An eye-opening article in Asia Times Online claims that Germany has made up the bulk of suppliers for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs, even after the Gulf War. Furthermore, German national intelligence is well-informed of these programs. As just the most recent example,
In April 2001, [intelligence chief August] Hanning told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that Iraq was developing a new class of chemical weapons, reiterated his alert on Iraq’s missile and nuclear programs, and said that several German companies had continued to deliver to Baghdad components needed for the production of poison gas. In March 2002, he told the New Yorker magazine that, “It is our estimate that Iraq will have an atomic bomb in three years.” [Asia Times Online, 2/5/03]The entire article is worth reading, if you want to see just how much they know–and how much Schroeder is trying to evade.