Posted on Sun, Apr. 27, 2003
Suspicious chemical barrels found
The containers were in a weapons storage area in north-central Iraq. More testing will be done.
By John Sullivan
Inquirer Staff Writer
BAIJI, Iraq -U.S. soldiers found 14 barrels of chemicals yesterday in a vast weapons storage area in north-central Iraq, and three initial tests indicated that they contained a deadly mixture of cyclosarin nerve agent and mustard gas.
Previous finds of suspect chemicals in Iraq have turned out to be false alarms, and a Pentagon spokeswoman said yesterday that defense officials had no conclusive evidence that the barrels contained chemical weapons.
She said samples from the barrels would be sent to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for further testing, a process that could take a week or longer.
An international team of chemical-weapons experts headed to the site from Baghdad to conduct further tests today.
The barrels were found next to a mobile laboratory in a munitions dump, which makes them more suspicious. If further tests confirm that they contain chemicals for weapons, it would provide the evidence that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction, as the Bush administration charged in justifying the war.
The tan barrels were found in a 3.5-square-mile storage area that also contained missiles, missile parts, gas masks, protective gear, a stripped mobile weapons laboratory, and large storage containers covered by camouflage netting.
The area is two miles east of the town of Baiji in the Jabal Makhul, low, wind-worn mountains about 25 miles north of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
Stripped by looters
The barrels were on the ground next to a mobile laboratory that looked like a 1970s-era Russian truck with a cube on the back that was filled with sinks, a fermenter and other equipment.
It had been stripped bare, apparently by looters. Lt. Col. Ted Martin, the commander of the 10th Cavalry unit that tested and secured the barrels, said the mobile lab had charts showing dosage amounts.
Lt. Victoria Phipps of Sherwood, Ark., who heads the chemical reconnaissance team from the 10th Cavalry at the site, said three tests verified the presence of cyclosarin, a nerve agent, as well as a blistering agent, most likely mustard gas in liquid form, mixed together in a toxic slurry.
The tests were 98 percent accurate, she said.
"There was so much intensity in that area, it was hard to test further," she said. "The levels were very high."
Cyclosarin is part of the family of organophosphate chemicals, which are also used in insecticides. Exposure to a lethal dose of sarin or cyclosarin leads to loss of muscle control, paralysis and convulsions. Death can occur in minutes. Low and medium exposure can result in nausea, dimness of vision, and other symptoms that can last from days to weeks.
Special Forces' discovery
Officers at the site where the barrels were discovered said the results of the initial tests and the proximity to other types of munitions indicated a high probability that the chemicals were intended as weapons, not for benign purposes, such as pesticides.
"It's the worst-case scenario in a can," Martin said.
Special Forces soldiers discovered the barrels on Friday afternoon, nestled in the low mountains near a tributary of the Tigris River. The team ran a quick test and determined the presence of a blistering agent.
Team members decontaminated themselves, left the area, and called in the 10th Cavalry. Unable to find the barrels Friday night, soldiers from the 10th Cavalry resumed the search yesterday morning and found them.
The 10th Cavalry team, wearing protective gear, lifted one barrel, which soldiers said was about three-quarters full, and opened the top with a mattock, a tool that resembles a pickax.
They used baling wire to remove a sample and placed it on a chemical sensor called the M-21 Rascal.
The tester uses a mobile mass spectrometer, which ionizes chemical agents to determine their mass. It then uses a computer to compare the mass to that of 68 known chemical-weapons agents.
The 14 suspicious barrels were found in an area of ravines and dry mountains, with no buildings in sight.
In some places, dirt was piled up around tanks and other military equipment.
Few locals were seen in the area where the weapons were found.
One man interviewed by the Army said that an Iraqi officer appeared at the site shortly after the war began. When the local man asked him why he was there, the officer said it was too dangerous a place for anyone to come looking for him.
As of last night, U.S. soldiers had blocked off several square miles of the site and a decontamination team and doctors had arrived.
Martin and his men also began searching for more sites.
"I suspect this one here is not the only one," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
