Miami Herald - Barrels found in Iraq may contain chemical weapons - Photos

The Miami Herald ^ | JOHN SULLIVAN

[arkady_renko]

U.S. soldiers on Saturday found 14 barrels of chemicals in a vast weapons storage area in north-central Iraq, and three initial tests indicated that they contained a deadly mixture of cyclosarin nerve agent and mustard gas.

Previous finds of suspect chemicals in Iraq have turned out to be false alarms, and a Pentagon spokeswoman Saturday said defense officials had no conclusive evidence that the barrels contained chemical weapons. She said samples from the barrels would be sent to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for further testing, a process that could take a week. An international team of chemical weapons experts headed to the site from Baghdad to conduct further tests on Sunday.

But the fact that the barrels were found next to a mobile laboratory in a munitions dump makes them more suspicious, and if further tests confirm that they contain chemical weapons, it would provide the long-awaited evidence that Iraq was hiding chemical weapons, as the Bush administration charged in justifying the need for war.

[arkady_renko]

Click on link for photos and more of the story.

A_R

[txradioguy]

If this turns out to be something of substance, it shows an emerging trend. Everytime Hans Blix goes to the U.N. and badmouths the U.S. and says we don't know what we're doing and we won't be able to find WMD's, we find something to make him look more stupid than he did before.

[Nick Danger]

[stevem]

I'm likely part of a tiny minority in the world, but I found the idea of deposing Saddam justified solely on humanitarian grounds. Still, each day someone asks the question: Where is this or that evidence of terrorism or WMD etc.? Then there is the omnipresesnt: Where is the smoking gun?

It's there, except for the most myopic. There were the banned scuds used early on in the war. There were the terrorist training camps that were found (and one in a skirmish) some days or weeks apart. There were the scientists terrified to talk before the war started. There were the bio lab trucks.

As you put the pieces together, the evidence is mounting and awesome. Yet as each piece pops up, the questions become apocryphal: Is that all there is?

I'm finding it a bit tiresome.

[AgThorn]

The green tank trailer on the left is thought to be a mixer. The truck on the right is the mobile lab. The barrel standing up is the one that verified a Weapons of Mass Destruction cocktail. ERIK CAMPOS, The State

[Grampa Dave]

Blind Blix!

This is great!

[AgThorn]

Sgt. Nolan Barringer drives past a weapons storage area where barrels were found near mobile laboratories and numerous missiles in what may be a weapons of mass destruction area.

A Fox reconnaissance team from 1-10 Cavalry detected the presence cyclosarin, mustard agent, and another unknown chemical.

ERIK CAMPOS, The State

[txradioguy]

When you stop and look at it thoughtfully, IMHO, there were HUNDREDS of reason why we should have removed Saddam. Not just the ones that grabbed the media headlines. YOu bring up a good point.

[Blue Screen of Death]

These chemicals are insecticides. Have you ever seen the size of the mosquitos in the Iraqi desert? There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

--Baghdad Bob
--Paris, France

[Range Rover]

Predicting the Left's answer to this.....

The vehicle pictured is a Land Rover - British.....those weapons "if" indeed they ARE weapons (Could be pesticides to combat nasty sand fleas)have been planted by Coalition forces to justify invading a country that was of no danger to the West.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that just such a line has been posted on DU (but I'm NOT wandering over to the asylum to check ).

[EllaMinnow]

...more.

[Aracelis]

I'm likely part of a tiny minority in the world, but I found the idea of deposing Saddam justified solely on humanitarian grounds. Still, each day someone asks the question: Where is this or that evidence of terrorism or WMD etc.?

You are not alone, however, Saddam knew we were on his doorstep for a long time and could have desposed of or moved whatever he had.

Also, the French reaction is still quite puzzling to me. Are their memories so short they do not recall the common-folk rising up to depose their masters because of the deplorable conditions they were forced to endure while the aristocracy suggested they "eat cake"? The guillotine served it's purpose well...and the French were freed.

[LocalYokel]

Hey! That's a neat looking trailer there! I've been looking for something to keep all my tools in, and that would be just perfect. Maybe put the welder in the back. Anyone have a French or German source for this item?

[cyncooper]

Thank you for pinging me to this article. Interesting pics, too.

[Republican Wildcat]

I think the connections to international terrorism were confirmed with the finding of the caches of suicide bombing vests.