World

CIA Director William H. Webster said West European companies have knowingly played a key role in developing chemical weapons not only in Libya but also in Iran, Iraq and Syria. Webster also told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that foreign firms are helping Third World nations develop ballistic missiles to deliver chemical and biological weapons. He did not identify any of the firms. However, The Times reported earlier that U.S. officials have concluded that Messerschmidt-Boelkow-Blohm, a West German firm, and SNIA-BPD, a subsidiary of the Italian industrial giant Fiat, played a key role in an Argentine-Egyptian project to develop a medium-range ballistic missile. A spokesman for SNIA-BPD denied any transfer of missile technology to Egypt, Libya or Iraq and said its Argentine program ended in 1985.