- Richard O. Spertzel
Richard O. Spertzel is a
veterinarian ,microbiologist and expert in the area ofbiological warfare . He participated in germ warfare research atU.S. Army Medical Unit (USAMU),Fort Detrick ,Frederick ,Maryland . (USAMU is now known as theU.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases , or USAMRIID)ref|FtDet. Spertzel held several positions USAMRIID including Deputy for Research, Deputy Commander, and Chief of the Animal Assessment Division. From 1994 to 1998 Spertzel served as the Senior Biologist for theUnited Nations Special Commission inIraq . His strongly misleading Congressional testimonial about the WMD capabilities of Iraqref|testimony helped to justify the subsequent US invasion of Iraq. After the invasion, Spertzel was a member of theIraq Survey Group , which found that Iraq was not producing nor planning to produce WMD at the time of the invasion.Education
In 1955, Spertzel earned a
Bachelor of Arts inmicrobiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Sperzel did postgraduate work at theUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and in 1962 he was awarded aMaster's Degree inradiation biology by the Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry at theUniversity of Rochester . His terminal degree was obtained in 1970, aDoctor of Philosophy in microbiology from theUniversity of Notre Dame .2003 Invasion of Iraq
As part of the Congressional hearings prior to authorization of the invasion of Iraq, Spertzel provided testimony to the
United States House Committee on Armed Services onSeptember 10 ,2002 .Testimony by Spertzelref|testimony:
*"From its inception in the 1970s, Iraq's BW program included both military and terrorist applications."
*"Although Iraq claims that it 'obliterated' the program in 1991 (without the supervision by the UN as was set out in the ceasefire resolution 687, April 1991), and in so doing it destroyed all weapons and bulk agents unilaterally without any further documentation. The evidence indicates rather that Iraq continued to expand its BW capabilities."
*"Iraq asserts that the program was obliterated in 1991 but this is patently not true."
*"Documentation recovered by UNSCOM indicated a continued build up of Iraq's BW program capability."
*"It has had 12 years to advance its viral capability and, as I have cited elsewhere, this almost certainly includessmallpox as an agent."
*"There is no doubt in my mind that Iraq has a much stronger biological warfare program today than it had in 1990."After the
2003 invasion of Iraq , the United States government concluded that Iraq did not haveweapons of mass destruction during the period leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq after reviewing theIraq Survey Group 's final report onSeptember 30 ,2004 . Claimed links of Iraq to terrorist groups likeal Qaeda were never verified, and theNational Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States concluded that there was no real evidence of such links. Much of the "intelligence" suggesting WMD in Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion was fabricated by groups like theIraqi National Congress .ee also
*
Benador Associates References
*" [http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=14450856 Detection of air-borne Pasteurella tularensis using the fluorescent antibody technique] " by R. F. Jaeger, R. O. Spertzel and R. W. Kuehne in "Applied Microbiology" (1961) volume 9, pages 585-587. "Pasteurella tularensis" was on the list of microorganisms that Spertzel was charged with [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/un/s1995-0208.htm monitoring in Iraq] .
* [http://www.house.gov/hasc/openingstatementsandpressreleases/107thcongress/02-09-10spertzel.html Testimony to House Armed Services Committee]External links
* [http://unjobs.org/authors/richard-spertzel Spertzel documents and sources]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.