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.

[Nebr FAL owner]

According to my copy of TM 3-215 Military chemistry & chemical agents distilled mustard gas

CHEMICAL NAME Bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide
FORMULA (ClCH2CH2)2S

MEDIAN CONCENTRATION DETECTED BY ODOR 1.2mg/m3
MEDIAN LETHAL DOSAGE inhalation. 1500mg-min/m3
skin absoption. 2000mg-min/m3

MEDIAN INCAPACITATING DOSE
eye injury 200mg-min/m3
RATE OF DETOXIFICATION NOT DETOXIFIED
Even small repeated exposures are cumulative repeated exposures will lead to 100% disability by irratating the lungs & causeing chronic chest pain, coughingshortness of breath.

[A Navy Vet]

Okay. Guess I was thinking of something more along the worse than tear gas but not as bad as has been described here. So much for my NBC training.

[jpl]

Now let's see if these canisters are listed on the so-called inventory Iraq is supposed to release tomorrow.

I thought they had until Sunday to release the full list.

[dighton]

Mustard gas in fairly great detail.

[SerpentDove]

Only problem is, I don't think Bush is gonna show much patience.

Bombs away.

[A Navy Vet]

"...more along the worse than tear gas..."

I can speak English. I really can.

[Nebr FAL owner]

Yes its is possible that a person would be exposed in WW2 between tests & field exercises & accidents that happened a Bari Italy when a Liberty ship full of bulk Mustard gas containers got sunk in a air raid . You can also bet that the VA/DoD deny that any such exposure took place.

[johnb838]

Sounds like the peace in our lifetime crowd had advocates during WWI as well.

Damn right. I watched that PBS documentary on Mark Twain and I'm quite sure that if he were alive today he would be spewing that 'peace at any cost' crap. In fact I'm not so sure that he wasn't the model for the liberal/socialist/PC movement thats been trying to destroy this country ever since. People like Pete Seegar, Woodie Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie... I think you can see where I'm going with this.

[Theo]

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....

[Petronski]

I just checked the French press. No mention of this yet. I won't hold my breath...

[johnb838]

I don't think Iraqi heat would stop us any more than the Afghan winter did. Do they think our tanks don't have air conditioning to kill you in comfort^tm?

Muhhahahahahahaa@!!!!!

[rmlew]

Saddam Hussein used this stuff against the Kurds at Hallaba.
Nice picts of kids blinded and asphyxiating from this stuff.
Frankly I'd like to have every member of the Ba'ath party exposed to this agent.

[Cachelot]

I'm certain there will be an explanation forthcoming. HA!

Indeed. Kofi the Monkeycloud has one:

They found a few Custard Shells. C-U-S-T-A-R-D. You can say what you want about the iraqis, but they set a nice table for us.

[knighthawk]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/comp/articleshow?artid=30299114

UN experts secure Iraqi mustard gas shells

AFP[ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 05, 2002 02:36:54 AM ]

BAGHDAD: UN arms experts secured a stock of mustard gas shells already inventoried by a previous inspections mission during a visit on Wednesday to a huge complex in the Iraqi desert, team leader Dimitri Perricos told reporters.

"We wanted to make sure that the mustard shells which were not destroyed were still there," said Perricos after the visit to the al-Muthanna facility, 150 KMs north of the capital, where Iraq launched its chemical and biological weapons research in 1985.

"It's a pretty good quantity of mustard," he said explaining that the shells had been transferred to the desert site by the former UN Special Commission in 1998.

"There is no leakage," he said.

"We should proceed with the procedure of destruction. They have been stored in a safe place."

[spokeshave]

"It's a pretty good quantity of mustard (gas)"

Sounds like a Monty Python episode with the Black Knight

[Cobra64]

Grey Poupon! Saddam likes the very best.Should be Grey "Poopon"

[arkfreepdom]

"Yes its is possible that a person would be exposed in WW2 between tests & field exercises & accidents that happened a Bari Italy when a Liberty ship full of bulk Mustard gas containers got sunk in a air raid . You can also bet that the VA/DoD deny that any such exposure took place."


Right you are. This particular patient was exposed in a "test" here in the US. Surprisingly, the DOD does admit to the cause. He was one of the people in a story about the incident.

[agrace]

Oh yes there was. Today they came out and called the UN inspectors spies for the CIA and Mossad. No wonder they ratcheted up the rhetoric, now it makes sense.

[Yaelle]

They found a few Custard Shells. C-U-S-T-A-R-D.

ROFL!!!

[Yaelle]

So basically they just dug up the remains of the weapons buried by previous inspection teams?