In March 1988, the town of Halabja was suffocated under clouds of mustard gas and nerve agents. The images shocked the world. But the attack did not begin in the sky over northern Iraq.

It began years earlier — in factories, freight containers, and export offices.

During the Iran–Iraq War, Saddam Hussein’s regime industrialised chemical warfare through the Muthanna State Establishment, producing mustard gas, tabun and sarin at scale. The world knew chemical agents were being used by 1983. Yet precursor chemicals, laboratory equipment and dual-use technology continued flowing into Iraq through legal commercial channels.

This episode examines how Iraq built its chemical arsenal — not just politically, but structurally. We trace the procurement networks, the role of dual-use exports, the muted international response, and the geopolitical calculations that shaped enforcement. From battlefield deployment to export control loopholes, this is a forensic look at how prohibition failed in practice.

Because chemical weapons are not improvised.

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