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| Iraq |
| No Chemical Agent in Iraq Mortar Shells |
| 2004-01-15 |
| CAMP EDEN, Iraq (AP) - Tests by Danish and American experts indicate there is no chemical warfare agent in mortar shells unearthed in southern Iraq, but conclusive word will only come from a lab in Idaho. Earlier examinations had indicated a blister agent was in the shells, which apparently date to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group conducted tests on five of 36 shells found Friday and all came up negative, the Danish army said Wednesday in a statement from Copenhagen. Those results contradicted Danish and British field tests that were positive for a blister agent. "Based on the tests, the experts conclude that none of the shells contain chemical warfare agents," the Danish army statement said, adding that more studies are needed for final confirmation. The earliest results may have been positive because tests by troops in the field are designed to favor a positive reading, erring on the side of caution to protect soldiers. A U.S. official, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said chemicals such as phosphorous used in some munitions can produce false positives. The official said "there is no doubt" that Saddam Hussein had blister agents in the early to mid-1990s, but it’s not clear where they are now. Syria? Just asking. "This was a stash. They were stacked and ordered and wrapped in plastic. They weren’t just lying in the ground," Capt. Kim Vibe Michelsen, the spokesman of the Danish army’s Camp Eden in southern Iraq, told The Associated Press. He said they must have been buried at least 10 years ago. Michelsen said the Danish troops have dug up 50 shells so far and at least 50 more are believed to be underground. Villagers told the troops that they found 400 or more several years ago and threw them in the Tigris River, Michelsen said. And then drank the water. That might explain Harold Pinter’s "three-headed babies". |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 What the hell do they think it is, cappuccino?! Sounds like they're willfully NOT identifying it. Maybe the dutch 'expert' should take a big drink of the stuff and let us know what happens. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-1-15 12:50:13 AM |
| #3 There's a companion piece to this story in my Winds of War today over at Winds of Change that says that test results were inconclusive. It also offers some extremely interesting additional information. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-1-15 12:20:09 AM |
| #2 What the hell do they think it is, cappuccino?! Sounds like they're willfully NOT identifying it. Maybe the dutch 'expert' should take a big drink of the stuff and let us know what happens. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-1-15 12:50:13 AM |
| #1 There's a companion piece to this story in my Winds of War today over at Winds of Change that says that test results were inconclusive. It also offers some extremely interesting additional information. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-1-15 12:20:09 AM |