[estjohn]

Not sure if this has been posted but I haven't seen it and it didn't show up on search.

Are there countermeasures for VX on bridges? Can it be neutralized or do you just have to bypass it....

[PokeyJoe]

Are there countermeasures for VX on bridges? Can it be neutralized or do you just have to bypass it....

Yes.

Do not take prisoners of any unit using chem/bio weapons.

[nomad]

It would of course depend on the application rates, but coating any appreciable amount of lane-miles with a large amount of substance would require MASSIVE quantities, so if they are willing to use their stocks in this fashion I say good. It will be impossible for the creeps to replace this inventory, and we can simply by-pass these contaminated routes. Far better then having our guys hit directly with the toxins in munitions; however, from the stand point of equipment all you would need is any standard highway ice/snow fighting, brine tanker sprayer truck driven by someone in REALLY GOOD protective gear, so I guess it wouldn`t be out of the question, technically speaking.

[swaimh]

4 words: army corps of engineers. we'll build/bring our own

[Bulldogs22]

Haven't seen any other. Good find.

[Beck_isright]

"Are there countermeasures for VX on bridges? Can it be neutralized or do you just have to bypass it...."

There are neutralizing agents mixed with water, but it delays an offensive severely. Mixed with a minefield, a blown bridge, and VX, you could easily bog down a column for up to a day. You have to decontaminate, clear the minefield, then send in the engineers to build the bridge. There is a misconception that we'll be in Baghdad in 3 or 4 days. I strongly disagree. This is a war which will last 30-45 days, minimum. Alot depends on the deployment of biologicals, which are a bigger problem than chemical weapons.

[Libertina]

while preparations were under way to coat bridges and roadways with a lethal VX nerve agent to slow U.S. troops on their advance to Baghdad.
This is on the heads of US DemRAT leaders & UN obstructionists, appeasers & "doves." The element of surprise has been lost due to YOUR sedition. SHAME!

[mrb1960]

Seems to me that since we are gonna inflicted heavy strikes via and massive air campaign, my guess is the chemical weapons would be much use against tomahawk cruise missiles, laser guided air to surface missiles, etc, etc, etc.

By the time our ground forces move in, there won't be very many people left who should be able to even launch such a weapon.

[2nd Amendment]

There is nothing to worry about. According to most democrats, the hollywood left, the French, Blitz, the Dixie Chicks and about 175 other 4th world countries, Saddam doesn't have chemical warheads

[carl in alaska]

I believe chlorine neutralizes nerve agents, and of course incendiary bombs that create a powerful hot fire would destroy the active chemical agent. Maybe now Blix and his inspectors will be able to find some WMD.

[Ramius]

Ummm... somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but *my* NBC warfare training was that VX is a *gas*. Nerve agents don't function as a contact poison. Some blister agents, maybe, but that's a really ineffective way to deploy, since it is easy to avoid and defeat.

Biological agents only work in the strategic sense, not the tactical sense. They take too long to work, and are too easily defeated with antibiotics and immunizations once detected. The only time that bio weapons really work are when they can be deployed on an unsuspecting population. We're not unsuspecting.

This would be a really stupid time for Saddam to deploy chem/bio agents. Not that this will occur to him... but we're way to ready for it.

[longtermmemmory]

flamethrowers to sterilize?

[Red Dog #1]

If I remember correctly a mixture of bleach and water very effectively neutralizes most agents.

[FBD]

Some useful sites for following the war.

CIA Maps of Iraq. Including NBC sites, and oil wells

Current time in Baghdad

[Robert357]

NO, NO, NO, this can't be true, this must be propaganda. After all the ruler of Iraq and his UN spokesperson have indicated that Irag has not weapons of mass destruction, they were all destroyed years ago! Also Hans Blik and his team of inspectors has found nothing. Therefore, there must not be any chemical or biological weapons! This report must not be correct.....(/sarcasm)

OK, so one of the conditions of ending hostilities in the Gulf war of 1991 was that Iraq would agree to disarm and end hostilities. Never happened and so we are now resuming hostilities after an interim to enforce some of the original terms and conditions and insure that a new reguime lives up to the obligations associated with the surrender terms Iraq agreed to previously.