Suspicious Iraqi Drums - Preliminary Test Suggests Chemical Agents

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[arkady_renko]

Suspicious Iraqi Drums

Preliminary Test Suggests Chemical Agents; More Testing Needed

April 26

— A preliminary test on one of 14 55-gallon drums found in a field east of Bayji, Iraq, near missiles and warheads, has indicated at least two chemical agents are present, ABCNEWS has learned.

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In recent weeks, U.S. forces have found a number of suspicious containers in Iraq that on initial tests indicated the presence of potentially dangerous chemical agents. But these earlier finds turned out to be false alarms.

However, a Pentagon official said the fact that these chemicals were found with warheads raises the level of interest.

More Tests

The military plans to conduct further tests on the barrels found near Bayji.

According to the Pentagon official, the military does not have testing equipment in Iraq that is sophisticated enough to eliminate all pesticides. Because pesticides can give a false positive, anything found will be sent to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for further testing.

It will take about a week from the time the chemicals are shipped out of Iraq to the time the military has positive identification, the official said.

ABCNEWS' Lisa Sylvester at the Pentagon contributed to this report.

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[arkady_renko]

Sorry. This LINK should work better.

A_R

[Clara Lou]

I'm so tired of hearing that "initial tests were positive" only to find out that it was a false positive. We need the real thing!

[TrueBeliever9]

pesticides are a bio weapon - depends on your perspective or the intentions of the user

[salmon76]

Here we go again! Please, no more false negatives. We need some "true positives"!!!

[NautiNurse]

no more false negatives

false negative = positive.

[Normal4me]

Uh, no they are chemical based. /picky ;-)

[Mark17]

I'm so tired of hearing that "initial tests were positive" only to find out that it was a false positive. We need the real thing!

Yep, I agree.

[smith288]

Pravda and Debka ard my verification....

[FreedomPoster]

LOL!!

[TrueBeliever9]

Are you familiar with the terms "biotechnology" or "biochemical"? What is your point???

[Jeff F]

false negative = positive.

And Near Miss = Collision

Apartments = People jammed up right next to each other

Flammable = Inflammable?

[fooman]

Actually, if it were just pesticides it would be brilliant militart strategy by the iraqis.

They trip all of our field detection equipment, without having the bad gas.

But I bet that even this non-lethal stuff would still be illegal because of how it is deployed.

We certainly caught a lot of grief about using non lethal gases...

[tgslTakoma]

Late, late, late last night I was driving home from work and heard a guest on "Batchelor & Alexander" show saying that Coalition forces had found a huge cache of barrels filled with potassium cyanide, at a site in northern Iraq. He said that a couple of drums would be enough for industrial use, but that many thousands of drums were found. The guy was very excited about the news and said (para) "Here's the WMDs."

I checked all kinds of news links all morning and couldn't find anything on this particular find. I'm not sure if your story is related or not. I guess we just wait for more info...

[fooman]

I heard about this report too.

I think the admin is right on this. IF the harpies at the media keep complaining, they will be 'fished in' ala Wayne's World when the WMD turns up.

Then we have more egg on thier face...

[Clara Lou]

The US probably already have the goods but they're having outside investigators test
I hope you're right. It would certainly silence of some Democrats and liberal columnists who make me sick.

[M. Peach]

Speaking of drums - it reminds me of the story when the Lone Ranger and Tonto were dining over a campfire when they heard wardrums in the distance. Peeking over the brush, The Lone Ranger says to Tonto - "Tonto - I don't like the sound of those drums"

Tonto replied, "Kimosabe, I think they just got a new drummer....." (rimshot here)

[ATCNavyRetiree]

Ya know, it is KNOWN that Saddam has used chemical weapons in past, therefore they DID exist, and if he had remained in power, he would most certainly have used them again!
So if we don't find any, Saddam obviously destroyed them or buried them in the desert just before the war.

[arkady_renko]

I initially heard this report on the hourly ABC news this morning. The reporter on the scene said they consider this one of the most 'promising' finds yet. I hope so - I am sick of Alan Colmes and crew asking where the WMD's are. As I type this the MSNBC babe is asking this same question with a smirk.

We'll know soon.

A_R

[Once-Ler]

Just when all the players misunderstimate Dubya and raise the stakes, he will show his winning hand. Dubya is so predictable but so are the opposition.

You hit that right on the head. Dubya keeps placing the liberals in situations where they lose no matter what happens. He is an amazing political player.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" had found a huge cache of barrels filled with potassium cyanide, at a site in northern Iraq."

MSNBC and a Freeper with a chemical background said that potassium cyanide is used in the manufacture of plastics and has other industrial uses. However, this was supposedly found at the terrorist training camp and as the anchor on MSNBC said-they are not manufacturing plastic at the camp. I heard one lefty commentator sniff that the terror camp was in the north, which was controlled by the Kurds and thus,not under Saddam's control.Once the WMD are eventually found- watch for the left to scream that the amounts aren't large enough or the mix isn't potent enough,etc,etc. The left seems genuinely disappointed that the WMD were not used on the troops.

[meenie]

There is a hopeful wish to find something they can pin on finding chemical weapons. I don't blame them. If I had lied on the dangerous weapons they said Saddam had, I would be embarassed and ashamed. People do not like to be lied to, especially on something as serious as war. Politicians are notorious for stretching the truth but 159 deaths and 20 billion in a war that is started on falsehoods would be hard to overcome. I hope they can come up with something tangible but the preformance so far is not encouraging.

[Maynerd]

pesticides are a bio weapon - depends on your perspective or the intentions of the user

Certainly from the perspective of a cockroach!

[rwfromkansas]

uh huh. Sure.

[yonif]

again? enough of this. Finalize all tests before everyone makes a big fuss about it.

[VRWC_minion]

There is a shusssher somewhere in the pipeline.

Investigation 101-Never release your information while gathering it. It helps verify future leads and it keeps the perps off balance.

[VRWC_minion]

There is a hopeful wish to find something they can pin on finding chemical weapons.

So what explains Saddam's refusal to explain where they went ?

[John H K]

There is a shusssher somewhere in the pipeline

Once materials get up to people competent to fully test it, those people are smart enough not to babble to the media while they're testing stuff.

Where things get out initially is when random G.I. Joe with his "U-test-it" crappy field test runs excitedly to a embedded reporter saying "Lookit what I Found!" every time he gets a positive.

[John H K]

I always put a great deal of credence on initial reports.

That isn't real bright, as about twenty billion-zillion examples in the last couple of years have shown.

BASIC facts are routinely wrong. Would not suprise me if the "anthrax" death on the ship actually wasn't from anthrax, for example.

[jacksonstate]

La La La La La La La La La La.........

Been there done that!

(but I hope it is true)

[alnick]

I am sick of Alan Colmes and crew asking where the WMD's are. As I type this the MSNBC babe is asking this same question with a smirk.

I'm sick of it too, but you know what? Let 'em continue. The more that they whine that we didn't have justification to take SH out, the more that they make themselves look bad by suggesting that 24 million Iraqis should still be living under the SH regime and that those children should still be imprisoned.

[The Old Hoosier]

[Brandon]

pesticides are a bio weapon - depends on your perspective or the intentions of the user

Yep. Zyklon B was a pesticide, just for instance.

[arkady_renko]

Now THOSE are suspicious drums - but are they Iraqi?

A_R

[visualops]

Funny since they are always insisting he's stupid.
They can't get past his "regular guy" way of speaking, plus the Libs just can't stand the idea that there are people [much] smarter than them.

[xtargeter]

It's been a long time since I worked with CBR stuff, but is it realistic to put those types of chemicals in oil drums? I'd be really, really worried that they would leak.

I know there are WMD in Iraq, but I'm not sure this is it. I'd be happy to be wrong, however.

[arkady_renko]

Oh well...Suspicious Discovery Apparently Wasn't Chemical Weapons.

Nevermind.

A_R