Chemical Plant Found

Sky News ^

[rhombus]

'CHEMICAL PLANT FOUND'

A huge chemical weapons factory has been found in Iraq, according to Pentagon sources.

The facility was found by advancing US troops in An Najaf, around 100 miles south of Baghdad, the sources say.

The general in charge of the factory was arrested by the 1st Brigade of the Third Infantry division and is being questioned, the sources said.

An unconfirmed report by Fox news said the complex is around 100-acres, adjacent to military barracks and surrounded by an electric fence.

Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said if the claims are substantiated they will in part vindicate President Bush and Prime Minister Blair.

They have argued the case for war against Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein had banned weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons.

The Iraqi regime has always denied this and UN weapons inspectors sent back into the country at the end of last year failed to find any evidence to suggest otherwise.

[ABC123]

This morning President George Bush has made an announcement that we will not attack Iraq as previously indicateded. He announced that as of today he wants to give inspections a last chance and is agreeing to additional inspectors to be deployed throughout the country of Iraq. Therefore, he will be sending 250,000 additional inspectors into Iraq. Among the additional inspectors are:


* 50,000 members of the 1st Infantry Division
* 30,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division
* 30,000 members of the Marine Special Amphibious Forces
* 5,000 members of the Navy Seals
* 10,000 members of the 4th armored division with their " M1-A1 all terrain vehicles"
* Special air deliveries to aid the inspections will be made by aircraft from the USS Constellation, USS George Washington, USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Enterprise.


The President stated, "With these additional inspectors the inspections should be completed now in just a few weeks."


There were no comments from Hans Blix, or the Security Council members of the United Nations.

[kellymac2u]

how did they miss a 100 acre chemical weapons plant???

[crazykatz]

RIGHT ON!!!

[Salvation]

[Moonmad27]

I'm reminded of the 1960's Man from UNCLE episode The Arabian Affair, where a chemical weapons plant was hidden in the desert, disguised as a sand dune. At the beginning of the show they put a "test subject" into a glass-walled room and let the chemical loose, still chilling to recall. The more I think about it, the TV show was exactly right, thirty-plus years ahead of its time.

[Enterprise]

There are some times when the stupidity of some of the media people is beyond belief.

[Enterprise]

In a time of war, when the troops are needed to be available to kill Americans, it would make no sense at all to have a General in chage of a generic chemicals producing plant. There are two things which this would indicate. If it was a generic chemicals plant, and it was camouflaged, the General and his troops were cowards and were hiding there to try to sit out the war. Otherwise, it is what we believe it is, and we will soon have the information on what the plant contains, or has produced.

[Plutarch]

Original article in The Jerusalem Post

Mar. 24, 2003
US TROOPS CAPTURE CHEMICAL PLANT
By CAROLINE GLICK

About 30 Iraqi troops, including a general, surrendered today to US forces of the 3rd Infantry Division as they overtook huge installation apparently used to produce chemical weapons in An Najaf, some 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Baghdad.

Asked to confirm The Jerusalem Post's exclusive coverage of this development, US Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, Deputy Commander of Central Command, told reporters: "I'm not going to confirm that report, but we have one or two generals officers who are providing us with information."

One soldier was lightly wounded when a booby-trapped explosive went off as he was clearing the sheet metal-lined chemical weapons production facility.

The huge 100-acre complex, which is surrounded by a electrical fence, is perhaps the first illegal chemical plant to be uncovered by US troops in their current mission in Iraq. The surrounding barracks resemble an abandoned slum.

It wasn't immediately clear exactly which chemicals were being produced here, but clearly the Iraqis tried to camouflage the facility so it could not be photographed aerially, by swathing it in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert.

Within minutes of our entry into the camp on Sunday afternoon, at least 30 Iraqi soldiers and their commanding officer of the rank of General, obeyed the instructions of US soldiers who called out from our jeep in loudspeakers for them to lie down on the ground, and put their hands above their heads to surrender.

Today's operation is the third engagement with Iraqi forces by the First Brigade of the US army's 3rd Infantry Division, since Saturday afternoon.

So far in the campaign, the brigade has suffered no losses. But two were wounded Saturday night in an ambush on the outskirts of As-Samwah in southern Iraq.