The patient, patient work of Geoff Holland, drawing attention to the United States' exports of biological materials, appears to be gaining something of the attention it has long deserved. Geoff has recently posted to Information Clearing House:
This paper argues that the United States breached the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) by supplying warfare-related biological materials to Iraq during the 1980s, at a time when that nation was at war with its neighbour, Iran. It is further argued that the United Kingdom has an obligation, not least due to its published policy on the issue, to formally report this breach to the United Nations Security Council. The case is made that if the UK, as a State Party to the BTWC, will not report this matter, then the Convention is not the legally binding international instrument it is claimed to be, thus compromising the credibility of international law. It may come as some surprise to the reader to learn – and as far as the author is aware this information has not previously been made public – that the anthrax threat from Iraq, a repeatedly cited reason for the 2003 invasion of that country, actually originated from a dead cow in South Oxfordshire.
The paper is now being linked to elsewhere: eg, at the Centre for Research on Globalization. I posted about Geoff's work back in March. His campaign website (sub-titled, 'A report for Parliament on the British Government's response to the US supply of biological materials to Iraq') is here.
