Nerve gas find at camp

Guardian/UK ^ | 11/20/01 | Giles Tremlett in Madrid

[kattracks]

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network had been preparing terrorist attacks with the lethal sarin nerve gas before its infrastructure in Afghanistan was destroyed, according to a Spanish journalist who found phials marked as containing the gas at a camp outside Jalalabad.

El Mundo correspondent Julio Fuentes, who was last night reported dead after a convoy of journalists was attacked on the road to Kabul, found 300 of the phials at an abandoned al-Qaida base known as Farm Hada, 20 km south of Jalalabad.

His report, published yesterday, stated that they were in boxes of 10 which bore, in Russian cyrillic script, the words "SARIN/V-GAS". The phials were about seven centimetres long and contained a clear, yellowish liquid.

The Farm Hada base had been abandoned in a rush and was strewn with empty test tube racks, landmines, grenades and artillery shells.

Sarin gas was used by the Aum Supreme Truth cult in its attack on Tokyo's underground rail system in March 1995.

That attack killed 12 people and left nearly 1,000 ill.

[mdittmar]

Why the hell are reporters finding this stuff?

Where is the C.I.A???

[garbanzo]

I'm guessing his death wasn't a coincidence?

[cardinal4]

Sarin nerve gas at a Monday Night Football game.Man,that is frightening.We need to stop these people,BY ANY MEANS NECCESARY!!!

[Cachelot]

And the stuff used by the Aum was homemixed and badly delivered. This sounds like the real thing.

[johnny7]

Spooky $hit! If they left behind 300 phials, they must have plenty.

[Lizzy W]

Could somebody puh-lease warm up the nukes?

[WyldKard]

Sarin nerve gas at a Monday Night Football game.Man,that is frightening.We need to stop these people,BY ANY MEANS NECCESARY!!!

Well no...not really, at least not if I understand nerve gas correctly. It tends to disperse out into the air pretty quickly. So unless you had tons and tons and tons and tons of this stuff to flood the arena with, in a very quick fashion, you really wouldn't have that many casualties. The Aum cult did it in a subway car because thats where the gas could at least be trapped for a minute or two before disipating out.

Ten phials ain't going to cut it. I doubt a hundred or a thousand would either. But I am not a scientist in these matters in any way shape or form.

[Patria One]

Funny place to find it. Do the Afghanis also have gas masks?

[Nubbin]

hmmm...it appears those fearless, brave taliban fighters have managed to kill more journalists than american troops thus far in the war.

[struwwelpeter]

I showed an friend this report, this man is an ex-chemical warfare specialist from the Soviet army. He knows of no glass phials for nerve agents. In fact he is adament that glass is a no-no for toxic substances.

Sounds like our departed journalist saw one too many Rambo movies.

[struwwelpeter]

He also is unfamiliar with the term "Sarin". Either he's not much of a specialist, or they call it something else.

[Kozak]

Actually Sarin is heavier then air, so it would actually tend to hang around if released. Extremely lethal with fraction of a milligram LD 50. Thats why the Soviets used it as thier primary nerve agent.

[gunnedah]

This country is no longer equiped to handle these projects. We have tax exempt orginasations all over the place funneling out money to terrorist groups.Our own country has opened its borders and I must say for the loyal Democrats to buy elections. We bring them in, give the welfare,feed cloth and subsidize them so they can spy and destroy this country from within.Then our politicians sell all of our internal security to them.What the hell should we expect and now come to find out a lot of the money given to the 911 projects is going to leftist,subversive and liberal groups.You can laugh if you like but America is doomed!

[elfman2]

"I showed an friend this report, this man is an ex-chemical warfare specialist from the Soviet army. He knows of no glass phials for nerve agents. In fact he is adament that glass is a no-no for toxic substances. Sounds like our departed journalist saw one too many Rambo movies. "

I tend to agree. Reminds me of a report a couple of days ago where reporters were lead by the Northern Alliance to test tubes with the labeled "botulism". What's next, a notebook labeled "secret plans for the destruction of America"?

[struwwelpeter]

Excuse me, it is SARIN in Russian, he just couldn't get through my bad accent. But he says there is no SARIN V, there is a V-X, but it's different. He also says it comes in artillery shells and bombs, but not in glass ampules as far as he knows. It may be Afghani home-made stuff, and that would probably not be labelled in Russian.

There is also a rock group and a mixed drink called SARIN. I think the drink is vodka and melon juice, and may be served in a glass ;-)

[struwwelpeter]

European newsies sometimes get carried away, and with our brave journalist not available to refure the story or provide pictures and sources, I'm going to take a pass on this.

I'm off to the store right now to buy some melon juice.

[mdittmar]

May want to show him this:

sar·in [srin ] noun

nerve gas: an extremely toxic gas that attacks the central nervous system, causing convulsions and death. It has been used for chemical warfare. C4H10FO2P

[Quix]

One hypothesis might be . . .

that media people are much more effective at freaking populations out . . . if that's the goal of the powers that be . . . toward decreasing liberty . . . in the name of safety. . . but probably these media types just happened to be in the "right" place while CIA types were elsewhere filing someone's finger nails.

[nevergore]

"What's next, a notebook labeled "secret plans for the destruction of America"?

I also heard that Osama had a little guy that followed him around named "Mini-me".......

NeverGore :^)