International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Nov. 13, 2002

State Department officials in Washington say Iraq has been trying to import large amounts of a drug, atropine, that could be used to counter the effects of nerve gas according to the BBC.They say the move may indicate that Iraq is preparing to use nerve gas if it finds itself at war with the US.

The development came as the US dismissed the Iraqi parliament's rejection of the new United Nations resolution aimed at forcing Iraq to disarm. President George W Bush said the time for negotiations was over and he repeated that if Saddam Hussein did not act, the United States would lead a coalition against him. Even France, the staunchest Security Council opponent of military action, has conceded that Iraq’s rejection of the resolution would result in war.

Iraq is said to have tried to order 1.25 million doses of atropine from Turkey, but the vast size of the order raised suspicions. The fear in the US State Department is that Iraq might want to protect its own troops or civilians before launching an attack with nerve gas.

Iraq had chemical and biological weapons during the Gulf War a decade ago but Saddam Hussein was deterred from using them. Current indications are that he may not hold back this time, if the survival of his regime is at stake.

The approach to Turkey was first reported by the New York Times on Tuesday. However, a Turkish Health Ministry spokesman, Ebubekir Akkaynak, told the Associated Press that his agency had no record of a request for atropine from Iraq.