Article

2004-05-18 Iraq-Jordan

3-4 liters of sarin confirmed in Iraqi artillery shell

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Posted by Dan Darling 2004-05-18 4:32:33 PM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Roughly how big a cloud would that much Sarin create?

#enum ob_LLL_Excuses
{
"They were old, anyway.",
"They probably didn't know what they had.",
"So one shell, eh?",
"I'm sure Saddam MEANT to destroy it, but it must have slipped by. And We All Know that it is Intentions that are the important thing.",
NULL
} LLL_Excuses;

Posted by eLarson 2004-05-18 5:11:20 PM|| 2004-05-18 5:11:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 A CNN reporter actually reported that "this was possibly a chemical weapon at one time and was just a random shell that was just out there."

"Possibly a chemical weapon at one time" - what they hell does that mean? CNN needs to report the facts and drop the liberal bullshit bias.

Posted by JP 2004-05-18 7:38:48 PM|| 2004-05-18 7:38:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 So, a WMD has not only been found, it has been used against our troops. Where's the outrage? {crickets chirping}{deletion of story][change the subject]ABU GHRAIB!

Posted by Tresho 2004-05-18 8:10:51 PM|| 2004-05-18 8:10:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Via the blogfather from Blasters Blog:

Iraq never declared any binary 155mm artillery shells. In fact, they never claimed any filled with sarin at all in the UNSCOM Final report (Find on "Munitions declared by Iraq as remaining"). Not declared as existing at the end of the Gulf War, not having been destroyed in the Gulf War, not having been destroyed unilaterally. The only binary munitions claimed by the Iraqis were aerial bombs and missile warheads. Not in an artillery shell.

According to this UNSCOM factsheet (PDF):

Iraqi CW agents were not comparable in quality to those stored in the arsenals of the USA and the former USSR, however. Impurities meant that the toxic compounds lacked stability and easily decomposed; as a consequence, Iraq developed a crude type of binary munition, whereby the final mixing of the two precursors to the agent was done inside the munition just before delivery. This had a major impact on the logistics of and preparations for chemical warfare, which may partly explain how overwhelming coalition air superiority prevented the use of CW during Operation Desert Storm.

Posted by Anonymous2U 2004-05-18 11:46:39 PM|| 2004-05-18 11:46:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 So therefore, anony2u, Iraq was much further along and more sophisticated in its weapons development than even the fabled UN knew. This isn't good news...

Posted by RMcLeod 2004-05-19 12:19:08 AM|| 2004-05-19 12:19:08 AM|| Front Page Top

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