Kurds say Iraqi troops getting gas masks

http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=4569540&action=article ^

[lightsabre]

(AFX-Focus) 2003-02-03 13:35 GMT: Kurds say Iraqi troops getting gas masks CHAMCHAMAL, Iraq (AFX) - Iraqi troops posted along the dividing line with the autonomous northern Kurdish enclave are being equipped with gas masks and "injector kits", security officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said. They said their intelligence sources in and around the city of Kirkuk, which is under Baghdad's control, have also provided information of a build-up of weapons including heavy missiles.

"Four days ago, they started distributing a kit including a gas mask and an injector to the soldiers on the frontline," said one security official on condition that his name not be used.

"Why are they getting gas masks? We have drawn our own conclusions, and we are getting an evacuation plan ready," said another PUK official charged with handling the agents that travel to and from areas controlled by Baghdad.

Security officials here also said they suspected the Iraqi army had also moved heavy missiles to the Kirkuk area, citing intelligence reports of six heavy missiles -- possibly Scuds -- being moved to an area near the towns of Laylan and QadKaram, southeast of the oil-rich Kirkuk.

Iraqi troops in the area were also regularly rotated, the officials said, adding that elite Republican Guards units were also supervising the placement of machine gun posts throughout Kirkuk.

"UNMOVIC should pay them a visit, although they won't find anything," said the official.

"The Iraqis are far too quick and move the weapons all the time in civilian trucks."

[happygrl]

These troops will get visited by one of 3000 targeted bombs.

There's no mask or injector kit to fix that problem.

[gridlock]

Injector kits would be used as a way to protect troops from nerve agents. I'm sure glad that Iraq doesn't have any of those. It said so right in their report. If you can't trust Saddam, who can you trust?

[anniegetyourgun]

Yeah, I'm sure it's only that Saddam is concerned about our using WMD against him. </s>

[judicial meanz]

Injector kits are only good for a 5 -6 minute burst of energy to get you out of the area where the agent is present. Gas masks prevent breathing the agent, but without the Chem-bio suits, they are useless because the agents can soak through the skin and enter the body. I have been wondering for some time if Saddam was planning a first strike. It is to his advantage right now to do so, while we are in the mobilization phase, but it would be suicide to do it. Issue of Chem -Bio equipment is something to be taken seriously, and placement of heavy missiles is noteworthy. Another thing to notice is evacuation of certain areas to set up his combat zones. All of this combined could signal the beginning phases of an offensive war plan in implementation However, we would be able to pretty much have real time intel on this, so his plan would be crap anyway. All it would do is get him a world class smackdown.

[leftiesareloonie]

Saddam will strike first, mark my words. But he won't do it now. He won't do it until a second resolution is either vetoed or passed. Once an ultimatum is laid down and it is clear that there are no more opportunities to delay, he will launch every missile in his arsenal, loaded with every poison he can muster, US positions in Kuwait, before US troops are on the move.

Wouldn't you, in his situation? You know the once the US moves, you will be basically penned down and hemmed in. You know a relentless assault is coming. You fear huge portions of your army will defect and the rest will be eviscerated.

Why not strike first, before any of that happens?

Then you disperse your army into the cities, let the coalition advance unimpeded across the desert. Come at them from every manhole, every nook and cranny, every hovel in town.

[areafiftyone]

BUT... BUT.... they don't have weapons of mass distruction! Don't you know that?

[b4its2late]

I'm sure glad that Iraq doesn't have any of those.

That's right. They must be worried that someone else will use it on them........

[a_Turk]

Time to RUN! Come to papa..

[Centurion2000]

Come at them from every manhole, every nook and cranny, every hovel in town.

About the striking first .... you're spot on with that. As far as them doing this, it would be an invitation to flatten the cities.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Any specifics as to what kind of chemical is in the "injector kit"?

[concerned about politics]

11 of 15 on the security council say Bush should do it within weeks, not months. (Fox)

[monocle]

What about kryptonite?

[hoosiermama]

Have you read this? Smoking gun or just Smoking?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834870/posts

[Nebr FAL owner]

Most likely a atropine compound which is useful for organic phosphorous compound poisoning ie nerve agents also might contain amyl nitrate ampules for use as short term antidote for blood agents ie cyanide gas.

[concerned about politics]

Powell shot back Monday in a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal, warning that the United States "will not shrink from war." Though he won't give the council a "smoking gun," Powell promised to present evidence of the "programs that Iraq is working so hard to hide."

"We will, in sum, offer a straightforward, sober and compelling demonstration that Saddam is concealing the evidence of his weapons of mass destruction, while preserving the weapons themselves," he said.

He also alleged that Iraq "continues to acquire banned equipment, with proscribed imports arriving as recently as last month."

From another FR thread

[judicial meanz]

Usually Atropine or a similar extract.

[44magnum]

There's another option that he could use. Aware that using chem/bio weapons against troops/civilians would result in a similar response from the U.S., he could employ chemical weapons in unpopulated areas that would be the most likely avenue of attack thereby rendering them unpassable. The result would be effectively create a bottleneck, or "kill zone" where he could engage in a concentrated area with convential artillery, armor, etc. I'm sure that we prepared for this though. In any case he will meet allah very soon.

[judicial meanz]

I totally agree with you. The only difference I see is he could hit Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan and Israel at the same time with his Bio/Chem weapons in order to try and spike some Arab unity, kill as many Americans and our allies as he can, and make good his promise to inflict massive harm on Israel.


I saw a news post similar to this the other day, and it sure did make sense.

[L,TOWM]

If the Scuds are in the Kurdish area of Iraq, could this not be the staging area used for a strike on Turkey? US Airbases (Incirklik(?)), or other assets not necessarily belonging to Turkey might be targeted; how would the Turkish government react to that?