Special forces already inside Iraq: Chemical response expected to U.S. Operation Iraqi Freedom

NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES ^ | March 18, 2003 | Jim Miklaszewski

[estjohn]

U.S. special forces and CIA agents have already entered Iraq and are scouting potential targets, gathering intelligence and preparing the battlefield for a U.S. invasion that would likely be code-named Operation Iraqi Freedom, military sources told NBC News on Tuesday.

[snip]

They also revealed that intelligence reports were indicating that Saddam was preparing to use chemical weapons against U.S. troops.

Artillery shells with chemical warheads were being handed out to troops of Saddam's elite Republican Guard at Al Kut, southeast of Baghdad, the reports indicated, while preparations were under way to coat bridges and roadways with a lethal VX nerve agent to slow U.S. troops on their advance to Baghdad.

U.S. intelligence reports also indicated that Saddam had as many as 50 unmanned drones he could use to attack U.S. troops with chemical weapons from the air, the sources told NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski.

[CharacterCounts]

Where do the profits go? French companies take their profits to france.

And where will that non-French competitor have its plants located? Could be the US or some other country. Assuming that the lost job will stay in America is without basis.

[ishmac]

I would also like to know why, if we somehow can know that this material is being deployed, why not hit the VX depot with a predator and release the material amongst the Iraqi troops in advance of our advance?

That could happen, but much of the agent would probably be destroyed in a fireball after impact. Also, chem weapons tend to be volatile, so the remaining agent wouldn't persist forever. I'm not up on the staying power of VX, though.

The another easy thing to do is blaze through the area with M1A2 tanks, which are protected against chem/bio weapons. Following units could steer clear of the area until the volatility of the agent neutralizes itself.

[Robert357]

NO, NO, NO, this can't be true, this must be propaganda. After all the ruler of Iraq and his UN spokesperson have indicated that Irag has not weapons of mass destruction, they were all destroyed years ago! Also Hans Blik and his team of inspectors has found nothing. Therefore, there must not be any chemical or biological weapons! This report must not be correct.....(/sarcasm)

OK, so one of the conditions of ending hostilities in the Gulf war of 1991 was that Iraq would agree to disarm and end hostilities. Never happened and so we are now resuming hostilities after an interim to enforce some of the original terms and conditions and insure that a new reguime lives up to the obligations associated with the surrender terms Iraq agreed to previously.

[Chuckster]

Well, in the olden days, 1966-1980, a rocket landing in the ammo pit would just scatter the un-fused rounds. They wouldn't explode. Of course the Iraqis may handle their artillery projectiles differently but in the US Army, the fuses are not usually affixed to the projo until just before firing. Its almost impossible, IIRC, to set of an un-fused round, especially one designed to deliver nerve agent which is not packed with HE.

These things aren't like a .30-'06 round. The projectile and the powder charge are kept seperate until they are loaded into the weapon.

[hoosiermama]

"There are 30 surgically altered bodyguards which look just like him."

So at least 31 individual can claim, "I shot and killed Sadam!"

As to the under ground cavern. In order to live underground one still must have a supply of food/water/air and I would think energy of some type. One cannot just live underground indefinately.

[Atlas Sneezed]

"And where will that non-French competitor have its plants located? Could be the US or some other country"

Not if it is a hotel chain or yogurt maker, or any of the other French-owned businesses that would not be employing Americans unless they HAD to for economic reasons.

[Atlas Sneezed]

"Suppose you had been working there for 20 years and knew the french are spineless but not the new enemy, and if you got the pink slip you take a huge pay cut and lost a bunch of retirement?"

If you can't earn the same money working for the folks who compete with your frog owners, then you don't deserve the high pay.

American yogurt production workers won't go without jobs if Dannon goes under here.

And if you rely on a foreign company for your retirement, you are almost as much as a fool as if you relied on American government.