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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clappy who wrote (16651)	4/8/2003 8:58:08 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

U.S.: More Tests Needed on Suspect Iraq Chemicals AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - A U.S. military official said on Tuesday more testing and analysis was required before determining whether substances found at sites in central Iraq (news - web sites) were banned chemical weapons agents. "Initial reports were 'yes, it could potentially be,"' said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks. "We do not know enough at this point to say it should be discounted or that we have found some weapons of mass destruction for use." That contradicted an earlier remark on Tuesday by a U.S. military source near Kerbala in Iraq who said tests indicated the substances were not chemical weapons agents. "The latest tests turned out negative," the source said. Initial investigations of 14 barrels found at a military training camp in the town of Albu Mahawish on Sunday revealed levels of nerve agents sarin and tabun and the blister agent lewisite, Major Michael Hamlet of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division told Reuters at the time. He said the find could be the "smoking gun" which proved U.S. and British charges that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had been hiding banned weapons of mass destruction -- the central plank of their case for military action to overthrow him. Gen. Benjamin Freakly, also of the 101st Airborne, said later that tests on substances at the camp and a separate agricultural site, also in Albu Mahawish, could show they had a less sinister purpose. "This could be either some kind of pesticide," Freakly told CNN. "On the other hand it could be a chemical agent -- not weaponized, a liquid agent that is in drums." So far U.S. and British forces have not found any confirmed biological or chemical weapons in the 20-day war in Iraq.