by David Leigh, The Guardian
March 01, 2003
Earlier this year, journalist David Leigh documented the fascinating story of how a chemical plant the U.S. identified as a key component in Iraq’s chemical warfare arsenal, was secretly built by Britain in 1985 with financial backing from the government’s export credit agency, Export Credits Guarantee Department. The British taxpayer was forced to write a compensation cheque for ?00,000 to the German-owned company after final checks on the plant, completed in May 1990, were interrupted by the outbreak of the Gulf war. The following three articles by David Leigh, were originally published by The Guardian newspaper in the U.K. on March 6, 2003: