Iraq Mortar Shells Contain Blister Agent

Tucson Arizona Star ^ | 01/10/04 | Robert H. Reid

[Holly_P]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Danish and Icelandic troops have uncovered a cache of 36 shells buried in the Iraqi desert, and preliminary tests showed they contained a liquid blister agent, the Danish military said Saturday.

The 120mm mortar shells were thought to be leftovers from the eight-year war between Iraq and neighboring Iran, which ended in 1988, said U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

The shells were found by Danish engineering troops and Icelandic de-miners near Al Quarnah, north of the city of Basra where Denmark's 410 troops are based, the Danish Army Operational Command said in a written statement.

The shells were wrapped in plastic but had been damaged, and they appeared to have been buried for at least 10 years, the statement said.

It said British experts did a preliminary test and said the shells contained "blister gas," but did not elaborate.

Before the war, the United States alleged Iraq still had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent that is stored in liquid form. U.S. intelligence officials also claimed Iraq had sarin, cyclosarin and VX, which are extremely deadly nerve agents.

"We're doing some preliminary tests to ensure that if they do contain any kind of blister agent that we can dispose of them properly," Kimmitt said.

The Danish military emphasized that the tests were not definitive. In the weeks after the Iraq war, the U.S.-led coalition found several caches that tested positive for mustard gas but later turned out to contain missile fuel or other chemicals.

Other discoveries turned out to be old caches that had already been tagged by United Nations inspectors and were scheduled for destruction.

Saddam Hussein's regime used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers during that war and killed an estimated 5,000 Kurdish civilians in a chemical attack on the northern city of Halabja in 1988.

President Bush said the United States was going to war to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but a nine-month search by a succession of U.S. teams has failed to find any current stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

The lack of evidence has led critics to suggest the Bush administration either mishandled or exaggerated its knowledge of Iraq's alleged arsenal.

In October, Dutch marines found several dozen artillery shells from the 1991 Gulf War in the southern Iraqi town of Samawah, but the shells contained no biological or chemical agents. Samawah is 100 miles west of the southern region where the Danes discovered shells Saturday.

[cyborg]

blister gas to make what Job in the Bible went through look like a little skin irritation

[Holly_P]

blister gas to make what Job in the Bible went through look like a little skin irritation

By the way. Did you know that the book of Job is Howard Dean's favorite New Testament book?

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[cyborg]

Why of course!!! (even the Masai Mara tribe in East Africa knows that LOL)

[blackdog]

I can't wait until all the hidden cache's in Syria start to leak, become unstable, and poison them en masse.

[Egon]

Unfortunately, this too will be played down as ancient weapons forgotten by Iraq. It will not rise to the level needed to convince anyone that we should have gone into Iraq.

The only thing that would convince people is if we uncovered a timed nuke in Abdull Francois Hussein's (Saddam's yet unknown son by a French prostitute) vacant apartment in Vermont, set to go off on Howard Dean's birthday.

Even then, it would be played off as a Zionist plot to discredit Muslims.

...it's lonely being Right.

[MJY1288]

I bet Syria will turn over Saddam's WMD's in the next 6 months

[MJY1288]

I can already hear the excuses from the left....

"Well, 36 of them isn't exactly an arsenal"

If we found 10,000 of them the left would say........

"Well, they weren't capable of hitting us"

If we found Nuclear tipped ICBM's the left would say.....

"Well, they weren't aimed at us"

[U S Army EOD]

We have another working thread on this, you will check it out or be gassed.

[mware]

By the way. Did you know that the book of Job is Howard Dean's favorite New Testament book?

For real, I thought Dean's favorite part of the NT was when Moses built an arc with Harrison Ford.

[MJY1288]

ROFLMAO, If you're gonna threaten us with a good old Kurdish style gassing, at least post a link :-)

[U S Army EOD]

I am not smart enough to do that, I would if I could, but just don't know how. Some good reading in it. If you can't find it on your own we will just gas you anyway.

[MJY1288]

OK See ya there

[SandRat]

French farmers are still unearthing mustard shells that are at full strength from WWI. That stuff is messy real messy.

Glad this got picked up by a Tucson paper (the conservative of th two) the other Tucson paper is derisively and mostly deservedly as the Arizona Red Star.

[U S Army EOD]

its Denmark: Possible Iraqi Blister Agent Found or something like that.

[geopyg]

"Well, 36 of them isn't exactly an arsenal"

Remember, these were the damaged ones. I've got a couple of busted wrenches in the garage and who knows how many good ones!

[JOE6PAK]

I have a few busted ones.

also...

MANY good ones and just a few more this Christmas!

[AAABEST]

Whether they trun over anything or not we should wipe out their leadership, military and all their palaces while we're there, then leave ASAP (no nation building).

Inform the replacement dictato(s) if that if they a single hand on one Jew or American they suffer the same fate.

[MJY1288]

Damaged or not, if they have blister agent in them, they could make a nasty IED that could be real ugly for a passing convoy or a crowded market, just by using other munitions to blow them up. I'm glad they found them before someone else did.