Ctesifon has the largest unsupported brick arch in the world – dating from the 5th century AD – while Mosul is home to more than a dozen of the world's earliest churches.. Saddam Hussein has much to lose and little to gain if he uses chemical and biological weapons against British or American forces, specialists in toxic warfare said yesterday. "Half a milligram compared to hundreds of tons, that sounds really bad, but of course if you think about the number of people who can be killed by a box full of bullets, that's also really bad," he said."It sounds a bit flippant but in terms of lethal doses of poison, the militarily significant doses on a battlefield was reckoned to be a billion doses, that is the amount you'd need to attack one militarily significant target. The moment that sort of stuff lands on a military target, our doctrine requires a high protection level, with masks on.

The moment an attack comes in then subsequently the effectiveness of this chemical has to cope with the high protection factors built in to the gas masks, built in to the protective suits. Once the element of surprise has been lost, once everybody is protected then these weapons are essentially harmless. A great deal of work and training has gone into this."Alastair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University, who was instrumental in drawing up the international treaty on chemical weapons, even doubted whether Iraq can use any of its banned weapons."We really have little idea about whether Iraq has useable biological or chemical weapons ... I think it is really unclear whether Iraq has useable munitions that it could use in a conflict.I'm not saying it hasn't but I'm saying it's unclear."He added: "There is a need to demonstrate that Iraq does have these weapons and that they are in useable form and that has yet to be done. It's far from clear whether Iraq would want to run the risk of losing whatever support it has at the moment. It would do that if it used chemical and biological weapons so I think it's a very moot point whether in fact Iraq does indeed use these."Brian Spratt, professor of molecular microbiology at Imperial College, London, said the same applied to the anthrax Iraq was thought to have hidden. On a battlefield it posed little threat against well trained and equipped troops.Used against an unprotected civilian population, anthrax posed more of a danger as a "weapon of mass disruption" because of the panic and fear of the "worried well" who are not infected but think that they are..

Cruise missiles destroyed the headquarters of Iraq's main television station yesterday after coalition commanders had an apparent change of heart and opened the battle for control of the airwaves. Air raid sirens wailed repeatedly across the city while Allied bombers pounded positions in the city centre and American B-52s attacked Republican Guard divisions on the southern outskirts.The overnight raids, which also struck the Information Ministry, continued for three hours after dawn and resumed in the late afternoon.Despite predictions that the television station would be among the first targets for the Allied bombardment – as happened in the 1999 Nato assault on Belgrade – it had been spared until yesterday. American military officials said the building was now part of Iraq's military command and control system and therefore a legitimate target.Within hours of the 4.30am strike the Allies knew it had failed, since the main domestic channel, which was off-air at the time of the attack, started transmitting as normal at 9am.Viewers woke up to the usual diet of verses from the Koran, patriotic songs and news bulletins from presenters dressed in military uniform. State radio also resumed its service.Iraqi Satellite Television, which broadcasts 24 hours a day outside the country, restarted transmissions within eight hours of the bombing.An official at the television station blamed a "technical problem with the transmitters" for the blackout. Amnesty International said the assault breached the Geneva Convention by targeting civilian infrastructure.