UNSCOM senior adviser discusses Iraq compliance

David Kelly, senior adviser on biological warfare with UNSCOM, shows slides taken during one of his visits to Iraq for the United Nations. He spoke at Boyce Thompson Institute Monday. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.

Noted virologist David Kelly explained Monday how he went from being a scientist with an interest in agriculture to his current profession: senior adviser on biological warfare for the United Nations in Iraq.

Kelly's talk, in the Boyce Thompson Auditorium, was sponsored by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

"When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, little did I realize that Saddam Hussein would dictate the next 10 years of my life," said Kelly, who had been chief science officer at Britain's Natural Environment Research Council Institute of Virology and the head of microbiology at the Chemical Defense Establishment in Porter Down, England.

Due to the confluence of the Gulf War and the availability of his biological expertise, the United Nations asked Kelly to lead biological weapons inspections to help ensure that Iraq was complying with post-war agreements.

Kelly led the first and the last biological weapons inspection for the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in Iraq -- the last was done before December's punitive U.S. airstrike, "Desert Fox."

Biological weapons are far more potent than most people believe, Kelly told his audience, and he showed how easy it is for Iraq to make bombs filled with anthrax (Bacillus anthracis); the toxin and spores of botulism,Clostridium botulinum; the spores of the food poison Clostridium perfringens; Ricin, a toxin derived from castor beans; the fungus aflatoxin; and tilletia, a smut that kills agricultural products.

Following the talk, Kelly answered questions about the course of his career and how UNSCOM is still attempting to get Iraq to comply with post-war mandates.