Replies

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2967376.stm

An Iraqi man has been arrested in Belgium in connection with a number of letters laced with toxic powders that were sent to the prime minister's office and the US and British embassies.
A 45-year-old man was taken into custody in the western town of Deinze, police said.

The arrest came a day after police said they were investigating 10 letters containing harmful powders.

The chemicals included phenarsazine, an arsenic derivative used in rat poison, and hydrazine, used as a rocket propellant, the health ministry said.

One report said hydrazine had also been used as an incapacitating gas during the two world wars. ...

[Yet another possible use for hydrazine]

Sure is a good thing that -- as Scott Ridder reassures us -- there never were any WMD in Iraq and there was no terrorist connection. I have an excellect piece of ocean front property in Arizona, if anyone is interested.

Nah, this couldn't have been perpetrated by an Iraqi - Iraqis don't have any such chemicals, remember? </sarcasm>

If these letters were mailed from Belgium to Belgium, the transit time for the letters is relatively short. We'll know in a few more days if any of these letters were mailed internationally, given that it takes a few more days for mail to cross oceans. International embassies should be on the lookout. And we should keep our eyes peeled for stories in the next week or so.