfare) programme and the nature and the extent of that programme, as well (to) be in a position to know possible locations of where material or production facilities might be located," the official said.


US forces have found no evidence of the Iraqi chemical and biological weapons that American leaders cited as a key reason for the war that toppled Saddam's government.


Ammash, 49, earned a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Missouri in 1983. She earned a master's degree from Texas Woman's University in 1979.


Ammash's father was a leader of the 1968 Baath Party revolution who served as an Iraqi minister and ambassador before being killed in the 1980s, reportedly on Saddam's order, the US official said.


She was the first woman appointed to Iraq's Baath Party regional command in May 2001, she has been a vocal advocate for the regime's policies at home and abroad. She at one point oversaw the activities of Baath Party organisations in Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen while a member of the Baghdad branch command.


She is a leading Iraqi microbial genetic engineer, and US officials believe she was instrumental in rebuilding aspects of Iraq's biological warfare production capability during the mid-1990s. At that time, she served as head of biological laboratories at Iraq's military industrialisation organisation.


One of her mentors was Nasser Hindawi, believed to be the founder of Iraq's biological warfare programme. "She is one of his disciples," the US official said.


Ammash is one of two well-known women linked to Saddam's weapons programmes. The other is Rihab Taha, nicknamed "Dr. Germ."


Taha, who is not listed among the top 55 most wanted Iraqis, also worked in Iraq's biological weapons development programme and ascended to a senior position in Saddam's Baath Party leadership.


Ammash has been pictured at Saddam's cabinet meetings. In one image, she was seen seated next to his son Qusay.


The moniker "Mrs. Anthrax" was given to Ammash by Western journalists. Anthrax is a bacterial disease that can be used as a biological weapon by spreading its extremely resilient powdery spores.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq