UN Inspectors find Mustard Gas Shells

AP | 12/05/2002

[rumrunner]

Demetrius Perricos, who is leading one of the U.N. inspection teams in Iraq, said Wednesday his team of international arms experts secured about a dozen Iraqi artillery shells containing the mustard liquid agent.

[Steve Eisenberg]

Looks like there may be an innocent explanation, one that is in Iraq'a favor....

Of course there is. The fact is that these missiles were previously tagged by the Richard Butler UN inspectors who did not get a chance to destroy them before being kicked out in 1998. If they were NOT there, this would be mean the inspectors had actually found something, since then the mustard would be in an unauthorized place unknown.

Get it? The UN inspectors are going to the the exact places where they are least likely to find anything untowards -- places the Iraqis know they are going to, like those palaces. The real stuff is disbursed in hidden locations almost impossible to find except perhaps through interviews with defectors. Instead the UN will interview in-country Iraqi engineers who face torture if they spill the beans.

What happenned? Last night, most posters here seemed to understand that the UN inspectors are there to protect their dream of world government. Tonight posters (not Theo, I think) actually believe in the inspection regime. Unbelieveable.

[EternalVigilance]

Okay, now we knoe one thing fer sure...

Saddam and his crack troops are prepared to fight a world war...World War One.

;-)

[Steve Eisenberg]

Today they came out and called the UN inspectors spies for the CIA and Mossad.

I doubt it, but one can dream, right?

Actually, no. Blix doesn't mind if one of his inspectors is into S&M (Washington Post story, surely discussed on another thread), but you can be sure he keeps off his teams members of the named honorable orgainization.

[EternalHope]

A chemical agent was discovered by UN inspectors today and you don't consider this to be a breaking news item?

It was NOT posted as breaking news at the time I read it. Hence my question, "Breaking News?"

It obviously qualified, and that is where you read it.

[weegee]

Some of the weapons movement has been tracked by spy satellite. Don't know when they'll start looking where stockpiles are likely to be found.

Just destroy the mustard shells and be done with it (I understand that there wasn't time to oversee the destruction before).

[weegee]

Ooooh I hate the Kaiser...

[Dutchgirl]

Doubtless Hans Blix is on the phone with the Security Council playing CYA even as we post which is why he will soon be replaced with this man...

[isom35]

mmmmm...mustard...I put it on my sammiches, and I love Chinese mustard on shrimp egg rolls.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Grey Poupon! Saddam likes the very best.

Sacre bleu! Even French haven't been able to weaponize Grey Poupon!

[Dutchgirl]

what breifly followed was an image of "The Continental" from SNL w/ Christopher Walken.

[henderson field]

This is the mustard gas that the UN inspectors already knew about and that is OK with them.

[Riley]

My husbands great uncle was killed by the Germans in WWI with mustard gas.

My grandfather was at Ypres with the Canadian Forces, and had gas burns in his lungs from it. Bad stuff.

[Revolting cat!]

"Pardon me, would you have some Grey Poupon?"

[Riley]

mmmmm...mustard...I put it on my sammiches, and I love Chinese mustard on shrimp egg rolls.

Stop that now, you're making me hungry. I mix the mustard 50/50 with weapons-grade hot oil, though.

[ModelBreaker]

My grandfather fought in WWI and had horrible mustard gas scars on his arm 'til the day he died at 96.

[Magoo]

Washington dismissed Iraq's statement and demanded a more aggressive U.N. hunt for arms of mass destruction as inspectors in Iraq trudged past camels and through a foul-smelling desert site. So far they have found nothing untoward, apart from some old artillery shells containing mustard gas that the U.N. already knew about.

I think this needs repeating. Too bad the real evidence is still waiting to be found.

[Route66]

'So far they have found nothing untoward, apart from
some old artillery shells containing mustard gas that the U.N. already knew about.'
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I understand the explanation, but I don't understand how it fits with the continued denial by the Iraqis of possessing ANY WMD's. Are they busy adding a PS to their report that says 'except for a few canisters of mustard gas that the UN already knew about'? Since they are playing a game with all of us here, you would think they would at least acknowledge the things they know we are already monitoring rather than continue with these ridiculous blanket denials. [...unless of course someone can come up with a great alternative use for mustard gas thereby making it a 'dual use' item.]

[bluefish]

Sounds like someone screwed up at the UN. Whoever was supposed to notify the Iraqis of the inspection schedule, failed to to do so. This stuff wasn't supposed to be found. Iraq has no WMD, you know. [sarcasm off]

Which is exactly why they are covering for Iraq by letting them know what they found BEFORE Iraq releases their little list. Of course the cannisters will now be on it. "We weren't hiding anything!" they will protest.

[bluefish]

The UNMOVIC team was able to confirm that a stock of mustard gas shells left at al-Muthanna by its predecessors, who pulled out in 1998, had not been tampered with ...

Looks like there may be an innocent explanation, one that is in Iraq'a favor....

Begs the question. If this is some deserted installation where no current Iraqi weapons folks are hanging out, and this is so easily confirmed, why were the UN inspectors wasting their time there?

The inspections are a stupid show. The fact remains that the UN has $250 Million set aside from Iraq's oil for food sales, and they don't want a war b/c they would rather keep spending this fat bank account. It is all a stupid charade. Kofi and his gang of thieving corrupt 3rd world dictators should be "dismantled" before the Iraqi regime.

[wharfrat]

A point of reference here please! If this is a cashe of a dozen or so Mustard Gas Shells the previous inspectors found and did not get to properly dispose of and they are not or have not been tampered with. Is it just barely possible that this is a small cashe of a much larger production run that has been split up and separated to other various locations! A red herring of sorts, perhaps maybe a not so easilly explained away isolated incident!