Denmark: Possible Iraqi Blister Gas Weapons Found

Yahoo (Reuters) ^ | 1/10/04 | Reuters staff

[SandRat]

Although it can kill if it enters the lungs, its use is primarily to debilitate infantry by causing the skin to break out in excruciatingly painful blisters.

Blister most definitely, even a light dose breathed in to the lungs will cause something like a carton a day smoker for 20 years case of emphysema, the blisters on the skin also severely scar and disfigure in the most grotesque manner making a severe burn victim look like a super model.

Hope this is confirmed and turns out to be only the tip of the Iceberg. Hope the next find is VX, Sarin, Taubin, or Nuclear and lots of it.

[Dog Gone]

The proper question is why were they hidden at the time? Was it during the Iran/Iraq War? Was it after Gulf War I?

It's pretty clear that they weren't being hidden in 2002 as part of some ongoing WMD capability.

[Hon]

"That said, these aren't WMDs because they aren't Ws. They're not even components of weapons, like a storage tank of usable blister agent would be. This stuff is debris."

I guess that depends on the meaning of the word "is".

[U S Army EOD]

Try to keep this quiet, American University is where the original EOD school was. Sounds like we may have misplaced a few training aids.

Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey and Redstone Arsenal, Alabama is where all the WMD's are really hid or have been lost. Never could find that stuff after an accident one time.

[Hon]

You seem in need of a refresher course in history. As I have noted, first the US and then the UN weapons inspectors were turned away from inspecting circa 1992/3.

If these weapons were buried ten years ago, which seems to be the word from the local residents, they were buried to hide them from the US/UN weapons inspectors.

As such it was a violation of the US Iraq ceasefire agreement and various UN resolutions.

These were some of the reasons cited for the coalition's invasion of Iraq last year.

[U S Army EOD]

As far a storing mustard gas for a long time, check out the bottoms of lakes around Verdun, France where tons of it was dumped after WWI. It is still there.

[U S Army EOD]

Clean them up a little and replace the power increments on them and yes they can be fired.

[CyberAnt]

But .. the fact that it is believed to have been buried for over 10 years .. proves that the facts we had about chemical weapons WAS TRUE.

And .. remember .. if CNN is even putting this story on the air I think there has to be something to it .. otherwise they would be ignoring the story.

[Buck W.]

"Good stuff, for a vegetarian dish. I put meat in mine, LOL."

So do I--Italian sausage is best. Prosciutto is also great, but expensive.

[Dog Gone]

If these weapons were buried ten years ago, which seems to be the word from the local residents,

You have a link for that?

I don't need a refresher course in history. All I have been saying on this thread is that this is NOT the WMD find that proves Saddam was continuing to have a viable WMD capability at the time we invaded.

It proves he was bad in the past, but nobody is arguing that.

It proves that at some point, he even buried WMD. Okay.

If you want to claim that this rusty, corroded, not usuable stash of mortar shells is the smoking gun of Saddam Hussein's WMD program in 2002, be my guest. I did my best to warn you against saying stupid stuff, but it's a free country.

[SolutionsOnly]

wake me up when it's confirmed truth.

We've had too many wishful thinking false alarms to get excited about such 'news'.

[U S Army EOD]

The Iraqi use of blister agent may not be considered use of a WMD. Our hero Saddam said himself that all those people in the mass graves were nothing but a bunch of robbers and gangsters. Both mustard and nerve gas along with tear gas can be used as a riot or crowd control agent.

Simply kill everybody in the crowd and you have no more riots. I don't see any real big problem here. I think Saddam and his buddies are really just nice guys and a bit misunderstood. All you people that think the Americans were justified in going into Iraq, you just don't understand the situation. Anything you come up with to support your idea of Saddam being a bad guy and the Americans being the good guys, I will counter with a reason to blaim everything on Bush.

Like it or not, and I don't even care if you have the facts, many examples of incidents, or if you are obviously right. I will come up with something, even if I have to make it up, that America is the great Satin.

[John H K]

proves that the facts we had about chemical weapons WAS TRUE.

Ummm...

That in the past Iraq had chemical weapons is in dispute by precisely nobody.

[Hon]

"You have a link for that?"

"The Danish army statement said local Iraqis had confirmed that the 36 mortar shells had been buried for at least 10 years at the site 20 km north of Qurnah."

http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,247869-1-9,00.html

I think I saw put slightly differently elsewhere, but I can't find that.

"All I have been saying on this thread is that this is NOT the WMD find that proves Saddam was continuing to have a viable WMD capability at the time we invaded.

It proves he was bad in the past, but nobody is arguing that."

Where have you been, in a cave with Bin Laden? That is exactly what a lot of people have been arguing for a long time.

The UN weapons inspectors didn't find any WMD--so they didn't exist.

[cake_crumb]

"So do I--Italian sausage is best. Prosciutto is also great, but expensive."

Yep, the best for eggplant parm. I make the sauce like I would with lasgna, even if it's mixed with hamburger. Actually, I stick sausage in the sauce whenever I have any. Proscuitto is ridiculously expensive, so I don't use it. Canadian bacon - also expensive - makes a good substitute if you can get it sliced thin. Neither are worth the effort, IMO.

You're making me hungry for Italian food, and all we have for supper is venison!

[John H K]

If you believe a couple hundred Mustard shells is similar to a working nuke....

You have to believe a 9mm pistol is similar to a .50 caliber machine gun, and Americans should be banned from owning either.

[John H K]

Try to keep this quiet, American University is where the original EOD school was

That there are chemical weapons at AU has been pretty public in the local DC media, it's not exactly some sort of secret.

[deleuze03]

"It's questionable whether those shells are even fireable, or if the contents are even effective anymore.

A glance at the pictures shows their condition to be pretty horrible.

Rather dubious they were hidden as part of some grand plan to unearth them and use them later. They likely were simply forgotten.

And I've stated several times I do not consider chemicals to be WMD, myself.

Are these technically proscribed weapons to Iraq and violating UN resolutions? Sure. (If they do turn out to contain blister gas.)

But it's a pretty sad little "WMD" stash."


Have to agree with that.

[CyberAnt]

What ..?? The democrats are yelling all over the place because we haven't found any WMD .. even though Clinton and the UN said Iraq had them.

The democrats keep saying Bush lied about it .. this find proves Bush didn't lie about it.

[John H K]

Um...finding them and turning them over for testing has far more to do with prudence than PR value.

You totally misunderstood my point. I wasn't saying the find was a PR stunt by anybody.

I was commenting on the PR value of the find to FR posters, conservative commentators, etc. in possibly persuading people who were on the fence about the war (obviously the majority of those against the war are beyond convincing by anything.)

That PR value is absolutely nil. And overplaying it, frankly, will make anyone doing so look like a dumbass.

It's evidence there may be more stuff buried, stuff that was an actual real threat, and that's what I'd claim. I wouldn't jump up and down with glee and yell "GAME OVER! IN YOUR FACE! WMD!" based on this particular find.