"J.D. Giorgis" wrote: > The Associated Press > NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq April 4 — > U.S. troops found thousands of boxes of white powder, > nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to > engage in chemical warfare at an industrial site south > of Baghdad, a U.S. officer said Friday. > > Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the > 3rd Infantry Division, said the materials were found > Friday at the Latifiyah industrial complex 25 miles > south of Baghdad. > > "It is clearly a suspicious site," Peabody said. > > Peabody said troops found thousands of boxes, each of > which contained three vials of white powder, together > with documents written in Arabic that dealt with how > to engage in chemical warfare. > > He also said they discovered atropine, used to counter > the effects of nerve agents.
OK, now, how do they identify just what the white powder *is*? Where would the nearest testing facility for that be? > http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-war-chemwar4apr04.story > > 8:20 PM PST, April 3, 2003 > Iraqi 'Chatter' Threatens Use of Chemicals > Intercepted electronic transmissions heighten effort > by U.S.-led troops to find any secret caches. > By Bob Drogin, Times Staff Writer <snip> > Although the Pentagon clearly hopes to avoid street > fighting in Baghdad, some officials say that the > danger of chemical attack is likely to recede if U.S. > forces are drawn into the city's concrete confines. > That's because poison gas would also endanger Iraqi > troops and civilians in urban combat. > > "Once you're mixed up with them, it doesn't make any > tactical sense" to use chemical weapons, said a second > U.S. official, "unless they're just reaching out in > some irrational act." Do we really expect anything *besides* an irrational act if they think they're going to die anyway? This has me concerned. Julia _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
