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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (19788)	11/12/2002 12:59:01 PM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Respond to of 27666

i wear no frauelien slips

To: zonder who wrote (19788)	11/12/2002 8:25:39 PM
From: Richnorth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27666

Iraq shopping for million doses of nerve-gas antidote US officials are alarmed that Iraq may be preparing for chemical warfare and that UN trade sanctions have loopholes NEW YORK - Iraq has ordered huge quantities of a drug that can counter the effects of nerve gas, mainly from suppliers in Turkey, a staunch US ally. It has alarmed the US administration which believes that Iraq may launch a chemical attack against its troops. It has also highlighted loopholes in imports allowed under the UN oil-for-food programme. Senior Bush administration officials said orders had far outstripped the amount Iraq needed for hospital use and they said Turkey had indicated in talks with the US State Department that it was willing to review the matter. 'If the Iraqis were going to use nerve agents, they would want to take steps to protect their own soldiers, if not their population,' an official said. 'This is something that US intelligence is concerned about.' Iraq has ordered - mainly from a Turkish company - a million doses of the drug, atropine, and the autoinjectors that inject it into a person's leg, the officials said. It is not clear how much, if any, of the drug has actually been delivered. Atropine is highly effective at blocking such nerve agents as sarin and VX, both of which Iraq has acknowledged having made and stockpiled. Quick, efficient delivery of antidote NERVE-POISON antidotes packaged in autoinjectors are designed to deliver a single adult dose of medication. The injectors are simple to use and can be handled by troops clad in bulky chemical- warfare suits. They can be plunged through clothing and injected into muscle. Atropine can reverse the muscle weakness and paralysis caused by nerve-agents. Sarin and VX gases are deadly. VX paralyses the nervous system in three to five minutes if a single drop touches bare skin. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is said to have stockpiled 3.4 million tonnes of VX. Philadelphia's Poison Control Centre director Dr Fred Henretig said if too much atropine was injected it could cause life-threatening side effects such as heart-rhythm disturbances and seizures. Using both atropine and pralidoxime was the 'optimum treatment' for a patient exposed to a nerve poison. --Reuters Iraq claims to have destroyed its stockpiles, but US intelligence doubts that. Hospitals and clinics around the world commonly stock atropine to resuscitate heart attack victims. As a result, atropine was not included on a list of thousands of 'dual use' items, drafted by the UN Security Council in May, that inspectors must review carefully before they can be sold to Iraq. One official said Iraq had also placed orders for another antidote for chemical agents, obidoxime chloride. Iraq's bulk purchases have raised concerns among chemical weapons experts, intelligence analysts and senior White House officials, who argue that when atropine is used to treat the heart, it is given intravenously and in small doses - one fifth of the amount in an autoinjector. The experts say the situation shows how hard it is to control dual-use products - those that have civilian purposes, yet also can strengthen a country's military. The US renounced the use of nerve agents in the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention which bans the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. But the US armed forces do carry atropine and autoinjectors in first-aid kits in case of attack. Iraq has not ratified the treaty. White House officials have recently considered the Iraqi orders, and the State Department has tried to stop the sales in the last two months. One official said Turkey, a Nato member, had agreed to review the orders and consider the request to end sales. Turkey's ambassador to Washington, Mr O. Faruk Logoglu, said he was unaware of such discussions. But he said talks may have been conducted by US Embassy and Turkish officials in Ankara, bypassing his embassy. Turkey is an important regional producer of bio-defence products and equipment, for which it has international customers. Administration officials said the contracts demonstrated deficiencies in the system put in place in May to simplify the shipment of aid to Iraqi civilians under the UN oil-for-food programme. The new system allows for the sale and shipment of most goods without extensive reviews and delays, unless they are on the list put together by UN Security Council members. Iraq's military capabilities, 'though far less impressive than they were before the 1991 Gulf War, are becoming better through such purchases every day', a senior US administration official said. 'And we're seeing that the traditional mechanisms for controlling the transfer of such items are still porous.'--The New York Times