This arrived from David Guyatt, prefaced by the following message:
‘Robin: This is being published on a couple of Internet sites shortly. I’ve given up trying to sell it or get any responsible journo/editor to carry my work forward. They all have chickened out, mostly without an explanation or even a courtesy call/reply. Fuck ’em all.’
Source B was shaken but not stirred when we first met. This wasn’t my first Bond-like rendezvous, but it would certainly be the most startling. We had agreed to meet in order that the source could tell me about a highly secret US operation known as ‘Black Dog.’ Neither of us trusted electronic communication and, therefore, a face-to-face meeting was essential. The meeting followed a story I had written on Gulf War Illness, when I had cautiously been told about a top secret US mission known as ‘Black Cat’. This, I was told, involved a ‘black’ US B52 bomber launching from Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska, and flying a round-trip to the Persian Gulf. The bomber carried one bomb containing VX nerve agent, the most potent chemical weapon in the US CW armoury. The bomb was dropped on elements of the Republican Guard in Southern Iraq, I was informed. Heavy casualties resulted. The operation, directed by the Central Intelligence Agency, was a counter-strike, following an Iraqi Scud that fell on Israel. The missile had contained Sarin. Fuming, the Israelis had prepared to detonate a nuclear warhead high above Baghdad. Only the swift intervention of President George Bush forestalled a cataclysmic move which would have unravelled the carefully wrought Arab-backed coalition lined-up against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
To avoid any of the nerve agent being blown back towards coalition troops, the mission also involved the launch, from Dhahran, of a C130 Hercules carrying one, possibly two, massive five-ton Fuel Air bombs. These were detonated above ground zero – the location of the VX chemical agent strike – to ensure all traces of the nerve agent were destroyed. Quite possibly, the Fuel Air device destroyed all evidence of the illegal counter-strike too, by incinerating bodies.
In the search for corroboration I was advised to contact Tim Sebastian, former BBC correspondent and well-known author. Sebastian confirmed he also had the same information as I, and recommended I contact the Countess of Mar – a member of the House of Lords with a special interest in Gulf War issues. I met Margaret Mar one evening in late summer 1997. She confirmed she had taken Sebastian’s information to the Ministry of Defence in private. They later informed her that, following consultation with the US Department of Defense officials, no record of the mission had been found.
Clearly this was no denial. Moreover, the official who responded to the MOD enquiry was Bernard Rostker, the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illness. Hardly the person one would expect to be privy to top secret information on a sensitive CIA operation.
Besides, I was to later learn that Black Cat almost certainly was subject to a ‘compartmented’ mission name, so that at different levels of the command structure the mission would have been assigned a different name. This nifty device – not dissimilar to Admiral Horatio Nelson holding a telescope to his blind-eye and observing that he ‘sees no ships’ – provides instant deniability, and helps to identify the level from which leaks originate. Months later, in December 1997, Tim Sebastian told me that he had fully corroborated Black Cat during a month-long trip to the USA.
In any event, Source B was concerned not with Black Cat – which I learned he knew about in some detail – but a second, far more sensitive mission known as ‘Black Dog’. This mission had occurred around 25 February 1991 and involved biological weapons, I was told: specifically a bacterium that resulted in those contaminated drowning in their own bodily fluids. Black Dog involved an aircraft launched from a US carrier in the Red Sea that was targeted on an Iraqi chemical/biological (CB) weapons plant. The bomb was designed to spread its load via an aerosol spray. Source B provided additional information that cannot be revealed for fear of identifying the individual and other sources.
My first meeting with Lady Mar was predominantly to discuss this second mission. Both she and Tim Sebastian were aware of a second mission that they both knew as ‘Black Cat 2’, but possessed no details. I was not surprised. Some weeks earlier I had contacted a senior US journalist, asking if he would collaborate on my story. I gave him a brief outline of Black Cat, hoping he would stumble on to Black Dog, too. He did, or at least got details of a mission remarkably similar. Months of investigation resulted in the development of the following mission details.
Black Dog
Original source (B) states that Black Dog entailed the launch of a US Navy warplane from a US carrier on station in the Red Sea. The source remains unable to identify from which of two carriers the aircraft launched (both the USS Saratoga and the USS Kennedy were on station in the Red Sea during this time-frame: 24/25 February 1991). Nor is the source able to provide exact date of this mission. The source further stated that air-crew and ground-crew were CIA.
The source continued by stating that the aircraft dropped biological warfare munitions on an Iraqi chemical/biological weapons factory and that numerous deaths resulted. Source stated the munitions contained a bacteriological agent with a life of no more than 48 hours. The bacterium was not communicable, and had no given name, only a batch number. Those attacked with this weapon drowned in their own bodily fluids, according to the source, who added that the bio-bomb was parachute deployed and its contents dispersed by aerosol spray.
US sources state that a US Navy S3A Viking aircraft crash-landed behind enemy lines prior to the commencement of the ground war. It is unknown if the aircraft was outward bound on its mission or homebound afterwards. In any event, the spectre of a US ‘sanitised’ aircraft heavily armed with chemical and possibly biological weapons, over-flying hostile territory during time of war excludes the possibility this was a training or any other innocent mission.
The Viking is used in a long-range reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare role. It is thus only lightly armed for defence. In this instance, however, sources say the aircraft was heavily modified with stealth capabilities and was coloured a flat dark grey. The aircraft had no markings, insignia or other identification. Instrumentation was US manufacture. Bombs were externally attached to wing pylons. The procedure of using un-marked or ‘sanitised’, plausibly deniable military aircraft is consistent with numerous other CIA ‘black’ operations that have reached the public domain.
Sources additionally confirm the mission was conducted under the auspices of the Central Intelligence Agency and that the pilot was an Agency employee (presumably a ‘sheep-dipped’ USN pilot). The aircraft carried only two bombs due to weight considerations. The downed aircraft had one remaining bomb attached to external pylons, containing a deadly mixture of Tabun, Sarin and Cyclo-Sarin. However, US sources are unable to identify a target or confirm whether this aircraft launched from a USN carrier – giving rise to understandable caution that this was one and the same mission – although the mission profile is similar.
Meanwhile, US sources confirm that the crash site was approximately 60 kilometres behind enemy lines (exact co-ordinates 45.90E – 29.73N) – in a barren wilderness. There the aircraft remained for several days. In the interim, the pilot, who did not eject but came down with his aircraft, was recovered alive.
Search Team deployed
Following the launch of the Ground War (24 February 1991), US and French divisions swept Iraqi forces away from the general area, permitting a US two-man Black Ops Search Team to be dispatched from Camp Four, in Saudi Arabia (co-ordinates 44.30E-29.00N) to locate the crashed aircraft and provide exact co-ordinates for recovery. Camp Four was a large sprawling complex that housed mostly US forces, but some British elements too. It was a jump-off point for the US 101 Airborne (Screaming Eagles) into Iraq on the night of 23/24 February 1991. The complex was used to house and repair a variety of equipment.
The two-man search team travelled North, into Iraq, by jeep on or about 27/28 February 1991. Sources state the aircraft crashed approximately one week earlier and that the delay in commencing search and recovery operations was due to the imminent commencement of the ground war. The two-man search team were employed by a ‘private’ US company, almost certainly a CIA proprietary. Both individuals wore battle-dress but no insignia or other identifying patches – a fact that is again consistent with CIA ‘black’ operations. An independent British military source has confirmed the presence at Camp Four, of a two-man US ‘Spec Ops’ team, in late February 1991. Source stated they were US Spec Ops, no insignia or rank apparent and provided a physical description of one individual.
Some distance into Iraq, heading due north along the 45.90 East Latitude co-ordinate, the search team observed the downed aircraft from a distance. The right wing of the aircraft was missing; the left intact. One bomb remained on the external pylon closest to the fuselage. It was leaking. Both team members donned CB protective equipment and approached. The bomb contained a German-manufactured fuse designed to ignite the munition above ground. It was identified as a Mark Eleven Seven munition (MC 117) modified for liquid chemical usage and comprised of a steel body with a Mark 131 fin assembly and Central Bursting Tube – according to information made available.
A chemical weapons test with a field test kit (designated ‘Mary 256’) was conducted and revealed the munition to contain a mixture of Tabun, Sarin and Cyclo-Sarin. It must be stressed that a chemical weapon field test kit would not be capable of detecting the presence of any biological weapon whatsoever. Field detection of biological organisms/bacterium is considerably more complex and requires specialist personnel and equipment. The presence of a bacterium as outlined by the primary source is neither corroborated, nor ruled out, by these discoveries. However, it is significant that prevailing NATO and Russian doctrine in the use of biological and chemical weapons, called for the use of a ‘mixed load’ – that is, munitions would typically carry a mixture of interacting chemical and biological agents/organisms.
The search team reported their discovery to base, and was ordered to withdraw immediately. Prior to departing the crash site, both team members were puzzled by the presence of a number of dead Iraqi soldiers. All wore face masks (possibly CB protective gear, but possibly protection against wind-borne sand) and showed no apparent entry wounds or other cause of death. Both team members were said to be sufficiently perplexed by these bodies to take colour photographs of them, we were informed. These photographs and other details were later forwarded to a United Nations source for investigation.
Having left the crash site, the search team were replaced by a US Navy-affiliated Recovery Team. The bomb was recovered and transported elsewhere. The damaged aircraft was airlifted back to Camp Four and temporarily housed in a compound surrounded with barbed wire. Here, a number of individuals managed to photograph the damaged aircraft on site. Copies of these and other supporting data were privately forwarded to the United Nations for investigation. Meanwhile, other military sources confirm the presence of the barbed wire compound at that location.
The two man Black Ops (search) team were in the Gulf acting under Army Command. Both the Search and Recovery teams formed part of a Special Unit with the designation ‘SCRSWA’. This unit has not been identified, despite a telephone call to the Pentagon library. According to sources, there was a British involvement. This has yet to be identified and confirmed, but it is thought possible the bacteriological weapon may have been of British manufacture.
The Countess and the Lord meet the MOD
In November 1997, at my request, the Countess of Mar, in the company of the former Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Howe, met with a senior Ministry of Defence official to discuss Operation Black Dog. The meeting was acrimonious. The MOD official could neither confirm nor deny the operation but personally doubted the possibility that a Viking aircraft would be cast in such a role. If this remains the official’s only qualitative doubt, I have some advice for him: a phone call to the highly respected publication, Jane’s Defence Weekly, will be rewarded with an informative discussion about the aircraft’s capability and the US Navy’s ‘gung ho’ attitude when it comes to ‘black’ operations. One of Jane’s expert journalists told me – months prior to the MOD meeting – that there is nothing theoretically to stop a Viking from flying a mission as outlined.
It remains to be stated that I was advised – from entirely unrelated sources, in connection with an entirely unrelated story – that a special CIA team of flyers was stationed at Offut AFB during the Gulf war. One of these, a former Navy pilot, and senior team member, is alleged to have been posted to a US aircraft carrier to assume temporary duty as Commander Air Group during the same time-frame. For a variety of reasons, I now suspect that this latter information may have been planted as disinformation in order to discredit this story. The identity of the senior team member, employed by the CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), is known to me, as is his background, and somewhat adds to my concerns.
As our investigation of this story continued, we learned of a possible reason for Black Dog. In late February 1991, an Iraqi Scud had landed in Israel. Sources were able to confirm that the missile contained biological organisms that were ‘dead on arrival’. Whether the organisms were meant to be dead or not wasn’t clear, but Iraqi inexpertise in these matters is well-known. This was sufficient reason to authorise Black Dog.
The foregoing suggests that the US engaged in at least two chemical and/or biological warfare missions during the Gulf war. It is not, however, proof. Caution is understandably a keyword amongst journalists. At the same time outside and perverse influence to spike or discredit highly sensitive news stories is increasingly a fact of life. Those who might doubt that the media could be so easily seduced need note the consequences of the Gary Webb ‘Dark Alliance’ series on the contra-CIA-cocaine story in the San Jose Mercury News.
Having worked on this story for almost nine months, and witnessed numerous editors and journalists shy away from it, I am inclined to conclude that this is one of those stories supposed never to reach the light of day.
The hell with that.