Gaddafi has biological weapons and may use them on protesters: ex-minister

Mourners gather near the coffins of Libyans who were killed in recent clashes in Benghazi Reuters

Besieged Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi has chemical and biological weapons at his disposal and would not hesitate to use them against his opponents, warned the country’s former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Galil, according to various media reports.

At the end when he's really pressured, he can do anything, Galil told al-Jazeera. I think Gaddafi will burn everything left behind him.

Galil resigned from his post several days ago in protest of Gaddafi’s violent crackdown on protesters.
Although Gaddafi said in 2003 he was shutting down Libya’s stockpile of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, it is believed he still has about 9.5 to 14 metric tons of lethal mustard blister agent (mustard gas) in store.

[According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Libyans have destroyed more than 50 percent of its cache of mustard agent.]

In exchange for closing down his weapons program, Libya again established diplomatic relations with various western countries.

Investigators from the U.S. and UK who visited Libya after 2003 did not find evidence of an advanced biological weapons program, but they did uncover signs of smaller-scale weapons projects.

Some observers say that if sanctions had not been imposed on Gaddafi back then (leading him to end his weapons program), he would’ve become even more dangerous today.

[Gaddafi’s] nuclear program would still be intact and even further developed, and he would have his missiles and chemical weapons to use as he wishes, former Bush administration adviser Elliott Abrams was quoted as saying.

Similarly, former Bush administration disarmament specialist Paula DeSutter said dad the destruction process not started, we would be facing a far more dangerous situation. On the other hand, one would certainly feel more secure if all of the mustard gas had been eliminated.

Global Security Newswire reported that an unidentified US officials said when you have a guy who's as irrational as Gaddafi with some serious weapons at his disposal, it's always a concern. But we haven't yet seen him move to use any kind of mustard gas or chemical weapon [in response to the protests.]

DeSutter was also quoted as warning: “If you want to kill your people, you could pour it out on the street.