UDPATE 1-Danish tests show arms found in Iraq not chemical

Reuters ^ | 1/14/04

[areafiftyone]

COPENHAGEN, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The Danish Army said on Wednesday initial tests showed a cache of mortar rounds found buried in Iraq on January 9 did not contain any chemical substances as originally suspected.

"The expert group from the Iraq Survey Group have investigated five...and none of them have showed any trace of chemical substances," the Danish Army Operational Command said in a statement.

Samples would be sent to the United States for further tests and the results were expected within three to five days, the command said.

Denmark said its troops found the 36 mortar shells buried in southern Iraq and that early examination had suggested they could contain blister gas.

The shells had been buried for at least 10 years, it said.

Blister gas, an illegal weapon which Saddam Hussein said he had destroyed, was used extensively against the Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

U.S. President George W. Bush ordered U.S.-led forces to invade Iraq after accusing Saddam of possessing weapons of mass destruction. No such arms have been found so far.

[rhombus]

Uh... then what was the substance? LSD? Purple Punch? This WMD - no WMD is getting tiresome and unbelievable.

[CTOCS]

Reuters just "had" to throw that last sentence in there, didn't they?

Sheesh, bunch of damned losers.....

[MikeJ]

These shells were reportedly filled with some sort of liquid. Is there a credible explanation for a liquid-filled mortar shell other than WMD dispersal? Perhaps these were training rounds?

[Indy Pendance]

hmmmm, objective reporting?

Tests by U.S. experts from the Iraq Survey Group on five of the shells have shown no trace of chemical weapons, the Danish military said.

However, more tests are needed and "the ISG wants a final confirmation, so the results will be sent to the Idaho National Environment Engineering Laboratory," the military said in a statement.

Two tests conducted by the British and two more by Danish experts this week came up positive for blister agents, Danish spokesman, Capt. Kim Vibe Michelsen, told The Associates Press.

[BillF]

Maybe some liquid that generated smoke?

Still, I wonder if the test came back negative because the blister gas or other WMD had passed its shelf life and was no longer effective. Why bury the shells if they are smoke screen laying shells or anything other than WMD?

[Tallguy]

Maybe some liquid that generated smoke?

Still, I wonder if the test came back negative because the blister gas or other WMD had passed its shelf life and was no longer effective. Why bury the shells if they are smoke screen laying shells or anything other than WMD?

Good point. Here's some more speculation: perhaps these rounds used a binary warhead that mixed the gas on detonation. This liquid could represent just half the reactive agent with the other being who-knows-where.

[El Gato]

Is there a credible explanation for a liquid-filled mortar shell other than WMD dispersal? Perhaps these were training rounds?

Training rounds is a possibility, but why bury those? Notice that the story did not say there was no WMD involved, just no chemicals. Biological agents are not usually referred to as chemicals. Who knows?

[John H K]

You generally wouldn't use bioweapons in 120mm mortars.

Heck, seems this was near a river, possible water simply seeped into corroded shells and sat there.

Anyway, hope no FReepers ran around gloating over this to to any left-wing friends or coworkers last week.

[El Gato]

Not only not objective, inaccurate and incomplete as well. There is no "National Environment Engineering Laboratory", but there is a "National Environmental Engineering Laboratory". It's part of the Department of Energy. Originaly a nuclear power and weapons kind of place.

From the site:

In operation since 1949, INEEL is a government reservation located in the southeastern Idaho desert. At 890 square miles (569,135 acres), the INEEL is roughly 85 percent the size of Rhode Island. It was established in 1949 as the National Reactor Testing Station and for many years was the site of the largest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world. Fifty-two nuclear reactors were built, including the U.S. Navy's first prototype nuclear propulsion plant. During the 1970s, the laboratory's mission broadened into other areas, such as biotechnology, energy and materials research, and conservation and renewable energy. At the end of the Cold War, waste treatment and cleanup of previously contaminated sites became a priority.

Hmmm.

[El Gato]

You generally wouldn't use bioweapons in 120mm mortars.

Agreed, but these are the Iraqies we are talking about, so you never know. Interesting that they sent them to the department of engergy for further testing, is it not?

[El Gato]

This liquid could represent just half the reactive agent with the other being who-knows-where.

I would hope the Danes would recognize a single binary component as a chemical weapons material.

[Captain Kirk]

Another lame rationalization for this foolish Wilsonian war is slowly biting the dust.

[Keith]

Your dead, Jim.

From the neck up...

[Captain Kirk]

Cute. Do you have an argument?

[rhombus]

Cute. Do you have an argument?

Come now, you know all the arguments. You know the history of WMD use. You know Bush, Clinton and Dubya all saw the evidence. You know lots of things you don't address. Don't you? Don't you? So who's being cute? You do know that Wilson isn't president any more. Don't you?

[Captain Kirk]

Interesting method of argument. Do I also "know" that you beat your wife? Try again. I am interested in facts. The bottom line is that no WMD's have been found to have existed in the period since Dubya took office. BTW, the fact that our former rapist-and-chief "knows" something is a total non-argument. He also "knew" that he did not have sex with Monica.

In any case, the reasons for this war were Wilsonian in the sense is that (as George Will points) they were not based on WMD but a goal of creating a democratic Iraq.

[rhombus]

Thanks, I understood the reference to Wilson and have read George Will's latest. Regarding Clinton vs Bush, there is a big difference between knowing what you are saying is a lie and perhaps erring on the side of being careful. (at least in my mind).

[OXENinFLA]

No such arms have been found so far.

BS,A small amount has been found!

I guess they missed Kay's report.

[Dead Corpse]

You seem to be overlooking the FACT that the possible existance of undeclared WMD's was only one of several reasons Dubya took us back into Iraq.

Or do any of those reasons no longer matter? Just the WMD's?