Roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent explodes in Iraq
CHRIS TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
Monday, May 17, 2004
©2004 Associated Press
URL: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/05/17/international1027EDT0555.DTL
(05-17) 07:45 PDT BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --
A roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent exploded near a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military said Monday. Two people were treated for "minor exposure," but no serious injuries were reported.
"The Iraqi Survey Group confirmed today that a 155-millimeter artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq. "The round had been rigged as an IED (improvised explosive device) which was discovered by a U.S. force convoy.
"A detonation occurred before the IED could be rendered inoperable. This produced a very small dispersal of agent," he said.
The Iraqi Survey Group is a U.S. organization whose task was to search for weapons of mass destruction after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in last year's invasion.
"The round was an old binary-type requiring the mixing of two chemical components in separate sections of the cell before the deadly agent is produced," Kimmitt said. "The cell is designed to work after being fired from an artillery piece."
He said the dispersal of the nerve agent from a device such as the homemade bomb is "limited."
"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War," Kimmitt said. "Two explosive ordinance team members were treated for minor exposure to nerve agent as a result of the partial detonation of the round."
In 1995, Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult unleashed sarin gas in Tokyo's subways, killing 12 people and sickening thousands. In February of this year, Japanese courts convicted the cult's former leader, Shoko Asahara, and sentence him to be executed.
Developed in the mid-1930s by Nazi scientists, a single drop of sarin can cause quick, agonizing choking death. There are no known instances of the Nazis actually using the gas.
Nerve gases work by inhibiting key enzymes in the nervous system, blocking their transmission. Small exposures can be treated with antidotes, if administered quickly.
Antidotes to nerve gases similar to sarin are so effective that top poison gas researchers predict they eventually will cease to be a war threat.
©2004 Associated Press
Well, what happens now?!
The theory has always been
that if anyone
uses biochems
against us, then our response
would be big time fierce . . .
"Antidotes to nerve gases similar to sarin are so effective that top poison gas researchers predict they eventually will cease to be a war threat."
Note the new spin at the end of the story...? Well okay...there's nerve gas in Iraq..but hey it's not such a big deal, the antidotes cure it so instantly so really..nerve agents aren't WMD's any more...so lets get back to bashing Bush!
Of course, our media will ignore it.
BTW, I like the way the AP ended the article - makes you think this is no big deal. No, no bias at the AP!
"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War," Kimmitt said...."
And thus the existence of that round itself, if tracked back to Saddam's Iraq, is yet another violation of the UN resolutions.
"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War
Cough