§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have undertaken to provide ground troops for a United States or United States-United Kingdom attack on Iraq or as part of a follow-up to a United States-United Kingdom bombing attack on that country; and if so what immunisations are being provided for British troops who may be sent to Iraq, in case the United States uses its new burrowing 100WA nuclear-armed weapon to destroy possible caches of biological weapons or their precursors in Iraq. [HL587]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert)We have no plans to provide ground forces for an attack on Iraq. We recognise, however, that Saddam Hussein has in the past made use of chemical weapons. A range of defensive measures are available to protect UK forces in the region against chemical and biological warfare agents. These include physical and medical countermeasures, the use of which is kept under constant review in the light of available advice.