Mrs. Anthrax – Member of
‘Iraqi Top 55’ Out of Play
CAMP
AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar – Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash was taken into
the custody of Coalition forces last week. She was a Ba’ath
Party Regional Command Member and weapons of mass destruction
scientist. She is No. 53 on the U.S. Central Command ‘Iraqi Top
55’ list.
The high ranking
female scientist known as "Mrs. Anthrax" is believed
to have had a lead role Iraq’s biological warfare programs. Huda
Salih Mahdi Ammash, incredibly was educated in the United States.
Ammash, was
the only female on the U.S. list of the 55′ ‘most wanted’ Iraqis
headed by Saddam Hussein and the Coalition considers her arrest
a major catch as she reportedly has a legacy within the regime
of creating the world’s most feared biological and chemical weapons
of mass destruction.
A U.S. official
said, "This would be very important to the coalition in their
ability to get additional information about the scope of the [biological
warfare] program."
U.S. Admiral
Jacoby said of the search for Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction:
"This is piecing together a major jigsaw puzzle, and we’re
only just beginning to gain insights and to work the puzzle."
Jacoby added, "Actually, I remind myself more often that
we’re dealing with a regime that was expert at hiding things,
very practiced at it."
In a note
of optimism in uncovering the depth and extent of the Iraqi programs
of WMD through regime members such as Ammash, U.S. Secretary Defense
Rumsfeld told Tony Snow of FoxNews,"We’re going to find what
we find as a result of talking to people."
However, this
week U.K. and U.S. officials are investigating a tractor trailer
that was discovered by Coalition forces and is very similar in
configuration to mobile biological agent labs that UK and US intelligence
had discovered prior to the war from various intelligence avenues
including Iraqi scientists.
The AP is
reporting that the tractor trailer contained a fermenter, gas
cylinders to supply clean air for production and a system to capture
and compress exhaust gas to eliminate any telltale signature —
a function not normally used for legitimate biological processes.
Ammash in
the past had been highly visible, being seen on television with
Saddam in what appears to be meetings with his most trusted staff.
Reportedly, Ammash would make an entrance that involved deliberately
walking or stomping on flags of the U.S., Israel and other democratic
free nations.
Born in Baghdad
Ammash completed graduate studies in the United States in the
areas of science that later would enable her to be useful in Iraq’s
WMD programs. After graduating from the University of Texas College
for Women in the late seventies, in 1983 she gained a doctorate
from the University of Missouri.
Afterwards,
Ammash returned to Iraq where she reportedly developed a legacy
within Saddam’s regime for her aggressive work in the area of
microbiology and her contribution to the development of weapons
of mass destruction.