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Syria tested chemical arms on civilians in Darfur region
AFP (Die Welt) ^ | 9/15/2004

Posted on 09/15/2004 4:38:34 PM PDT by Mount Athos

Syria tested chemical weapons on civilians in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region in June and killed dozens of people.

The German daily Die Welt newspaper, in an advance release of its Wednesday edition, citing unnamed western security sources, said that injuries apparently caused by chemical arms were found on the bodies of the victims.

It said that witnesses quoted by an Arabic news website called ILAF in an article on August 2 had said that several frozen bodies arrived suddenly at the "Al-Fashr Hospital" in the Sudanese capital Khartoum in June.

Die Welt said the sources had indicated that the weapons tests were undertaken following a military exercise between Syria and Sudan.

Syrian officers were reported to have met in May with Sudanese military leaders in a Khartoum suburb to discuss the possibility of improving cooperation between their armies.

According to Die Welt, the Syrians had suggested close cooperation on developing chemical weapons, and it was proposed that the arms be tested on the rebel SPLA, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, in the south.

But given that the rebels were involved in peace talks, the newspaper continued, the Sudanese government proposed testing the arms on people in Darfur.

Details of what were in the weapons were not disclosed.

The Sudanese government has been accused of arming and backing Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, which have rampaged through the western Darfur region for the past 19 months.

An estimated 50,000 people have been killed and 1.4 million more uprooted in a campaign against Darfur's black African population, which began in February 2003 when Khartoum and the Janjaweed cracked down on a rebel uprising.

The United States has accused Syria of trying to acquire materials and the know-how to develop chemical weapons and claims that Sudan has been seeking to improve its capability to produce them for many years.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: darfur; genocide; sudan; syria; wmd

1 posted on 09/15/2004 4:38:35 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

Probably Saddams' stash.


2 posted on 09/15/2004 4:40:28 PM PDT by b4its2late (John John Kerry Edwards change positions more often than a Nevada prostitute!!!)
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To: b4its2late

If true, of course they were gotten from Iraq.
Of course, the left will cry foul, no proof, no pictures, no martini lunches, no Natl Enquirer photos.

What a hopeless group of Anti America, spiteful, hateful people.


3 posted on 09/15/2004 4:43:43 PM PDT by BurbankErnie (I am an oxymoron - a California Republican)
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To: b4its2late

Could someone put this in breaking news


4 posted on 09/15/2004 4:44:12 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

Guess we now know for sure that Iraq's WMD went to Syria


5 posted on 09/15/2004 4:49:38 PM PDT by HawaiianGecko (Use in a well ventilated area)
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To: Mount Athos

Let the Frogs and the Krauts stop the Syrians. No doubt as to where Madass Insane, I could never spell that IWACKI's name, stored his WMD!


6 posted on 09/15/2004 4:51:47 PM PDT by Henchman (Vote Communist - elect Kerry!)
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To: Mount Athos

But it is the religion of peace. A piece of this person, kill a piece of that village with chemical weapons. Blow up a piece of a bus with a bomb. Yes sir re the religion of peace.


7 posted on 09/15/2004 11:20:15 PM PDT by tygershark
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To: Dog; Coop; Boot Hill; Angelus Errare; Ernest_at_the_Beach

FYI!!!


8 posted on 09/15/2004 11:29:50 PM PDT by Cap Huff
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To: Cap Huff

Awful!


9 posted on 09/16/2004 12:49:43 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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To: BurbankErnie
f true, of course they were gotten from Iraq.

Syria has its own chemical weapons program.

10 posted on 09/16/2004 4:13:34 AM PDT by Coop (In memory of a true hero - Pat Tillman)
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To: Cap Huff; Dog; Boot Hill; Angelus Errare; Ernest_at_the_Beach

I'm finding this one extremely hard to believe. If you were in the Syrian government right now, would you be taking any unnecessary risks - ones that would surely inflame world opinion - with well over 100K troops sitting across your border?


11 posted on 09/16/2004 4:15:10 AM PDT by Coop (In memory of a true hero - Pat Tillman)
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To: Coop

Maybe their Military decided they needed to verify that there stock still worked because of those 100,000 troops next door in Iraq.


12 posted on 09/16/2004 8:38:31 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Then test them in a lab or on animals in Syria, not on civilians in another country (an act of war).


13 posted on 09/16/2004 8:45:49 AM PDT by Coop (In memory of a true hero - Pat Tillman)
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To: Coop

Well, you do realize that the Arabs consider Dark Africa as a lab?

Populated by a species lesser than themselves.....


14 posted on 09/16/2004 9:30:14 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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