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.
Does that work so quick?
Ricin works in days - remember that Bulgarian Markov (?) they got with an umbrella? And they injected it into him, not fed it to him, too.
Causing bleeding from the ears???
About the only food related cause for bleeding from the ears that I can think of is a skull fracture from being force fed a frozen pot roast through the top of the skull.
The e-coli is just a naturally occurring hazard. It has happened before and it will happen again.
I respectfully disagree. The MSM and other way-out-there leftists have contributed to the resistance that is fighting democratic rule there.
Warfarin. Rat Poison.
A worrying twist..
yep. Chemically it belongs to coumarin family. That much I still remembered, but the word 'warfarin" somehow eluded me at the time. Hopefully, it's only the lousy memory and not an alzheimer onset.
This is scary, extremely scary.
The Abu Ghraib prisoners now under Iraqi management should be made to be food tasters. Every last one of them.
This is an evil, uncivilized enemy we face.
):^(
Ingestion: If someone swallows a significant amount of ricin, he or she would develop vomiting and diarrhea that may become bloody. Severe dehydration may be the result, followed by low blood pressure. Other signs or symptoms may include hallucinations, seizures, and blood in the urine. Within several days, the person’s liver, spleen, and kidneys might stop working, and the person could die.
The easiest place I have found to look is CDC Facts.
This is actually a huge story-but, the MSM will ignore the significance.
They're still fixated on the Foley foolishness.
The terrorists may have just tested a bio or chem weapon and it went undetected by those eating the food.
Coumadin lengthens the time blood takes to clot and it takes awhile for it to become effective.
I don't think even a massive overdose would work this quickly.
The police were spontaneously hemorrhaging and falling over-almost Ebola like.
Scary stuff.
Extremely disturbing. Prayers going up.
They just pulled a wmd attack..
Same stuff that gives mexican vanilla it's unique flavor.
"its" darnit, not "it's"!
Let me toss out a question....can you juice Coumadin up to make it faster acting?
If you put enough of that stuff in food to poison that many people, wouldn't the taste be noticeable? I think it must be some kind of exotic poison that is lethal in small doses that nobody would notice.
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