Iraq Artillery Shell Contained 3-4 Liters of Sarin

Fox News ^ | May 17, 2004

[Living Free in NH]

Breaking news ... nothing follows

[nuffsenuff]

I do apologize. I seem to have given you the impression that I take you seriously.

Sorry about that.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

When we find more Sarin, we should donate it to those sacred, supposedly untouchable mosques that have turned into insurgent barracks and arms depots. The mosques would not be harmed

We've both thought the same thing. Why don't they have leading Clerics warn everyone to stay clear of the mosques for a period of say a week, then gas it. That way they kill only those Sadr and those loyal to Sadr?

They could then allow the gas to dissipate and the mosque is unharmed. They get rid of Sadr and his ilk.

Could Sarin be the perfect gas? I've heard it sinks, it dissipates fairly quickly. What harm would be done to a mosque? Does it remain in the area after it is released? Can it be reactivated at a later time?

Anyone?

(I hold no claims to being a WMD or Chemical expert).

Perhaps there is a better gas. But surely there is something!

~OR~ Do they feel this would open a WMD can of worms? One that once opened would start WMD's being used on our troops. Though we would argue that if terrorists could use WMD's or Chemical Agents on our troops, they would in a heart beat.

[txradioguy]

"DU response: It's only 1 shell, that's it. And nobody died, so it doesn't count."

I'm sad to say that it isn't just the DUmmies who feel this way. There are some of our fellow FReepers who share this same view. I know I've been carrying on a now two day running battle with them on another thread over this issue. It's VERY frustrating.

[Western Phil]

"We are detonating ALL the ordinance we find over there."

How do the EOD guys know that they are not blowing up more of these little buggers with the regular stuff that looks the same?

[txradioguy]

"If there were a thousand, no, a million artillery shells that could at most travel, what, a few miles in the air, would you still think it worth the life of your own son?"


Is it worth the risk of your own son's life NOT to find these things?

[Frank_Discussion]

You once again confuse our motives with the terrorist scum. We don't send our offspring to fight in our stead, they are raised in America to cherish freedom and recognize it's abridgment both at home and abroad. For the most part, they volunteer with that in mind.

Of course, your garbage-heap strawman of an argument has no bearing on the discussion, so trying to get any level of reasoning through your skull is rather moot.

[JohnGalt]

Do you have any children in Iraq?

Any buddy's from college of high school?

[txradioguy]

If they are all unmarked like this one...we don't know.

IMHO the only thing that is saving them is that detonating them in the manner that they are it's preventing the Sarin from mixing properly and doing it's dirty work. No one has gotten sick because when the UXO is detonated there is a 1000 meter safety perimeter the soldiers have to stay outside. I went with them one day to cover UXO disposal. I was in the vehicle with the Staff Sgt. that pulled the trigger on a pile of UXO...at 800 meters from the blast we had shrapnel raining down on our vehicle like hailstones.

[epluribus_2]

if only drudge and fox are announcing it, then the others can say - oh it's a right wing rumor. Or rumour for those eurolibs.

[Burkeman1]

Caught that development already but thanks for the heads up.

If you are wrong then you are wrong. We are all just Human and thus flawed and sinful. Why be ashamed to admit such?

I learn much from this site.

[Frank_Discussion]

Old Media is trying very hard to ignore this, but they are having a devil of a time. The reports on this have come in a piece at a time, forcing updates and subsequently upping the number of times it is hashed over. It's getting exposed, and I am sure an official presser will take place when this has reached a good simmer.

Patience. We got the ball here, and we're playing a game of keep away. Old Media will get the ball when Rummy and Co. are good and ready to give it to them.

[mtbopfuyn]

DU response: It's only 1 shell, that's it. And nobody died, so it doesn't count. Oh, and chems aren't WMD's anyway, only nukes are.

Makes ya wonder about them. Chems or nukes, doesn't matter after you're dead.

[plushaye]

"if only drudge and fox are announcing it, then the others can say - oh it's a right wing rumor. Or rumour for those eurolibs."


No, the DU's are already saying it was planted - like OJ's glove.

[brothers4thID]

No, I happen to think it is a very unhealthy situation. I think it is extremely disgusting to think that anyone doubted for a minute that there were WMD in Iraq. I think your doubts on this matter are a result of short sightedness and, dare I say it, fear. Fear- of being so horribly wrong that you are now actually denying that something that can kill multiple times as many people as died on 9/11 even exists?

You mistake me greatly sir if you think I celebrate this discovery. Better that we had all been horribly wrong than to be so horribly proven right.

[Badeye]

"If there were a thousand, no, a million artillery shells that could at most travel, what, a few miles in the air, would you still think it worth the life of your own son? "

Our history is full of situations that tell us the answer to your absurd rhetorical question.

You aren't handling being shown to have been wrong very well, JohnGalt.

Thats not surprising...it is very satisfying, however...(grin)

[Frank_Discussion]

"Do you have any children in Iraq?"

No.

"Any buddy's from college of high school?"

Yes, Army and Navy Reservists in-country, and their attitude is a hell of a lot better than yours, despite being in a war zone and getting shot at.

Sorry that other's bravery and sense of purpose in life is so galling to you.

[brothers4thID]

I would give both my brothers to disarm a madman having even one of these if it meant my children could grow up without such fears.

[txradioguy]

Not meaning to step on your toes Frank but guys like this who don't have the intestinal fortitude to set foot in Iraq, yet feel they can pronounce judgement on us really piss me off.

I have friends from HS over there, A friend from college too. I also have people over there I only met when I came to the brigade. Some of these people I know and call friends have died over there. We ALL know the risk of going to Iraq. We ALL understnad that risk when we VOLUNTEER to become a soldier in the military. I just spent a year in Iraq and if my 15 y/o son comes to me in a couple years and says "Dad I wanna join the Army". I'd encourage it.

The Engineer Brigade Command Sergeant Major for the 1st Armored Division had his youngest son die a month after he got to Iraq from a snipers bullet. The CSM said that despite the hurt he felt at the loss of his son if he had to do it all over again he still would have encouraged his son to join the military.

So now tell me again what was your point about asking if someone had a son in Iraq?

Your attempt to tell someone that because they don't have any loved ones in Iraq they don't understnad the risk is dumb. ABout as dumb as someone trying to make statements about what's going on in Iraq and our mission and it's worth when they've never set foot on the ground over there and seen what's REALLY going on in that country.

[Frank_Discussion]

"Not meaning to step on your toes Frank..."

Not a problem, I brought my electronic steel-toe Red Wings today...

:-)

[brothers4thID]

One brother is in the 4thID and was there for over a year He lost his two best friends.
But that, sir, is not the point. You do not have to know or lose someone in Iraq for this war to be personal. Death comes to us all in time. Pray, sir, that it does not come to you and yours in a tiny envelope with just enough powder to briefly fill your nostrils. That is not a threat from me, it is the threat from the people who make and distribute WMD.