Rihab Taha Rihab Rashid Taha al - Azawi ( born 1957 ) is an Iraqi microbiologist , dubbed Dr . Germ by United Nations weapons inspectors , who worked in Saddam Hussein ' s biological weapons program . A 1999 report commissioned by the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA ) named her as one of the world ' s most dangerous women . ( pdf ; p . 20 ) Dr Taha has admitted producing germ warfare agents , but said they had been destroyed . Taha first rose to prominence in the Western media after being named in a 2003 British intelligence dossier , released to the public by Prime Minister Tony Blair , on Iraq ' s biological , chemical and nuclear capability . The dossier alleged that Taha had played a leading role in the manufacture of anthrax and other biological agents . It was this dossier that triggered the chain of events that led to the death of British UN weapons inspector David Kelly , who was accused of telling a BBC reporter that some of the intelligence had been manipulated . Dr . Kelly , as an UNSCOM weapons inspector visiting Iraq on the occasions describred below , had interrogated Dr . Taha so pitilessly that she was " reduced to tears " ( ref . Norman Baker " The Strange Death of David Kelly " , 2007 ) . Background . Born in 1957 , and a graduate of the University of Baghdad , Taha received her Ph . D in plant toxins from the University of East Anglia ' s School of Biological Sciences in Norwich , England , which she attended from 1980 to 1984 . She published two articles on her research , co - authored by her supervisor Professor John Turner , once the head of the School of Biological Sciences . In 1984 , " Contribution of tabtoxin to the pathogenicity of " Pseudomonas syringae " pv . " tabac " " was published in " Physiological Plant Pathology " ( 25 , 55 - 69 ) and " Effect of tabtoxin on nitrogen metabolism " by J . G . Turner , R . R . Taha & J . M . Debbage was published in " Physiologia Plantarum " in 1986 ( 67 , 649 - 653 ) . Taha is married to the British - educated General Dr . Amir Mohammad Rashid al - Ubaidi , the former Iraqi oil minister and director of Iraq ' s Military Industrial Corporation , which was responsible for Saddam ' s advanced weapons programs . Taha met General Rashid , who has a Ph . D in engineering from the University of Birmingham in England , when they were both invited to New York for a meeting with the United Nations Special Commission ( UNSCOM ) in 1993 . At the time , Taha was in her late 30s , unmarried and without children , a highly unusual situation for an Arab woman . Already married with a six - year - old son , General Rashid took Taha as his second wife when they returned to Baghdad . In 1997 , Saddam Hussein awarded Taha a medal of scientific achievement and , prior to the 2003 war on Iraq , broadcasts were aired showing Taha and Saddam sitting next to each other . On May 12 , 2003 , the U . S . government announced that Taha had surrendered to coalition forces . Work . Growth of biological agents . Although Taha told her fellow students at Norwich that she wanted to return to Iraq to teach biology , she went instead to work for Iraq ' s germ warfare program . In 1985 , she worked in the al - Muthanna chemical plant near Baghdad , and later became chief production officer in al - Hakam / al - Hakum , Iraq ' s top - secret biological - warfare facility at the time . During several visits to Iraq by United Nations Special Commission ( UNSCOM ) , set up after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait to inspect Iraqi weapons facilities , weapons inspectors were told by Taha that al - Hakam was a chicken - feed plant . " There were a few things that were peculiar about this animal - feed production plant , " Charles Duelfer , UNSCOM ' s deputy executive chairman , later told reporters , " beginning with the extensive air defenses surrounding it . " According to the 1999 DIA report , the normally mild - mannered Taha exploded into violent rages when questioned about al - Hakam , shouting , screaming and , on one occasion , storming out of the room , before returning and smashing a chair . However , in 1995 , UNSCOM ' s principal weapons inspector Dr . Rod Barton from Australia showed Taha documents obtained by UNSCOM from the Israeli regime that showed the Iraqi government had just purchased 10 tons of growth media from a British company called Oxoid . Growth media is a mixture of sugar , proteins and minerals that allows microscopic life to grow ; it is used in hospitals , where swabs from patients are placed in dishes containing growth media for diagnostic purposes . Iraq ' s hospital consumption of growth media was just 200 kg a year ; yet in 1988 , Iraq imported 39 tons of it . Shown this evidence by UNSCOM , Taha admitted to the inspectors that her biological weapons agency had grown 19 , 000 litres of botulism toxin ; 8 , 000 litres of anthrax ; 2 , 000 litres of aflatoxin s , which can cause liver cancer ; clostridium perfringens , a bacterium that can cause gas gangrene ; and ricin , a castor bean derivative which can kill by inhibiting protein synthesis . She also admitted conducting research into cholera , salmonella , foot and mouth disease , and camel pox , a disease that uses the same growth techniques as smallpox , but which is safer for researchers to work with . It was because of the discovery of Taha ' s work with camel pox that the U . S . and British intelligence services feared Saddam Hussein may have been planning to weaponize the smallpox virus . Iraq had a smallpox outbreak in the 70s and UNSCOM scientists believe the government would have retained contaminated material . Weaponisation of biological agents . UNSCOM learned that , In August 1990 , after Iraq ' s invasion of Kuwait , Taha ' s team was ordered to set up a program to weaponize the biological agents . By January 1991 , a team of 100 scientists and support staff had filled 157 bombs and 16 missile warheads with botulin toxin , and 50 bombs and five missile warheads with anthrax . In an interview with the BBC , Taha denied the Iraqi government had weaponized the bacteria . " We never intended to use it , " she told journalist Jane Corbin of the BBC ' s " Panorama " program . " We never wanted to cause harm or damage to anybody . " However , UNSCOM found the munitions dumped in a river near the facility at al - Hakam . UNSCOM also discovered that Taha ' s team had conducted inhalation experiments on donkeys from England and on beagles from Germany . The inspectors seized photographs showing beagles having convulsions inside sealed containers . Missing anthrax . On March 28 , 2005 , the Associated Press reported that Taha had provided an explanation for the 1 , 800 gallon discrepancy between the amount of anthrax the UN knew she had manufactured , and the amount she admitted to destroying . The missing anthrax was one of the stated reasons for the Iraq war and was emphasized by then - U . S . Secretary of State Colin Powell during his February 2003 speech to the Security Council . However , according to an Iraq Survey Group report published on October 6 , 2004 , Taha has told American investigators that she and her colleagues dumped the missing anthrax near the gates of one of Saddam ' s palaces in April 1991 , but were afraid to admit to this for fear of incurring Saddam ' s wrath . The Iraqi biologists therefore told the UN weapons inspectors that the missing anthrax had never existed . Suspected experimentation on human beings . The inspectors feared that Taha ' s team had experimented on human beings . During one inspection , they discovered two primate - sized inhalation chambers , one measuring 5 cubic metres , though there was no evidence the Iraqis had used large primates in their experiments . According to former weapons inspector Scott Ritter in his 1999 book " Endgame : Solving the Iraq Crisis " , UNSCOM learned that , between July 1 and August 15 , 1995 , 50 prisoners from the Abu Ghraib prison were transferred to a military post in al - Haditha , in the northwest of Iraq , ( Ritter , 1999 ) . Iraqi opposition groups say that scientists sprayed the prisoners with anthrax , though no evidence was produced to support these allegations . During one experiment , the inspectors were told , 12 prisoners were tied to posts while shells loaded with anthrax were blown up nearby . Ritter ' s team demanded to see documents from Abu Ghraib prison showing a prisoner count . Ritter writes that they discovered the records for July and August 1995 were missing . Asked to explain the missing documents , the Iraqi government charged that Ritter was working for the CIA and refused to co - operate further with UNSCOM . Taha and Kenneth Bigley . On September 18 , 2004 , the Tawhid and Jihad ( " Oneness of God and Holy War " ) Islamist group , led by Jordanian Abu Musab al - Zarqawi , kidnapped Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley , and British engineer Kenneth Bigley , threatening to kill them if Iraqi women prisoners were not released . Armstrong and Hensley were killed within the first 72 hours , but Bigley was kept alive for three weeks . The only Iraqi women prisoners being held at that time , according to the British government , were Taha and another woman scientist , Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash , a bio - tech researcher who was on the U . S . list of the 55 most wanted members of Saddam ' s regime . It was hoped that the release of these women , who had not been charged with any offense , would trigger the release of Bigley . On September 22 , 2004 , Noori Abdul - Rahim Ibrahim , a spokesman for the Iraqi Justice Ministry , said that Taha would be released on bail . He said the decision was not related to Zarqawi ' s demands , but that the government regularly reviews the cases of prominent detainees , and it was decided to release Taha because she had cooperated with the authorities . However , after a statement from U . S . Secretary of State Colin Powell that there would be no negotiations with terrorists , Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced that neither Taha nor Ammash would be released in the near future . Kenneth Bigley was beheaded on October 7 , 2004 . Taha ' s release . In December 2005 , 22 so - called " high - value " prisoners , including Rihab Taha , were released without charge two days after Iraq ' s national elections , following over 30 months in confinement . Another woman scientist , Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash , nicknamed " Mrs . Anthrax " by the U . S . , was also among those released after what the U . S . said was a standardized process of review and an agreement with the interim Iraqi government .