Americans May Have Found Mustard Gas (and Nerve Agents)

New York Times ^ | April 7, 2003 | BERNARD WEINRAUB

[HAL9000]

Americans May Have Found Mustard Gas

V CORPS HEADQUARTERS, in northern Kuwait, April 7 ? American soldiers searching an empty military training camp in the Karbala area have found several drums that, according to preliminary tests, may contain deadly nerve agents and mustard gas.

Officials here promptly notifed the Defense Department about the discovery, which was made on Sunday. "We're treating it as real, we're reporting it as real," said Col. Tim Madere, the top chemical warfare officer in the V Corps of the Army.

But additional tests must be conducted before the possibility of a false reading can be excluded. Military officials say that many industrial chemicals can cause false alarms, and that they do not want to make public charges unless they are irrefutable.

A team from the 75th Exploitation Task Force, a special unit that tests suspected sites for weapons of mass destruction, is scheduled to visit the site on Tuesday. The team, the premier military unit here looking for chemical and biological weapons, is expected to take samples from the drums and send them to laboratories in the United States and Britain.

The Army's V Corps also plans additional tests.

Asked about the discovery in Washington today, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged caution. "We have to recognize that almost all first reports that we get turn out to be wrong," he said. "There tend to be changes in them. And as a result, we have to take our time and look at it."

Colonel Madere said soldiers from the 101st Airbone Division were on a mission on Sunday to the north side of the town of Hindiya, east of Karbala, searching for an Iraqi weapons cache indicated on a captured map that showed various potential arms sites.

Colonel Madere said the soldiers came upon an empty training camp that the Army believed may have been a base for Iraqi paramilitaries or Palestinians and other foreigners seeking to help defend Iraq.

The soldiers discovered an unusually large amount of chemical protection gear, and instead of weapons, they found several canisters on the site. At that point, they called in their chemical unit.

What happened next is a little unclear, but several soldiers became ill, and the soldiers quickly put on their chemical protection gear.

On Sunday night, members of the chemical unit reported that they had identified the problem as CN, a riot control gas that causes vomiting and blisters. Colonel Madere said he did not believe the soldiers were seriously ill.

Colonel Madere said the chemical team stayed overnight to check several other large drums. This morning, the team tested a 20-gallon drum and received positive indications for sarin and tabun, two nerve agents.

Tests on a 55-gallon drum came up positive for mustard gas.

The team was then ordered to take samples immediately to a laboratory set up in Iraq to test for chemical weapons. Those results are expected Tuesday or Wednesday, though definitive results are expected to come from labs in the United States.

Brig. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, deputy commander of the 101st Airborne, noted that the chemicals had not been packaged into warheads or artillery shells. "These certainly were not weaponized," General Freakley said of the chemicals found in Hindiya.

But American officials said it was especially ominous that the chemicals were found in what might have been a training camp for non-Iraqis. Slogans on the walls, saying "Palestine for Palestinians," and other evidence pointed to the possibility that the camp may have been a training base for non-Iraqis, they said.

The Bush administration's main argument for going to war against Iraq was that Saddam Hussein's government had a cache of chemical and biological weapons, could share them with foreign terrorist groups which might then use them to attack the United States or other countries and had managed to hide the weapons from United Nations inspectors.

American forces in Iraq have made a high priority of the search for weapons of mass destruction. Military officials have said they believe Iraq was hiding the weapons near Baghdad. Advancing allied troops have tested several sites in Iraq for chemical or biological weapons since the start of the war 19 days ago, but all of the results have been negative so far.

The Iraqi government has scoffed at accusations that it has nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

Mustard gas burns or blisters exposed skin, eyes and lungs. It can remain a hazard for days, and untreated, can cause death.

Sarin and tabun are nerve agents that can act within seconds of absorption through the skin or inhalation. If not treated immediately, exposure can lead to convulsions, loss of consciousness and death.

During the 1980's, Iraq had a substantial chemical warfare capability that it used in its war with Iran and against its own Kurdish minority in the north.

An unclassified Central Intelligence Agency report said that Iraqi forces killed or injured more than 20,000 people in multiple attacks using the mustard gas and sarin and tabun delivered in aerial bombs, rockets and artillery shells.

[MEG33]

Someone said Skynews reporting it was not banned chemical...I have no idea if it's true.

[HAL9000]

AFP is quoting Capt. Adam Mastriani as saying it was probably mustard gas

AFP also quotes Lt. Eric Lake as saying five soldiers exposed to the substance are now hospitalized, and are expected to survive.

[fuzzy122]

A Special Project of the American Family Association

Sign The World's Biggest Thank You Card to PFC. Jessica Lynch & Our Other Troops! Dear WePledge.com member, On Tuesday, April 2, 2003, U.S. special operations forces slipped behind enemy lines and seized POW PFC. Jessica Lynch from the Saddam hospital nine days after her capture by Iraqi soldiers. On Friday, May 16, American Family Association (AFA) will deliver THE WORLD'S BIGGEST THANK YOU CARD to the home of PFC. Jessica Lynch in Palestine, West Virginia. We want your signature on it. Click here to read and electronically sign Jessica's Thank You Card. After you have signed Jessica's card, forward this email to your family members and friends! Let's make this the WORLD'S BIGGEST THANK YOU CARD! Read & Sign The Card To Jessica & Our Troops! Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon, Chairman American Family Association

[Paradox]

There were two sets of drums, one of them contained pesticide. The other drums were buried and/or hidden, and apparently they field tested pretty high for WMD. They are awaiting the "real" test results.

[nopardons]

And just WHAT are we supposedly thanking Jessica fore ; being a POW ?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[fuzzy122]

Ya. You're right. She didn't do anything more than you or me. Right? </sarcasm>

[brickdds]

I posed the question as to why she was being called a hero and didn't hear the end of it from some sanctimonious self-righteous idiots here. I guess you can't be too free with ideas here; some morons like to hide behind the PC rhetoric. You know the types who cheapen the true meaning of the word. I am sorry but heroism denotes taking a risk to oneself given that foreknowledge that you are putting yourself in grave danger in the effort to aid or save someone else. It doesn't quite apply to making a wrong turn in the desert. I think the term lucky is really more accurate. The special forces who rescued her and the Iraqi who informed the troops of her whereabouts ARE heroes in my book.

[nopardons]

She didn't do more than she was called upon to do. Not all POWs are " heros ", just because they're POWs ! Those who resqued her and the Iraqi, who made her resque possible...THOSE ARE HEROS AND DESERVE THANKS.

This way over the top garbage, about Lynch, is pathetic !

[nopardons]

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT !

All of this damned " touchy-feely " , PC garbage, especially here, on FR, is beyond belief. Have so many been SO dumbed down / not understand simple English, that they actually believe this stuff ? It's disgusting and disheartening !

Words mean things; specific things. Jessica Lynch is NO " heroine " ( female version of hero; just another proof that people no longer know their own mother tongue ! ) ; she's " lucky " .

Just being a POW, does NOT make one an hero, nor an heroine. She did NOTHING heroic ; nothing at all.

[brickdds]

You are right on the money. It's so reminiscent of the John McCain syndrome. It seems that POW status for Jesica is elevating her to sainthood. Let's keep things in perspective. The heroes have given their lives and deserve our respect and honor as do those warriors whose courage and gallantry in action are the reason we are winning this war.

[brickdds]

There are no shortages of heroes in this country's military. It is unfortunate that the kids know who Harriet Tubman and Malcolm X were but can give you nothing more than a vacuous stare in response to asking them who John Basilone, Chesty Puller or even General Patton were. Pathetic.

[fuzzy122]

Maybe people are are thanking ALL those who died to the only one left alive. The rest of the soldiers will get their thanks too. It's not a limited item ya know. I'll be at the parades for the returning heroes with my son. But why should I NOT show her my gratitude for all the suffering and the torture she endured surving MY COUNTRY!

Explain to me why I should disrespect her - exactly.

[nopardons]

Yes...the patently ridiculous John McCain syndrome strikes again. YUCK !

Being a POW has absolutely NOTHING, whatsoever, with heroics; quite the opposite, usually and especially in McCain's case.

Lynch has done NOTHING " heroic ", but to survive. She joined up for the WRONG reason, and now, some people seem to think ( feel ) that she is some sort of " glorified Saint Joan. "

Your evaluations are spot on...too bad that too few,seem to understand ! :-)

[nopardons]

You're in great need of learning English, logic, and reason.

Our troops, indeed, deserve our thanks ; except the Black Muslim, who fragged his own. My point is ( and something you fail to see/comprehend ) is that she should NOT be singled out, as she is being, in this thread. And, you, nor anyone else, " owe her anything ", for the torture & suffering she's endured. "Disrespect " has nothing to do with what I'm saying. Another simple English word, that you fail to understand.

[brickdds]

I believe she will be the poster child for the 'Clinton kids' military. "Hey, wanna teach kindergarten, come join us in the US Army!"
I remember G. Gordon Liddy going off on a female in the army who shared that mentality. Let's face it, it is the Clintonization of the military. Thankfully the WARRIORS are not affected in the same way. Watching the basic training programs on the army on TLC really raised my doubts about the post Clinton military. But they have done awesome, in spite of Clinton.

[HAL9000]

If the reports are accurate - she fought to the last bullet, killed several enemy and survived torture. In my opinion, she is a hero.

[nopardons]

Yes, yes, and YES to ALL you've said. :-)

It's shocking that some FREEPERs have about the same mental capacity, as DUers.

G.Gordon pulls no punches and is SO right about this !

[nopardons]

Those reports have been all over the place ; she was shot, she wasn't shot, she was stabbed, she wasn't, she fought to the last bullet...well, that's what she was supposed to do. She did NOTHING " heroic ". Look up the deffinition.