Chemical attack in Iraq

The Coach's Team ^ | September 24, 2016 | Jim Emerson, staff writer

[darkwing104]

This week, ISIS launched a mustard gas rocket against U.S. forces in an unpopulated area near the Qayyara West base in Iraq. The U.S. military is in the region preparing an airfield ahead of Iraq's offensive to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State. The rocked carrying the chemical agent landed within hundreds of meters. The poor condition of the warhead posed no threat to personnel in the area.

The U.S. military is testing fragments and a small sample of a suspicious "tar-like, black, oily" substance from the scene. The first examination initially tested positive for mustard gas but then tested negative in a subsequent inspection. Further tests have been conducted.

Sulfur mustard, commonly but erroneously known as mustard gas, is a cytotoxic and vesicant chemical warfare agent with the ability to form large blisters on the exposed skin and in the lungs. Related chemical compounds with similar chemical structure and similar properties form a class of compounds known collectively as sulfur mustards or mustard agents. Mustard gas is a chemical warfare agent developed during World War I for the Imperial German Army in 1916.

The U.S. military has been conducting airstrikes to take out Islamic State's chemical weapons stores which had remained from Iraq’s “nonexistent” chemical weapons program. What ISIS lacks are the facilities and the technical skill to produce and maintain their chemical weapons cache. The weapon used against the Americans was ineffective because of poor maintenance. Apparently, the Islamic state isn’t afraid to use weapons of mass destruction. What is unknown is how much and what kind of chemical weapons they have imported from Syria.

Last Thursday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford believed that the shell fired at Qayyara West was indeed a chemical weapon.

[darkwing104]

[Darksheare]

Unpossible, we were assured there never were WMD in Iraq, they were old, etc etc ad infinitum.
Heck, had a few FReepers parrot that BS at me.

[A Navy Vet]

"What is unknown is how much and what kind of chemical weapons they have imported from Syria."

Possibly true since there were reports of truck convoys heading to Syria just before the Iraq invasion. Believe there are even satellite photos of the convoy.

Wonder what the politicians and world would say if a stash of chemical weapons were found in Syria. A lot of people would be vindicated about the invasion due to almost everyone believed Saddam had WMD's.

[justa-hairyape]

Well now, the US intervention in Syria is a success. The sociopaths running the US are getting exactly what they wanted. WMD in the hands of terrorist. And we are just weeks from WW III breaking outside the nation of Syria.