Saddam's chemical belt: report

Associated Press | March 1, 2003

[HAL9000]

IRAQI President Saddam Hussein has considered surrounding Baghdad with a "belt" of chemical weapons that could be activated during a war, a dissident Iraqi exile said on CNN television today.

"There was a report from the resistance groups inside Iraq that Saddam has considered setting up a chemical belt around Baghdad, entrapping about 4 million residents in the city and using them as a human shield," Hussein Al-Shahristani told the network.

"That is what I heard from some political activists inside the country recently."

CNN described Shahristani as a former nuclear researcher who left Iraq after spending 12 years in prison, from 1979 to 1991.

The chemical weapons would be shallowly buried, spaced about 100m apart, and linked to detonators at Saddam's command centre, he said.

"Whenever he decides the time is right, he will try to detonate it so as to entrap the people inside the city and also to hinder the advancement of the troops to the city," he said.

Sharistani said he was "sure" Saddam would want to build the chemical weapons belt but that many of his soldiers might turn against him before it is done, the network reported.

He said UN weapons inspectors had not been able to detect the regime's neurotoxic agents because they are hidden in secret tunnels.

[ScholarWarrior]

Okey dokey.

[exnavy]

Let's see, 4 million muslims going up in smoke. HMMMM.....

That's a real tragedy ....

[william clark]

So now our advance ground forces will be equipped with Ritters.

[Cicero]

My first thought was, Is Saddam going to don a suicide belt? If so, I'm sure it would be the Mother of Suicide Belts.

[thoughtomator]

Let's send in the U.N. inspectors as canaries since they're so good at detecting these sorts of things.

[Pearls Before Swine]

We could start an attack and call it off. Then Blixie would know where to look for the chemical weapons he couldn't find before!

[Terry Mross]

How is he going to do this? He doesn't have any chemical weapons. (sarcasm)

I guess Saddam doesn't realize that missiles and daisy cutter bombs are not stopped by chemicals.

[Mrs.Liberty]

Are these the WMD he says he does not have, and that the liberals say he does not have? If he doesn't have these weapons, how can he surround himself with them?

[Momaw Nadon]

Attack on Iraq Betting Pool

[Pearls Before Swine]

Are these the WMD he says he does not have, and that the liberals say he does not have?

Yep, These are the very same ones.

[meenie]

There is a slight problem with this story. Winds would have to blow in some direction to affect the opposing troops. In other directions the wind would blow over Saddam's area. This is not the most logical story ever told. Oh, I get it, Allah creates a huge cyclone with Baghdad in the center and saves every soul in Baghdad. Shazaam!

[JustPiper]

We could start an attack and call it off. Then Blixie would know where to look for the chemical weapons he couldn't find before!

I like this resourcefullness and imagination!