[Boot Hill]

•"Cyanide gas could be produced simply..."

You can write off cyanide as any kind of effective chemical agent of mass lethality ("could have killed 20,000") when dispersed in open areas, especially via a bomb (cyanide doesn't can't take the heat).

Even something as extra-lethal as VX nerve agent would require something on the order of 500 pounds of the stuff to do what has been suggested by the news reports (LD50 is about 10 grams/m^3).

•"It could be that the detectors were defective or set so sensitive for safety reasons that they would go off around a drum of pesticide."

For better or worse, the field-grade chemical detectors used by the military are notorious for false positives, maybe on the theory that it is better to be safe than sorry. But the research-grade equipment available to a professional laboratory is a completely different story. I would be shocked if the Jordanian GID did not have such a lab, as it would be an essential component of their mission.

•"I don't lend much credence to the Loftus report..."

That can't be repeated too often here on FR. Loftus makes Debka look credible.

--Boot Hill

[oceanview]

Loftus on a roll tonight:

- the mortar attack on the prison was an attempt to free some AQ people there, but they screwed up, and killed them. oh well.

- the fallujah ceasefire does not include protection for the foreign fighters. they will be "dealt with", perhaps even by some element of a re-organized iraqi police/military force.

- the 727 in africa, it had a unique configuration designed to carry diesel fuel (ten 500 gallon fuel tanks). that's why they are worried about it being used as a flying bomb. did they find this plane yet? there seems to be FR threads that indicate that it has been found, is that definitive?

- no further talk about the jordanian WMD. Hmm...

have at it fellows.

[Nita Nupress]

Be on the lookout for these words in news reports: choline, phosphorous pentasulfide and diisopropylamine. They are precursors to VX.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Speaking of Debka:

Terrorists Lose Rantisi, But Learn to Beat Border (Debka Alert)

[Anti-Bubba182]

Also, there was a thread earlier about a foiled attack on Great Britain planned by al Qaida. The attack involved the use of a compound suitable for small enclosed areas and mentioned that there are plans for chemical attacks in their training manuals. The significance is twofold, one al Qaida is upping the stakes with chemical attacks and that they are fielding operatives who can improvise chemical agents.

UK: Poison gas attack plot foiled