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Roadside Bomb Releases Sarin Gas in Baghdad By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 17, 2004 -- A roadside bomb containing the nerve agent sarin — a substance Saddam Hussein's regime insisted it had destroyed more than a decade ago — exploded near a U.S. military convoy traveling near Baghdad, coalition officials said today. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for Multinational Force Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad a U.S. convoy found the 155-millimeter artillery round rigged as an improvised explosive device. The round detonated before the explosive ordnance team could render it inert, Kimmitt said,...

Foreign Affairs Correspondent Australian intelligence played a key role in presenting controversial claims that aluminium tubes were destined for Iraq's nuclear weapons program. Last night ABC's Four Corners program revealed that the tubes were ordered by an Australian firm, manufactured by the Chinese parent company of the Australian firm and details of the shipment were passed to the United States by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, leading to its seizure. The revelations came as the Government rejected comments of Australian weapons expert Brigadier-General Stephen Meekin to The Washington Post. He said the tubes were innocuous and destined for rocket casings,...