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Initial tests suggest WMD "cocktail" found in Iraq
Monday, April 7, 2003

Posted on 04/07/2003 10:09:00 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

Initial tests suggest WMD "cocktail" found in Iraq

KERBALA, Iraq, April 7 (Reuters) - Preliminary tests on substances found at a military training camp in central Iraq suggest they contain a cocktail of banned chemical weapons, including deadly nerve agents, U.S. officers said on Monday.

Major Michael Hamlet of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division said the initial tests revealed levels of nerve agents sarin and tabun and the blister agent lewisite, Reuters correspondent Kieran Murray reported from a U.S. military post at Kerbala.

Hamlet said a team of experts would carry out further tests as early as Tuesday on the substances, discovered at the camp in Albu Mahawish, on the Euphrates river between the central Iraqi cities of Kerbala and Hilla, site of ancient Babylon.

"If tests from our experts confirm this, this could be the smoking gun. It would prove (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) has the weapons we have said he has all along," Hamlet said. "But right now we just don't know."

The United States invaded Iraq on March 20 to overthrow Saddam and prevent him using banned chemical weapons. Many other members of the United Nations opposed the attack, saying U.N. inspectors should be given more time to disarm Iraq.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: warlist
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To: Daus
I'm guessing this is the ONLY cocktail not discovered by Hans Blix during his time in Iraq.

Cymbal crash

21 posted on 04/07/2003 10:20:50 AM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: JohnHuang2

22 posted on 04/07/2003 10:24:23 AM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
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To: Badabing Badaboom
To get positive tests for ALL of these substances from the same material suggests a test problem.

Orr....they could've been preparing to dump them/hide them and/or a commander in the field could have been disobeying orders to use them and was dumping them, etc. We shall see....surely we can wait for the say 4th week of the war to find out for sure???!?!?!

23 posted on 04/07/2003 10:24:25 AM PDT by sam_paine
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To: JohnHuang2
The United States invaded Iraq on March 20 to overthrow Saddam and prevent him using banned chemical weapons. Many other members of the United Nations opposed the attack, saying U.N. inspectors should be given more time to disarm Iraq.

In case anyone has forgotten, Reuters helpfully reminds its more gullible readers that the U.S. unilaterally invaded Iraq against the wishes of the peace-loving peoples of the world.

24 posted on 04/07/2003 10:24:47 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative (http://c-pol.com)
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To: JohnHuang2
Info on lewisite, sarin and tabun
25 posted on 04/07/2003 10:24:47 AM PDT by steveegg (The French have removed 1 leg from the UN; it is now LN (League of Nations).)
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To: mlbford2
.. make that dijon..
26 posted on 04/07/2003 10:27:45 AM PDT by Zipporah
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To: Cyber Liberty
I'm waiting for Dan Rather to tell me, so I'll know it's "so".

The most dangerous sentence in American broadcasting: "More people in America get their news from ABC NEWS than any other source."

27 posted on 04/07/2003 10:29:44 AM PDT by jriemer (We are a Republic not a Democracy)
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To: Constitutionalist Conservative
I notice that they have failed to remind people how Saddam gassed the Kurds, a few of his own villages, and the Iranians and has harbored terrorists.
Reuters is doing a fine propaganda job for the enemy.
28 posted on 04/07/2003 10:31:50 AM PDT by Darksheare (Nox aeternus en pax.)
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To: John H K
I believe the reporters have all had similar reports, its just that they have been holding them back in order to protect our troops. NPR was probably the first to decide to go with it.
29 posted on 04/07/2003 10:32:59 AM PDT by VRWC_minion (Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and most are right)
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To: JohnHuang2
This site is at the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon.
30 posted on 04/07/2003 10:33:53 AM PDT by Prince Charles
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.

All righty then.

Tom Daschle is deeply saddened?
31 posted on 04/07/2003 10:39:52 AM PDT by GretchenEE (We export freedom)
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To: VRWC_minion
If they have real missles, filled with practically ANY chemical like some reports have it, it's game, set, and match. No way to spin this as "missle delivered insecticide" or any other way. If it's filled with Windex (tm), it will make the UN/France/etc. look like the Blixes they are. (Blix: see Clymer)
32 posted on 04/07/2003 10:41:21 AM PDT by epluribus_2
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To: ErnBatavia
Actually, all of the chem suits and atropine injectors come standard with the Baghdad McDonalds Happy Meals!
33 posted on 04/07/2003 10:42:40 AM PDT by aegiscg47
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To: Badabing Badaboom
"To get positive tests for ALL of these substances from the same material suggests a test problem. I also think it's unlikley that the blister agent lewisite would be compatible chemically with sarin and tabun."

They found over 50 barrels of stuff, and the Iraqis are notorious for just tossing things together in storage facilities. After the Guf War, our forces found chemical warheads mixed together with chemical warheads.

I agree with your assessment it's unlikely all the compounds were found in the same barrels together, or it would probably be a problem with the test....but they were just as likely to be in seperate barrels in the same facility.

34 posted on 04/07/2003 11:00:32 AM PDT by cake_crumb (UN Resolutions= Very Expensive, Very SCRATCHY Toilet Paper)
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To: cake_crumb
"After the Guf War, our forces found chemical warheads mixed together with chemical warheads."

UH....correction : "After the Gulf War, our forces found chemical warheads mixed together with CONVENTIONAL warheads."

**SIGH**...need more caffeine. Must be the snowstorm...

35 posted on 04/07/2003 11:06:12 AM PDT by cake_crumb (UN Resolutions= Very Expensive, Very SCRATCHY Toilet Paper)
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To: steveegg
Quote from the "expert" on SkyNews:

"Lewisite was invented by a Major Lewis who wanted something nastier than mustard gas. He is on record as saying Lewisite makes mustard gas look like fine French scent".

Scary, I'm just glad none of our boys have been hit with this stuff yet.
36 posted on 04/07/2003 11:07:54 AM PDT by alnitak
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To: steveegg
From your site: "they may persist in air for a few days before being broken down".

Scarier still.
37 posted on 04/07/2003 11:10:29 AM PDT by alnitak
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To: alnitak
Isn't my site; the Centers for Disease Control have that info.
38 posted on 04/07/2003 11:13:19 AM PDT by steveegg (The French have removed 1 leg from the UN; it is now LN (League of Nations).)
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To: 2nd amendment mama
All this hype for nothing. It was only pesticides.
39 posted on 04/07/2003 11:15:20 AM PDT by Quick1
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To: JohnHuang2
I am "saddened" that the UN failed so miserably in diplomacy that these weapons were allowed to exist. Take that, Daschle.
40 posted on 04/07/2003 11:18:51 AM PDT by BSunday (Two words, Saddam - Buh-bye)
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