Chemical Weapons Found in Iraq

FoxNews site ^ | 5/17/04 | Numerous

[freebilly]

This is a non-story. Until 1000+ of our soldiers in Iraq are killed by WMDs they will continue to not exist for the media and the left....

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

See this thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1131601/posts

Every so often, our troops encounter a stray shell here or there. But try telling the media that they have WMDs kicking around the streets and the countryside. And I'm sure that Saddam's nuclear facilities were all for medical research, too.

[savedbygrace]

The only time I'd want to play Poker with President Bush is when I'm trying to learn how to play. Not when I'm trying to win.

"You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, when to walk away." Also, know when to show 'em.

[genghis]

The good news is this story is all over the internet.
nytimes, cnn, drudge all the wire services.
The bad news is all the deaniacs are not going to know what to say.

[AngieGOP]

"Japs Bomb Pearl Harbor!!!" You can't say Japs anymore. It is politically incorrect. Shame on you.

[Southack]

"The age doesn't matter that much. Whoever set-up the IED wit this artillery round knew "exactly" what they were doing."

No, I'd argue just the opposite.

Two weeks ago one of our patrols found and disarmed an IED on the roadside. That IED was a jury-rigged artillery shell...and that particular artillery shell was filled with Mustard Gas, a blistering agent.

Blistering agents are *useless* against passing vehicle convoys, however. In the Great War, our troops could even stand extended exposure to German Mustard Gas by urinating on their shirt and then breathing through it...and that was for our boys trapped in the trenches inside large, stagnant pockets of the gas. Driving through a Mustard Gas detonation at ground level (rather than an airburst) is simply going to put a faint smell inside the cabin of HMMVW's.

So two weeks ago when our patrol found that Mustard Gas IED, I said that we would soon be seeing more IED's made from chemical munitions.

...And I said that because what is happening is that the nearly illiterate population of foreign insurgent fighters don't know the first thing about artillery munitions. They don't know what the chemical markings mean.

They know what an artillery shell looks like, and they've been told how to rig those shells to detonate as our patrols pass by, but they don't know what is inside those shells.

If they knew, then those chemical shells would be shipped by them at great profit to al-qaeda...but they aren't, and it is their decentralized cell structure that just about garauntees that their leadership doesn't know who has found the cache of chemical munitions.

Remember, Hussein stored *vast* caches of ammo all around Iraq. The insurgents are going to the remaining caches and raiding them for IED components.

So when we found the Mustard Gas artillery shell rigged as an IED, it was a no brainer that we'd soon see more chemical shells being used as IED's.

Not because they want to hit roadside convoys with chemical weapons, but because they are so uneducated that they don't realize that they aren't rigging up a high explosive artillery shell...as well as because that first Mustard gas IED indicates that the insurgents have found a cache of chemical munitions.

More will be found.

If they knew what they had come across in that chemical munitions cache, they'd all be wealthy from selling the weapons to al-qaeda...and al-qaeda would be using them to hit the Greek Olympics and various Western population centers.

That's where chemical munitions are useful, after all, against slow moving masses of civilians. You're wasting your time trying to use them against fast-moving patrols.

And worse (for the insurgents), you are justifying the whole war to even the President's harshest critics.

So where do we stand? In 1991 Hussein declared, in his surrender documents, some large quantities of anthrax, sarin, and mustard gas.

Over time, Hussein convinced UN weapons inspectors that Iraq had destroyed a fair amount of those chemical munitions...however, at least 550 chemical artillery shells were unaccounted for.

Now we've seen 2 of those chemical munitions in two weeks, used idiotically as roadside "bombs".

We'll see more, and we'll see them in the near future as the insurgents no doubt continue to raid this particular chemical munitions cache that they've found.

[gundog]

As far as I've heard, it was just one shell... FoxNews estimates put it at 25+ years old.

Giving the Libs an out: Oh, well, it was probably supplied , or at least financed, by the USA for Iraq's war against Iran.

[Travis McGee]

I have a two or three minute movie clip of Chechyn terrorists rigging a small car bomb IED with several large 155 sized arty shells, and then command detonating it from a field as a Russian convoy passes by. If anyone would like a copy of it, send me an email address which can accept a fairly large movie file. I would like someone with the server space to post it where anyone can see it. Even though it was filmed (by the terrorists) 2 years ago in Chechnya, it could have been filmed in Iraq last week. For sure, it's a "textbook" arty shell car bomb IED. Shows the wiring, external explosives placement, etc.

[Travis McGee]

I heard that this Sarin shell was packed in a binary system, and requires spinning in flight to mix and become effective. By blowing it up on the ground, the mix would not work much or at all. Probably only the externally applied kicker explosives meant to detonate the (expected) main HE charge went off.

[Solson]

Umm...when the military says it also found mustard gas yet it wasn't in the news yesterday, I fully expect, within the next two months, for more and more reports of chemical weapons found in Iraq. This may lead to a report by the folks charged with finding weapons showing confirmation of a number of WMD found in Iraq. This report will surface in early August/Late July.

This is a great political move. As the Dems start screaming about why we didn't know this earlier, the administration can easily come out and say, "In the light of many early war premature reports coming out on so-called 'found WMD' we wanted to be 100% accurate in confirming these as WMD, thus the delay."

Rope.a.dope.

[Paved Paradise]

you must be thinking of Saran wrap.

[Squantos]

Yep setback , spin and inertia must be in the recipe of all binary or they are poofers. Makes em safer to transport and store. The bursting charge and initiator of a bit of plastic explosives or monkeys fist of det cord and a cap in the fuse well were all the frag this critter had.

Bet some of the snuffies are dusting off their MOPP gear none the less.....I know the EOD troops are !

Stay Safe !

[kevao]

Giving the Libs an out: Oh, well, it was probably supplied , or at least financed, by the USA for Iraq's war against Iran.

It's still a violation of UN resolutions; Saddam said all these shells had been destroyed.

[Travis McGee]

Bet some of the snuffies are dusting off their MOPP gear none the less.....I know the EOD troops are !

Damn right!

[blam]

"We'll see more, and we'll see them in the near future as the insurgents no doubt continue to raid this particular chemical munitions cache that they've found."

Interesting take on the chemical weapons. Expect to see more.

[bandleader]

ME TOO!!!!! Regards and God Bless

[Bane]

Saran wrap, Sarin..... There's a difference? Ah but I see you've picked up on my Culinary reference. Which would be appropriate considering I'm wearing my Whites and Check as I type.

Hmmm A recipe is coming to me. Sarin Pilaf!!!