A couple of gas-bearing artillery rounds (one mustard gas, one apparently Sarin, but still not completely tested) have been used in booby traps the last week or so. Not getting a lot of play and I hadn't seen it mentioned here, so I thought I would.
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Was wondering who would post on this. It's still not clear if it's from Saddam's stock of 550 unaccounted for nerve/mustard gas shells or recently assembled, but the story bears watching.
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Last I saw they were going to determine from the level of chemical deterioration from what era the shells came from. Anyone hear anything about that, yet?
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quote:Kimmitt said the artillery round was of an old style that Saddam Hussein's regime had declared it no longer possessed after the Persian Gulf War... The general said the Iraqi Survey Group, headed by Charles Duelfer, would determine if the shell's discovery indicated Saddam possessed chemical weapons before the U.S. invasion last year. Officials in Washington said another shell -- this one containing mustard gas -- was found 10 days ago in Iraq.
quote: However, a senior coalition source has told the BBC the round does not signal the discovery of weapons of mass destruction or the escalation of insurgent activity.
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I'm with them so far - this is likely misplaced shell from the 550 unaccounted for. It doesn't count as the smoking gun we need.
Here's my nightmare scenario: some idiot insurgent found a buried pile of shells in some basement, and decided to use the explosives to booby trap the airport. Now he knows the shells he found have binary nerve agent and is painstakenly disassembling them to extract the chemicals.
Here's hoping he accidently pours some of liquid A into jug B and wipes out his whole cell.
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