I am saddened, deeply saddened by these reports.
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.
According to the extremely credible "AFP"
ALL are still being tested.
Yes, the reports ARE confused.
Yes, depraved as that is, but more importantly, this is at the very boundary of the RED ZONE and obviously were being installed by those guys in chemical suits last week as weapons to explode as our troops came by there! Fortunately they were caught.
Connect the dots.
Pay attention to the third paragraph. I'll highlight it for you.
Early tests for chemical agents at the compound were inconsistent. Some showed the presence of so-called G-Series nerve agents, which include tabun and sarin, both of which Iraq has been known to possess.A hand-held scanning device also indicated the soldiers had been exposed to a nerve agent. Other tests, however, came back negative.
More precise tests by an Army Fox mobile nuclear, biological and chemical detection laboratory indicated the existence of sarin and triggered the evacuation of the captured military compound by dozens of soldiers.
Above from a Knight Ridder report in Sydney Morning Herald, linked here
And pesticides are incredibly chemically similar to nerve agents; it's just nerve gas for bugs.
It's interesting you think Iraqi military compounds keep pesticides around but not chemical warfare agents.
Not particularly rational are you?
You seem to be making a case that Iraq does not have any chemical weapons. Is this your contention?
I blame that on the media.
Central Command will NOT talk, PERIOD, unless there is no danger in them talking.
There's definitely a downside to embedded reporters.
Ah, John, I hate to interupt a perfectly good tirade, but, the USMC has a NBC team attached to the 101st.
Semper Fi
Absolutely. The new strategery of the Left is to call every chemical a pesticide. If we follow this criteria, there's no WMD in Iraq. Even if missiles and artillery shells are filled with "pesticides" instead of easily identifiable WMD, they are still illegal because they are meant to be used against human beings in combat. But the Left is trying to blur the issue and move the goal posts once again.
The Left: "There is no WMD in Iraq. Iraq is simply a country stocked full of pesticides, not weapons."
I don't know. But the vomit-inducing agent DM was frequently mixed with other agents, particularly the riot control agent CN, to force those affected to remove protective masks, allowing the primary agent to do its work. Others used chlorpicrin [nitrochloroform] in a similar fashion.
And it's possible that some of the more recent binary agents such as the Russian Binary agents *Novichok 5* and *Novichok 7* might react differently on our M256 Chemical Detection sets, one reason why the inclusion of German fuchs armored cars with automated chemical analysis equipment aboard was considered so critical for inclusion on this mission.
And since that *Substance 33*, *Substance A-230/232/234/* or other affiliated novichok agents are binary, and therefore not covered under ChemWar Conventions, Iraq could have technically have it but still say it's not WMD.
And as it's reported to pass through protective masks, including Israeli and to have been exported to or made locally in Iraq with combination of common organophosphate and another chemical used in industry, it quickly becomes a very likely possibility- and a good reason for our troops using the M256 and M8A1 ACADA CBR detectors to be real careful.
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