Iraq is believed to be preparing its biological and chemical weapons arsenal for a war with the United States.
    U.S. officials said the Defense Department and the military are bracing for the prospect that Iraq will tip its Scud-class missiles with chemical weapons. They said Baghdad has such capability although they were uncertain whether this extends to biological weapons.
    The Pentagon and military have been discussing with U.S. allies a range of options to quickly destroy Iraq's WMD facilities. The plans include a lightning strike on western Iraq and Baghdad, where the majority of missile and WMD installations are believed to be located.
    Officials said U.S. and allied forces have been training in Kuwait and in the United States to fight under a WMD attack. The soldiers have been outfitted with special masks and body-suits meant to protect against a biological and chemical weapons attack as well as nuclear radiation fallout.
    So far, officials said, soldiers wearing such equipment have found it difficult to advance in combat. The protective suits and masks are said to quickly retain the harsh desert heat that soldiers will encounter Iraq. Iraq is believed to have a range of biological and chemical weapons as well as the systems for their delivery. The weapons include anthrax, botulism, sarin, and VX.
    Officials said Washington has assessed that Iraq has the ability to weaponize these weapons' agents in the warheads of short- and medium-range missiles. Iraq has hundreds of short-range Scud-B missiles as well as up to 50 medium-range Al Hussein missiles, with a range of about 600 kilometers. Baghdad has also been producing missiles with a range of 150 kilometers. But officials said many of the missiles have been designed so that their range can be extended if necessary.
    Officials said the Defense Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the military's Central Command have been grappling with the prospect of an Iraqi WMD strike on U.S. forces advancing on Baghdad as well as on such U.S. allies as Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. They said that a leading assessment is that Israel will be the first target of an Iraqi missile and WMD attack in an effort to win Arab support. 

    Iraq, with the help of its allies, has succeeded in reorganizing its current assets in an effective air defense network.
    The network is based on a constellation of SA-2, SA-3 and SA-6 mobile air defense batteries. The batteries have been linked with upgraded ground radar that provides coverage of the area bordering Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
    The effort is said to have been spearheaded by Gen. Yasin Mohammed Shahin, commander of the Iraqi air defense network. Shahin was deputy air defense commander in the 1991 Gulf war.
    Iraqi and other Arab defense sources have provided details of the air defense system. They said the air defense corps has been expanded to 17,000 soldiers, commanded by an underground center near an air force base in Baghdad's Mansour district.
    The network consists of four regional commands, each of which consists of surface-to-air missile batteries and anti-aircraft artillery. The batteries are composed of mobile SA-2, SA-3 and SA-6 batteries.
    The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported that the batteries include the French-made Roland system. The newspaper said on Friday that the network is linked to Western- and Russian-designed radars, most of them produced by the former French company Thompson, today Thales. Many of the radars are located in the Baghdad area.
    [The United Nations is preparing weapons inspectors for the prospect of a return to Iraq. A UN report said inspectors are studying satellite photos of Iraq and determining sites to visit.]
    The newspaper quoted Western intelligence sources as saying that Iraq has 20-30 SA-2 short-range operational batteries with 100 missiles. Iraq is also said to possess 25-50 SA-3 with 140 missiles as well as 36-55 SA-6 mobile batteries with 100 missiles.
    The SA-2 and SA-3 employ heavy missiles and have ranges of 35 and 22 kilometers, respectively. The SA-6 employs a medium missile and has a range of 24 kilometers. Unlike the other batteries, the SA-6 missile is guided by a semi-active radar.
    Over the weekend, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein chaired a meeting by military and political leaders, including Defense Minister Sultan. The meeting came amid an escalation of U.S. and British air attacks on Iraqi air defense facilities.
    Allied warplanes have launched five attacks on surface-to-air missile batteries in less than two weeks. The latest attack took place on Friday in southern Iraq.