Posted on 10/08/2006 4:40:30 PM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick from poisoning Sunday at a base in southern Iraq after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast, and officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional.
An official with the Environment Ministry said 11 policemen had died. However, the governor of Wasit province — where the poisoning took place — denied any deaths, though he said some of the victims were in critical condition. There was no immediate explanation for the contradictory reports.
Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal, said Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector for the Environment Ministry, who was serving as a liaison in the investigation between the Health Ministry and the base, located in the town of Numaniyah.
"Hundreds of soldiers were poisoned after taking food and water in the iftar," Wasit Gov. Hamad al-Latif told the Associated Press, referring to the meal that breaks the sunrise-to-sunset fast during the Islamic holy month. "Investigations are under way to determine the cause."
Samples of the food and water were being tested "to determine the substance in them" and will be sent to Baghdad for further tests, al-Latif said.
Sunni insurgents who have targeted police and military forces with bombings and shootings have not been known to use poisoning as a weapon. But the suddenness and severity of the sickness raised speculation that the incident could be a new attack. The division is mainly made up of Shiites.
Between 600-700 policemen were affected to varying degrees, and 11 who had the heaviest amount of the food had died, al-Atwan told The Associated Press.
Some of the soldiers collapsed as soon as they stood up from them meal, others fell "one after the other" as they headed out to the yard in the base to line up in formation, al-Atwan said.
Iraqi ambulances and helicopters sent by the U.S. military rushed the policemen to hospitals in Numaniyah and the nearby city of Kut.
The afflicted policemen belonged to the 4th Division of the National Police, nicknamed the "Karrar" Division, after a title of Imam Ali, the most revered Shiite saint.
The division normally operates around the town of Salman Pak on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad — an area of intense Shiite-Sunni killings. The division was sent to the base in Numaniyah, 60 miles southeast of the capital, for further training.
Al-Latif said food and water at the base are provided by an Australian contractor working through Iraqi subcontractors. He did not identify the Australian firm.
Eating Castor beans or ricin-contaminated material causes diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, internal bleeding, liver and kidney failure, and circulatory failure. Rapid heartbeat can also occur. If the castor beans are swallowed whole, the poisoning will be less severe than if the beans are chewed. Breathing dust that contains ricin causes cough, weakness, fever, nausea, muscle aches, difficult breathing, chest pain, and cyanosis (blue skin). Breathing the dust can result in respiratory and circulatory failure. Exposure to concentrated ricin particles in the air is only likely during an act of bioterrorism where large numbers of people would likely experience the signs and symptoms in one place and time. Injection of ricin toxin would likely result in tissue (muscle) necrosis near the injection site, probable multiple organ failure, and death. All routes of exposure are very dangerous and can result in death.
Maybe and maybe not.
L
Any more BushBots wanna keep up the "We're Winning the War on Terror" mantra?
I believe this will prove out to be a weapon of mass destruction in a chemical agent. Biologicals will not act this fast. So, where does that leave us with regard to finding chemical weapons now used on the battlefield. If we learn this is the case, this will be the first salvo of chemical warfare used in this conflict. It sound like the enemy afflicted a mass of about 700 men with a single chemical. How much more will come down the line. Do we need more evidence that we need to utterly destroy the enemy?
Yes, it was really a Rove-inspired plot so that W could revenge the assasination attempt on his father, and get more oil, and make Halliburton rich in the meantime. There were no weapons of mass destruction - even though there were right before we went in.
Somebody could have dug up the "nonexistent" WMD's. Just because all of the affected were in a chow hall does not mean it was poisoned food or water. AP might have thrown an intentional diversion. How could 700 people all eat the same thing at the same time and start bleeding from the ears? Simple. It was not in the food. It would be interesting to know where people were sitting, in relation to who was most affected. Just conjecture on my part. I doubt that we will know if it was a nerve agent. Does not fit the agenda.
bttt
IRAQI MUSTARD GAS--IRAQI FORCES HAD AN
EXTREMELY POTENT GAS CALLED "KHARDAL" IN ARABIC. (FLDCMT--KHARDAL
TRANSLATES IN ENGLISH AS MUSTARD.) THE GAS WAS ORIGINALLY
MANUFACTURED IN THE SOVIET UNION BUT IS NOW MADE IN SAMARAH, IZ
//3412N04352E//. SYMPTOMS OF EXPOSURE INCLUDE BLEEDING FROM THE
EYES, EARS, AND NOSE TWO MINUTES AFTER EXPOSURE.
====
Thanks for posting this.
It MUST have been mustard gas, that has the symptoms and it acts quickly. This is the only explanation that makes sense.
The poison was not in the food, but someone released some mustard gas at the end of the meal.
What's your definition of "winning"?
GMTA, I didn't see your post when I wondered about that... remember Yuschenko? They considered this as the possible poison.
That would be my best guess,,or something similar,,
It acted too fast to be anything else,,IMHO.
OTOH, with some of the "music" I've been subjected to...
Question? Does it actually have to be something they ate? What about any gases dispersed in the chow hall? Certain chemical weapons have no odor nor appearance, and cause some wild sypmtoms.
Wait! I didn't have the Salmon loaf!
Anthrax would take time even if ingested in large quantities. Gastrointestinal is like the stomach flu. Most people who die from this are people who eat goats and sheep that they found dead and ate anyway.
This was much faster than that. It had almost an immediate reaction. If they can do it there that easily, they can do it here, and just as quick. I'm a little scared now.
As some of us kept saying, WMD can easily be hidden, a pound or two can kill hundred even thousands of people and how do you find a pound of something in a large country?
You don't needs tons of WMD to kill large amounts of people.
The Dems kept harping on we didn't find "large stockpiles", but if a few grams of anthrax can kill hundreds or more people, even a few grams of anthrax IS WMD.
Pls see # 122
One other possibility (might be a really stupid thought), could the plates, glasses, utensils, etc have been exposed to the gas, then used to serve the food?
I don't know what that level of exposure would cause, but something else to think about in terms of food safety as opposed to just food-testers.
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