(which) ... unintentionally underplays the essential problem in Iraq--the problem of politics." Rabta articles From West Germany on New Years Day in 1989, Gordon, together with Steven Engelberg broke the news that Imhausen-Chemie, a West German chemical company, had been serving as the "prime contractor" for an alleged Libyan chemical weapons production plant at Rabta since April 1980. The article was based a leak to Gordon "by U.S. administration officials of data that the United States previously had asked West Germany to keep secret". The German government initially denied the allegations, but following further reports on the Rabta plants and pressure from the US administration, a total of three Imhausen employees, including the director, were convicted of illegally supplying CW materials to Libya in October 1991 and a fourth German national was convicted in 1996 for "facilitating Libya's acquisition of computer technology and other equipment to enhance chemical weapons development". Gordon and Engelberg won a George Polk Award for international reporting following their series of articles. Bibliography The Generals' War: The Inside Story Of The Conflict In The Gulf (with Bernard E. Trainor, 1996) Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (with Bernard E. Trainor, 2006) The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama (with Bernard E. Trainor, 2013) Degrade and Destroy: The Inside Story of the War Against the Islamic State, from Barack Obama to Donald Trump (2022) References External links Video Interview of Michael Gordon and General Bernard Trainor by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! Year of birth missing (living people) Living people The New York Times writers George Polk Award recipients American male journalists Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American politicians