Posted on 06/26/2004 12:19:17 PM PDT by wagglebee
A day after the head of the CIA weapons inspection team warned that terrorists in Iraq are trying to get their hands on the Saddam Hussein regime's chemical weapons of mass destruction, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reports the first attack with these weapons of mass destruction has been launched inside Baghdad's Green Zone.
Few details are available, including any casualties associated with the attack using mustard gas.
The sources say the munitions were old, but still potentially lethal.
"I think it's safe to say our little friends know where the cache is now," said one source sardonically.
The Green Zone is the area of Baghdad where the U.S.-led coalition authority established its headquarters in the immediate aftermath of the invasion in April last year.
On Thursday, Charles Duelfer, the head of the CIA weapons inspection team, said terrorists in Iraq are seeking chemical arms and expertise left over from the Hussein regime for possible use against U.S. and allied troops. He added that his team has so far found as many as a dozen chemical-filled bombs far more than previously reported.
"What we are finding is that there are some networks that are seeking to tap into ... this expertise, and try to use it against the United States," Duelfer told Fox News Channel's Brit Hume. "And we are very concerned about that. That is a problem."
Duelfer said that investigations into arms laboratories in Iraq and interviews with former Iraqi arms specialists revealed that "former experts in the country's weapons of mass destruction program are being recruited by anti-coalition groups."
"They are being paid by anti-coalition groups," he said. "We're seeing interest in developing chemical munitions."
Asked whether anything suggests that insurgents actually are getting the expertise or may be ready to use it, Duelfer said: "We want to follow that very, very closely."
Duelfer expressed special concern that al-Qaida associate Abu Musab Zarqawi will acquire and use chemical weapons. Zarqawi, he said, "is one bad actor, and if he gets his hands on it, he'll use it."
The Jordanian-born Islamist, believed to be the leader of the foreign insurgents in Iraq, is known to be a specialist in bomb making. U.S. officials believe al-Zarqawi was behind the coordinated attacks earlier this week that killed at least 100 people and wounded about 320.
Duelfer said his inspection team has uncovered bombs filled with blistering mustard gas or the nerve agent sarin.
"We're not sure how many more are out there that haven't been found, but we've found 10 or 12 sarin and mustard rounds," he said. "I'm reluctant to judge what that means at this point, but there's other aspects of the program which we still have to flush out."
In May, U.S. military officials found a bomb containing chemicals to form sarin gas and another with a mustard agent weapons Saddam was required to destroy under U.S. sanctions and terms of the cease-fire from the 1990-91 Gulf war.
The Washington Times reports military officials have uncovered about 8,700 weapons depots and continue to find new ones. They estimate the weapons depots in Iraq contain between 650,000 and 1 million tons of arms, which are believed to be a source for anti-coalition forces.
Are these the same weapons that Saddam said he destroyed?
TOP STORY
Chemical attack in Iraq
Terrorists strike with mustard gas in capital
http://g2.wnd.com/
Anyone subscribe?
Is that why it's not in breaking news?
A moose bit my sister.
Japanese WWII weapons cache was found in china about a week ago.
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France has a government bureau that is in charge of taking care of WWI and WWII weapons, either caches or unexplodes shells. They annually have deaths to this day in France from this problem.
Actually, the weapons were always in the hands of terrorists.
Whaaaaa? Is this for real?
FReeper slang.
Wow, been here over 3 years and never knew.
the japanese weren't subject to UN weapons inspections.
I thought it was serious, not series.
No, these are the weapons that Kerry claims Saddam never had.
All I can figure is this refers to the several-weeks old attempt by someone to make an IED out of a very old binary chemical munition (that ONLY works if fired out of a gun); the person making the IED actually clearly didn't realize it was a chemical round, but thought it was a normal explosive shell.
How reliable is this guy?
No.. that did not take place in Baghdad in the Green zone and it involved a sarin gas shell not mustard gas.
Anyone subscribe to Farrah?
Thanks! Next tyme I kneed Freeper verbology explained two me I'll know who two axe.
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