MSNBC - Cyanide & Mustard Agents Found in Euphrates River

MSNBC | 4/04/03

[jerseygirl]

"Here comes the hippies in the rubber rafts!" I am laughing so hard picturing this-thankfully no one posted a picture of same!

[emt_27]

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is highly effective at removing impurities from drinking water. Mustard agents work by reacting with the water in your respriatory system to form Hydrochloric Acid and the resulting injuries prevent Oxygen from reaching your blood stream. Placing Mustard agents in water to poison troops would be totally ineffective as it has to be delivered airborne. Cyanide is a highly effective poison delivered orally but is totally removed by RO. If this was an effort to poison Marines it was planned by Abbott & Costello.

[rwfromkansas]

hmm??

[unspun]

Good! We've got the hot dogs!

[shhrubbery!]

This should be shouted from the rooftops.

[Herodotus]

I think that's about as much as the doctor on MSNBC was saying too...so we can't rule out that it was an attempt to poison the waters by a bunch of idiots rather than a coordinated attack. Or it was just a dumping of the incriminating evidence coincidentally moments before the Marine osmosis team showed up.

[Spook86]

I'm not a biochemist, but if Dr. Bob's report is correct, shouldn't there be some additional evidence, i.e. large numbers of dead fish, kill by high concentrations of the agents before it became diluted? Just wondering....

[kattracks]

I imagine that might be the case where the chemicals were dumped into the river.

[mewzilla]

CHARGE!!!

[r9etb]

Iraqis dump 500,000 tons of raw sewage a day into the Tigris, Euphrates and key tributaries.

So I guess to hide the cyanide and mustard gas from Hans and pals, they musta used the old heroin smuggling technique of swallowing the stuff in small balloons.....

[wjcsux]

OOOOHhhh, this is going to make the environmentalist antiwar protestors mad. Saddam could blow away all his people, kill all our guys, but for heavens sake, he contaminated a river? Its going to get ugly quick :)

Environmental laws aren't applicable to despotic governments that murder their own citizens.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Shit! This won't delay fishing season will it?

[spokeshave]

There was a story a day or so ago of two soldiers drowned when ordered to swim across one of the rivers....was in the context of their commander getting canned...but could be related....?

[JimDingle]

ignorance is blix

[PhiKapMom]

Good question.

They just had an updated on MSNBC about these chemicals and the military believes they were dumped near where we filter the water on purpose. Too high of concentration not to have been dumped recently.

[Nevermore]

The water purification and distribution systems of Iraq are very dilapidated,'' Keele said. ''The pipes are crumbling and the sewage treatment plants are in dire repair. Before the war, more than 5 million people, about 20% of Iraq's population, lacked access to safe drinking water."

This in what is one of the most oil-rich countries in the world. Saddam's legacy.

[Ethyl]

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is highly effective at removing impurities from drinking water. Mustard agents work by reacting with the water in your respriatory system to form Hydrochloric Acid and the resulting injuries prevent Oxygen from reaching your blood stream. Placing Mustard agents in water to poison troops would be totally ineffective as it has to be delivered airborne. Cyanide is a highly effective poison delivered orally but is totally removed by RO. If this was an effort to poison Marines it was planned by Abbott & Costello.


I think they were dumping it, so as not to get caught with it. If this is true, expect a huge fish kill.

[fire_eye]

Maybe we should send Hans over there to taste test it.

*That* is what my wife keeps saying - "If Blix is so sure there are no chemical weapons over there, he should be willing to get right out in the front lines to play canary-in-the-coal-mine".

(Damn, I love that woman...)

[lonevoice]

Was this ever reported by anyone other than MSNBC? Or confirmed by any agency?