Ирактық микробиолог Худа Салих Аммаш: "Антракс ханым" және биологиялық қарулар бағдарламасы

Iraqi microbiologist

Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash (هدى صالح مهدي عماش) (born 29 October 1953) is an Iraqi scientist and academic. Ammash was often referred to as "Mrs. Anthrax" due to her alleged association with an Iraqi biological weapons program. Ammash was number 53 on the Pentagon's list of the 55 most wanted, the "five of hearts" , in the U. S. deck of most wanted Iraqi playing cards, and the only woman to be featured. She was captured by coalition forces but later released without being charged.

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Baghdad, followed by a master's in microbiology from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas. She spent four years at the University of Missouri pursuing a doctorate in microbiology, which she received in December 1983. Her thesis focused on the effects of radiation, paraquat and the chemotherapy drug Adriamycin, on bacteria and mammals. She was appointed to the Revolutionary Command Council in May 2001. In one of several videos that Saddam released during the war, Ammash was the only woman among about a half dozen men seated around a table. The videos were broadcast on Iraqi TV as invading forces drew closer to Baghdad: it is not known when the meeting took place or what the significance was of her appearance on camera. She served as president of Iraq's microbiology society and as dean at the University of Baghdad. U. S. officials said she was trained by Nassir al Hindawi, described by United Nations inspectors as the "father of Iraq's biological weapons program". She conducted research into illnesses that may have been caused by depleted uranium from shells used in the 1991 Gulf War, and had published several papers on the health effects of the war and the subsequent sanctions.

Ammash's father, Salih Mahdi Ammash, was a high level Baath Party member in Iraq, who became defense minister in 1963, deputy prime minister in 1968, and an ambassador in 1977.