Muthana State Establishment or Muthanna ( ar, منشأة المثنى العامة) (also known for its code-name Project 922 and cover name State Enterprise for Pesticide Production (SEPP)) was Iraq's main chemical weapons research, development, and production facility. It is located in

Saladin Governorate The Saladin or Salah Al-Din Governorate ( ar, محافظة صلاح الدين) is one of Iraq's 19 governorates, north of Baghdad. It has an area of , with an estimated population of 1,042,200 people in 2003. It is made up of 8 districts, with t ...

40 km south west of

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional ar ...

, 140 km north west of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. This mega facility covering an area 100 km², contained three main production areas. The site operated continuously from 1983 to 1991, producing thousands of tons of precursors and chemical warfare agents, including

mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, b ...

sarin Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.tabun, and VX. The site was heavily bombed during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. From 1992 to 1994 the

UNSCOM United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was an inspection regime created by the United Nations to ensure Iraq's compliance with policies concerning Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction after the Gulf War. Between 1991 and 19 ...

Chemical Destruction Group operated at this site to eliminate remaining precursor materials, destroy production plants and equipment, and hydrolyse or burn remaining chemical warfare agents. Muthana was also the initial location for Iraq's biological weapons program (1985-1987).

Foundation

Muthana State Establishment was built in the early 1980s under the guise of a pesticide production plant dubbed "The State Enterprise for Pesticide Production" or "SEPP" (its name changed later to Muthana State Establishment). This Iraqi chemical weapon program was assisted by a wide variety of companies and governments. German companies helped Iraq to build Muthana facilities such as laboratories, an administrative building, bunkers in the early 1980s. Other German companies provided Iraq with 1,027 tons of precursors of

sarin Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.tabun, and

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

ses in all. This work allowed Iraq to produce 150 tons of mustard agent and 60 tons of tabun in 1983 and 1984 respectively, continuing throughout the decade.

Production

Between 1981 and 1991, Muthana establishment produced over 3,857 tons of chemical weapons agents part of them has been used against Iranian forces and civilian Kurdish.

Mustard

Production of

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...

started at 10 tons of agent production in 1981 and increased around 80-100 tons per year until 1985 when the facility produced 350 tons. In 1987 Iraq produced almost 900 tons of mustard agents and 500 tons in 1988.

Tabun

Muthana facility produced between 60-80 tons of tabun annually between 1984 and 1986.

Sarin

In 1984 Muthana produced 5 tons of

sarin Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.VX in 1988 before ending production due to the end of the Iran-Iraq War.

Gulf War

Al Muthanna essentially ceased production in December 1990 and refocused resources on dispersing Chemical Weapons stockpiles and equipment for protection against the anticipated bombing campaigns, which started in January 1991. During the

, production laboratories and facilities were destroyed. In addition one storage bunker was destroyed because of secondary explosion, and two others bunkers were severely damaged.

Between 1991-2003

Between 1992 and 1994 the Muthana site was the main collection and destruction site for chemical warfare agents, precursor chemicals, and chemical production equipment. Between 1992 and 1994, the

destroyed 30,000 pieces of ordnance, 480,000 liters of chemical agents, and more than 2 million liters of chemical precursors. Eventually, most of the facilities at the complex were destroyed or sold for scrap. Munitions that had been considered unstable and too dangerous for destruction were sealed into barrels and buried in two sealed cruciform bunkers. When the bunkers damaged by coalition airstrikes collapsed, unaccounted Chemical Weapons equipment and munitions were concealed in the debris. After their destruction in coalition airstrikes of February 1991, access to the buildings had been considered impossible due to safety considerations. Nevertheless, UNSCOM decided that it should make a major effort to excavate the site. From 24 February to 10 March 1996, UNSCOM 129B, an international team of 26 inspectors, excavated six sections of buildings at Muthanna and searched a number of other areas and buildings. During this mission, the team discovered and retrieved documents and computer discs. In addition, the team removed some 80 munitions and components, including 122 mm chemical artillery shells and 155 mm "binary" chemical artillery shells.

References

{{Portal bar, Iraq, War Iraq and weapons of mass destruction Iraqi chemical weapons program Chemical warfare facilities 1983 establishments in Iraq Research institutes in Iraq