Artillery Round Containing Sarin Nerve Agent Explodes In Iraq

[Indigo]

Sarin Nerve Agent Bomb Explodes in Iraq

46 minutes ago


By CHRIS TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent exploded near a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military said Monday. Two people were treated for "minor exposure," but no serious injuries were reported.

"The Iraqi Survey Group confirmed today that a 155-millimeter artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Iraq (news - web sites). "The round had been rigged as an IED (improvised explosive device) which was discovered by a U.S. force convoy.

"A detonation occurred before the IED could be rendered inoperable. This produced a very small dispersal of agent," he said.

The incident occurred "a couple of days ago," he said.

The Iraqi Survey Group is a U.S. organization whose task was to search for weapons of mass destruction after the ouster of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in last year's invasion.

The round was an old `binary-type' shell in which two chemicals held in separate sections are mixed after firing to produce sarin, Kimmitt said.

He said he believed that insurgents who rigged the artillery shell as a bomb didn't know it contained the nerve agent, and that the dispersal of the nerve agent from such a rigged device was very limited.

"The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites)," Kimmitt said. "Two explosive ordinance team members were treated for minor exposure to nerve agent as a result of the partial detonation of the round."

In 1995, Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult unleashed sarin gas in Tokyo's subways, killing 12 people and sickening thousands. In February of this year, Japanese courts convicted the cult's former leader, Shoko Asahara, and sentence him to be executed.

Developed in the mid-1930s by Nazi scientists, a single drop of sarin can cause quick, agonizing choking death. There are no known instances of the Nazis actually using the gas.

Nerve gases work by inhibiting key enzymes in the nervous system, blocking their transmission. Small exposures can be treated with antidotes, if administered quickly.

Antidotes to nerve gases similar to sarin are so effective that top poison gas researchers predict they eventually will cease to be a war threat.


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[Target Practice]

He said he believed that insurgents who rigged the artillery shell as a bomb didn't know it contained the nerve agent, and that the dispersal of the nerve agent from such a rigged device was very limited.

I wonder if anyone else finds it suspicious that they just happened to rig up a bomb containing a deadly nerve agent near a U.S. military instillation? I mean, come on. Though, I guess if it is "old" as the article says it is, then there might not be any markings to distinguish it. Still sounds a little suspicious to me.

[Rooster]

While I beleive that Sadam himself is mostly responsible for the misinformation regarding his weapons, he did have some. There is no telling who has them now.

[Buff]

I think target practice was insinuating that the US may have rigged it....
correct me if I am wrong though

where else would terorists place weapons? near there own hideouts?

[Konigballer]

Target Practice is a moron if he is insinuating that.

I think its easy to believe that some not so bright guerillas found this and said "lets go blow it up" without being able to indentify exactly what they had found.

These people are'nt highly trained, their fanatical, theres a BIG difference.
We've seen them on tv, they have'nt even been taught to shoulder a rifle properly when they fire. I harldy expect them to be able to distinquish between different old, beat up artillery shells.

[Kevmaster]

I think target practice was insinuating that the US may have rigged it....
correct me if I am wrong though

where else would terorists place weapons? near there own hideouts?

i hardly think this is a US plot to "prove" that saddam had weapons. If Bush went in there knowing saddam didn't have weapons (which I don't believe he did), I at least give him credit for planting them within a YEAR of the end of Saddam's rule. Before the Kay report, before everything. And this doesn't show nearly as much as we could fake about saddam's weapons, if we chose to.

Not a US planted weapon. it makes no sense

[PyRo]

If we were going to plant weapons it probably would have been sooner as someone already said. Also, we definatly would have planted more than one shell. I doubt Bush is going to say that one shell is the reason we went to war. He needs more than that to prove anything. If we find a bunker filled with these weapons then you can start with the consipricy theories.
Who knows where it came from, it could have easially been accidently mixed it with other shells, overlooked by the UN inspectors possible sadam's guys too. Someone could have stolen it before it was destoryed and just kept it there basement for some reason, it could have been an unexploded shell someone found and decieded to hold onto. There are so many possibilities to where that came from. Untill we get more we don't really have anything on them.

[Target Practice]

I think target practice was insinuating that the US may have rigged it....
correct me if I am wrong though

where else would terorists place weapons? near there own hideouts?

Target Practice is a moron if he is insinuating that.

No, what I am saying is that I find it hard to believe that insurgents didn't know that the bomb contained a nerve agent. I would never pull that "US may have rigged it" crap out of my ***. As far as the vicinity to the installation, I think that if I had the choice of putting a conventional weapon and a chemical weapon next to an infidel base, I would go with the chemical one. I think they put the chemical one there on purpose, knowing what it was capable of.

[Kevmaster]

No, what I am saying is that I find it hard to believe that insurgents didn't know that the bomb contained a nerve agent. I would never pull that "US may have rigged it" crap out of my ***.

thats what i was guessing you ment...its too crazy what they thought you ment...

[Target Practice]

...

Well, I thought so, just want to clear up any doubt.

[1stdeadeye]

WMD found!

Wonder what the French are going to moan about now!

[spantol]

A noteworthy passage from the article:

Two former weapons inspectors--Hans Blix and David Kay--said the shell was likely a stray weapon that had been scavenged by militants and did not signify that Iraq had large stockpiles of such weapons.

[cphilip]

Well its long been known that made them look the same. Because they did not want the Iraqi army to even know thats what they were handling as they gave them no protection. And in trying to find and diffuse them all this is the biggest problem. And they are burried and hidden with normal shells all over that place even still. There are more. Even the Iraqis do not really know where they all are. They will find more of them....

[CaptaiN_JacK]

everyone should stop jumping to conclusions because it only makes you look ignorant. there is almost no way of telling if the shell was in fact iraqi. it could have come from many other sources within the black market. the insurgents rig these kinds of bombs all over, and they may or may not have known that this was chemical. i know hardly anything about chemical shells, or artillery shells for that matter, and do not know if plain artillery shells and chemical shells look the same. just because a couple insurgents found a chemical artillery shell doesnt mean theres a stockpile big enough to wreak havoc through the world.

[Eagle]

I guess this just goes to show we were right about WMDs.

OURS IS AN HONORABLE CAUSE.