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U.S. troops find suspected chemical weapons in southern Iraq
American soldiers in Iraq's Karbala area, raiding an empty training camp for Palestinians and others seeking to join Iraqis in the war, have discovered several large oil drums that may contain chemical weapons, officers said on Monday.
Col. Tim Madere, the V Corps chemical officer, said that a preliminary test by a military chemical unit at the scene, indicated the presence of nerve gas, which is potentially lethal, as well as mustard gas. But Madere said he would await final judgment until a squad of the 51st Chemical Company, which was rushed to the scene, took samples and returned them to an American base in Iraq where more conclusive tests can be made.
Because of poor weather, the chemical team was unable to board a helicopter with the samples. Instead, the team had to drive, delaying further results until Tuesday or Wednesday.
According to Madere, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were on a mission on Sunday to the north side of the town of Hindiyah, east of Karbala, an area that has been a battleground in recent days. The soldiers were searching for an Iraqi arms site based on a captured map that showed various potential arms sites.
Madere said that the soldiers came upon an empty training camp that the Army believed was a base of Palestinians and others seeking to join the Iraqi fight. Slogans on the walls, saying "Palestine for Palestinians," and other evidence pointed to the possibility that the camp was a training base for non-Iraqis. The soldiers also discovered an unusually large amount of chemical protection gear.
The soldiers, looking for weapons, soon found several oil drums on the site. They called in help from their chemical unit.
What happened next is a little unclear but several soldiers became ill, and the company quickly put on their chemical protection gear. On Sunday night, the chemical company identified the problem as CN, a riot control gas that causes vomiting and blisters. Madere said he did not believe that soldiers were seriously ill.
The colonel said that the chemical team stayed overnight to check several other large oil drums. On Monday morning, the team tested a 20-gallon drum, and came to the conclusion that it tested positive for sarin, a nerve gas and tabun, another nerve gas.
A 55-gallon oil drum came up positive for mustard gas.
Mustard gas is a blister agent that burns or blisters exposed skin, eyes and lungs. It can remain a hazard for days, and untreated, can cause death.
Sarin, cyclosarin and tabun are nerve agents that can act within seconds of absorption through the skin or inhalation. If untreated immediately, exposure to these agents can lead to convulsions, loss of consciousness and death.
National Public Radio, reporting what appeared to be a separate discovery, said U.S. forces found a weapons cache of around 20 medium-range missiles equipped with potent chemical weapons.
NPR said the rockets, BM-21 missiles, were equipped with sarin and mustard gas and were "ready to fire."
It said the cache was discovered by Marines with the 101st Airborne Division, which was following up behind the Army after it seized Baghdad's international airport.
During the 1980s, Iraq had a substantial chemical warfare capability that Saddam Hussein used against Iranians and the Kurdish minority in the north.
An unclassified CIA report said that Iraqi forces killed or injured more than 20,000 people in multiple attacks, using the mustard agent and the nerve agents sarin and tabum in multiple attacks. The attacks were made with aerial bombs, 122 millimeter rockets and artillery shells against tactical military targets and Iraq's Kurdish civilian population. |
