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Hundreds of Iraq police fall ill at meal
AP via Yahoo ^ | October 8, 2006 | QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

Posted on 10/08/2006 4:40:30 PM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick from poisoning Sunday at a base in southern Iraq after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast, and officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional.

An official with the Environment Ministry said 11 policemen had died. However, the governor of Wasit province — where the poisoning took place — denied any deaths, though he said some of the victims were in critical condition. There was no immediate explanation for the contradictory reports.

Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal, said Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector for the Environment Ministry, who was serving as a liaison in the investigation between the Health Ministry and the base, located in the town of Numaniyah.

"Hundreds of soldiers were poisoned after taking food and water in the iftar," Wasit Gov. Hamad al-Latif told the Associated Press, referring to the meal that breaks the sunrise-to-sunset fast during the Islamic holy month. "Investigations are under way to determine the cause."

Samples of the food and water were being tested "to determine the substance in them" and will be sent to Baghdad for further tests, al-Latif said.

Sunni insurgents who have targeted police and military forces with bombings and shootings have not been known to use poisoning as a weapon. But the suddenness and severity of the sickness raised speculation that the incident could be a new attack. The division is mainly made up of Shiites.

Between 600-700 policemen were affected to varying degrees, and 11 who had the heaviest amount of the food had died, al-Atwan told The Associated Press.

Some of the soldiers collapsed as soon as they stood up from them meal, others fell "one after the other" as they headed out to the yard in the base to line up in formation, al-Atwan said.

Iraqi ambulances and helicopters sent by the U.S. military rushed the policemen to hospitals in Numaniyah and the nearby city of Kut.

The afflicted policemen belonged to the 4th Division of the National Police, nicknamed the "Karrar" Division, after a title of Imam Ali, the most revered Shiite saint.

The division normally operates around the town of Salman Pak on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad — an area of intense Shiite-Sunni killings. The division was sent to the base in Numaniyah, 60 miles southeast of the capital, for further training.

Al-Latif said food and water at the base are provided by an Australian contractor working through Iraqi subcontractors. He did not identify the Australian firm.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bioterror; gwot; iraq; iraqipolice; islamisevil; poison; ramadan; ramadan2006; terrorattack; terrorism; trop; wmd; wot
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To: GSlob

Does that work so quick?


21 posted on 10/08/2006 4:58:17 PM PDT by steveo (ADVERTISEMENT)
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To: ARealMothersSonForever

Ricin works in days - remember that Bulgarian Markov (?) they got with an umbrella? And they injected it into him, not fed it to him, too.


22 posted on 10/08/2006 4:59:32 PM PDT by GSlob
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To: GSlob
Bleeding? Coumarin blood thinning rat poison?

Causing bleeding from the ears???

About the only food related cause for bleeding from the ears that I can think of is a skull fracture from being force fed a frozen pot roast through the top of the skull.

23 posted on 10/08/2006 4:59:53 PM PDT by delacoert
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To: TomGuy
The strychnine in the well comes off as a half a*s attempt at causing fear by someone who has the IQ of a tomato. Where I work we teach people how to operate water/wastewater systems and every one of our instructors says poisoning a water system is one of the most ineffective terror tactics that could be employed.

The e-coli is just a naturally occurring hazard. It has happened before and it will happen again.

24 posted on 10/08/2006 5:00:57 PM PDT by COEXERJ145 (Free Republic is Currently Suffering a Pandemic of “Bush Derangement Syndrome.”)
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To: steveo
"Does that work so quick?"
Don't know - I'm not a pathologist, only a chemist. A forensic pathologist would know, or maybe Dr. Kevorkian. I suspect it would depend on the dose.
25 posted on 10/08/2006 5:02:00 PM PDT by GSlob
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To: kinoxi

I respectfully disagree. The MSM and other way-out-there leftists have contributed to the resistance that is fighting democratic rule there.


26 posted on 10/08/2006 5:02:31 PM PDT by SuzyQue (Remember to think.)
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To: GSlob
Bleeding? Coumarin blood thinning rat poison?

Warfarin. Rat Poison.

27 posted on 10/08/2006 5:06:33 PM PDT by Gorzaloon ("Illegal Immigrant": The Larval form of A Democrat.)
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To: Cap Huff

A worrying twist..


28 posted on 10/08/2006 5:13:18 PM PDT by Dog
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To: Gorzaloon

yep. Chemically it belongs to coumarin family. That much I still remembered, but the word 'warfarin" somehow eluded me at the time. Hopefully, it's only the lousy memory and not an alzheimer onset.


29 posted on 10/08/2006 5:13:25 PM PDT by GSlob
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To: Dog

This is scary, extremely scary.

The Abu Ghraib prisoners now under Iraqi management should be made to be food tasters. Every last one of them.

This is an evil, uncivilized enemy we face.

):^(


30 posted on 10/08/2006 5:16:03 PM PDT by elcid1970
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To: concerned about politics
The only thing close in what small reading I have done is Ricin:

Ingestion: If someone swallows a significant amount of ricin, he or she would develop vomiting and diarrhea that may become bloody. Severe dehydration may be the result, followed by low blood pressure. Other signs or symptoms may include hallucinations, seizures, and blood in the urine. Within several days, the person’s liver, spleen, and kidneys might stop working, and the person could die.

The easiest place I have found to look is CDC Facts.

31 posted on 10/08/2006 5:18:14 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: ARealMothersSonForever
Frightening.
32 posted on 10/08/2006 5:18:32 PM PDT by BallyBill (Serial Hit-N-Run poster)
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To: ARealMothersSonForever

This is actually a huge story-but, the MSM will ignore the significance.
They're still fixated on the Foley foolishness.
The terrorists may have just tested a bio or chem weapon and it went undetected by those eating the food.
Coumadin lengthens the time blood takes to clot and it takes awhile for it to become effective.
I don't think even a massive overdose would work this quickly.
The police were spontaneously hemorrhaging and falling over-almost Ebola like.
Scary stuff.


33 posted on 10/08/2006 5:18:46 PM PDT by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: ARealMothersSonForever

Extremely disturbing. Prayers going up.


34 posted on 10/08/2006 5:19:09 PM PDT by doesnt suffer fools gladly (I wouldn't vote for a RAT if my life depended on it. Actually, my life does depend on it.)
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To: Wild Irish Rogue
The terrorists may have just tested a bio or chem weapon and it went undetected by those eating the food.

They just pulled a wmd attack..

35 posted on 10/08/2006 5:20:10 PM PDT by Dog
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To: GSlob

Same stuff that gives mexican vanilla it's unique flavor.


36 posted on 10/08/2006 5:20:46 PM PDT by SuzyQue (Remember to think.)
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To: SuzyQue

"its" darnit, not "it's"!


37 posted on 10/08/2006 5:21:13 PM PDT by SuzyQue (Remember to think.)
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To: Wild Irish Rogue; All
Coumadin lengthens the time blood takes to clot and it takes awhile for it to become effective.

Let me toss out a question....can you juice Coumadin up to make it faster acting?

38 posted on 10/08/2006 5:22:25 PM PDT by Dog
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To: Gorzaloon

If you put enough of that stuff in food to poison that many people, wouldn't the taste be noticeable? I think it must be some kind of exotic poison that is lethal in small doses that nobody would notice.


39 posted on 10/08/2006 5:23:41 PM PDT by balch3
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To: SuzyQue
A link on the the assumed culprit.
40 posted on 10/08/2006 5:23:51 PM PDT by kinoxi (.)
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