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<p>The Army said it will delay destruction of a deadly nerve agent at the Newport Chemical Depot until early 2004 because the plant doesn't yet meet environmental standards or have a sprinkler system.</p> <p>A federal lawsuit in Ohio, announced last month, also might add to the delay of a process ordered by international treaty and shadowed by terrorism.</p>

<p>The operation at an Army depot is beginning slowly and will take seven years to destroy the GB, VX and mustard gas and the rockets that carry them, said Army spokesman Mike Abrams.</p> <p>The burn had been scheduled to begin Wednesday, but the Army agreed to delay until Friday's hearing on the request by the Chemical Weapons Working Group -- opponents of the burn -- for a temporary restraining order.</p>

A coalition of environmentalists and citizens groups asked a U.S. court on Monday to issue a last-minute injunction barring the military from destroying hundreds of Cold War-era chemical weapons at an incinerator in Alabama. The U.S. Army, complying with an international treaty, is expected to begin burning the first of its M-55 rockets containing the deadly nerve agent sarin on Wednesday at its $1 billion chemical weapons disposal facility in Anniston. In a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Sierra Club environmental group and other opponents of the plan argued that large amounts...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A senior U.S. intelligence official told CNN on Monday that a soil sample from the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory destroyed last week by U.S. missiles has tested positive for a chemical that is "one step away" from deadly VX nerve gas.</p>

www.4ranters.comIt seems the anti-Bush crowd has found a new way to attempt to discredit Bush and the war in Iraq. This time, it's the missing WMDs. After the swift liberation of Iraq and the worries of the peaceniks proven wrong, one would figure the anti-war crowd would finally concede. Somehow, the fact that WMDs haven't been found - yet - is supposed to prove the war as unjustified, and make Bush and Tony Blair liars. First the protestors predicted a messy quagmire of a war where thousands of lives would be lost. Massive casualties of both Iraqi civilians and American...

From whiskey to religion, Iraqis tasted freedoms denied for years Saturday in a slow climb back to a normalcy an entire generation never knew. Completing their own journey to freedom, seven U.S. captives from the war flew to a Texas homecoming. In a widening sweep of officials from Saddam Hussein's toppled government, authorities arrested his former finance minister, hoping he can lead them to the former dictatorship's hidden wealth. They also took custody of the suspected mastermind of Iraq's nerve agent program, who gave up.Postwar recovery advanced in scattered steps.Thousands of Shiite pilgrims renewed a tradition banned for decades as...

<p>U.S. field commanders in Iraq continue to reposition American forces to focus on humanitarian missions and the search for weapons and former government officials.</p> <p>The Army's 4th Infantry Division, currently based around Baghdad International Airport, will eventually relieve Marines in northeastern Baghdad and start looking for weapons of mass destruction and providing stability to the area, a military official says.</p>

U.S. faces repercussions if weapons are not found Wednesday, April 16, 2003 BY JOHN HASSELL Star-Ledger Staff [Newark, NJ] -- The list of banned Iraqi weapons cited as the central reason for war by President Bush was lengthy and specific: Anthrax. VX. Botulinum toxin. Nerve gas. R-400 aerial bombs. Bush's assurances that U.S. troops will unearth these weapons of mass destruction, however, have not been borne out by searches at suspect sites in Iraq -- so far. The dilemma for Washington, according to foreign policy analysts, is that with each passing day, the failure to produce evidence of Saddam Hussein's...

<p>MARINE COMBAT HEADQUARTERS, Southern Iraq ? At 2:05 p.m., Lt. Col. David Pere, the senior watch officer at this U.S. command post, fields a disturbing intelligence report.</p> <p>Iraqi troops at an Ababil missile site northwest of Basra have been spotted wearing chemical weapons suits. A special vehicle designed to decontaminate troops and their gear after a chemical attack is parked nearby.</p>

U.S. special forces and CIA agents have already entered Iraq and are scouting potential targets, gathering intelligence and preparing the battlefield for a U.S. invasion that would likely be code-named Operation Iraqi Freedom, military sources told NBC News on Tuesday. [snip] They also revealed that intelligence reports were indicating that Saddam was preparing to use chemical weapons against U.S. troops. Artillery shells with chemical warheads were being handed out to troops of Saddam's elite Republican Guard at Al Kut, southeast of Baghdad, the reports indicated, while preparations were under way to coat bridges and roadways with a lethal VX nerve...

1. This is a question for those who might know. 2. Saddam has yet to turn over the 1st liter of anthrax or chemical agent or other biologic agent. 3. Does old agent need to be replaced with new to remain "weapons grade" agent? 4. If age of sample can be determined, then turning over even one liter would verify that he has been/is currently producing these things. 5. Perhaps this has been answered before. If so, sorry. In any case, an answer would be appreciated.

BAGHDAD, March 3 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Monday that Iraq would submit a new report on VX nerve gas and anthrax stocks in a week time as part of efforts to avert a possible U.S. invasion. "Iraq will be providing a report on the VX and anthrax in a weeks time," Hiro Ueki, spokesman for U.N. weapons inspectors in Baghdad, told Reuters. Iraq held talks on Sunday with U.N. arms experts on the VX and anthrax stocks it says it has destroyed. Baghdad began destroying some 120 al-Samoud 2 missiles on Saturday, meeting a key deadline...

It also threatens to halt destruction of missiles, which it began on Saturday, if Washington signals that it will attack BAGHDAD - Ongoing excavations have uncovered important quantities of anthrax and VX nerve agent, Iraqi presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi said yesterday. United Nations inspectors have been seeking clarification of the whereabouts of such deadly agents for years. Mr Saadi said excavations at the al-Aziziya air base, 104 km south-west of Baghdad, had uncovered nearly all bomb fragments filled with tonnes of toxic agents which Iraq insists it destroyed unilaterally in 1991. He said that so far Iraq had not...

SIGNIFICANT quantities of anthrax and VX nerve agent have been accounted for during ongoing excavations in Iraq, Iraqi presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi has said. He said excavations at the al-Aziziya air base, 104km south-west of Baghdad, had also uncovered bomb fragments. Iraq insists it destroyed tonnes of toxic agents unilaterally in 1991. The discovery was announced as UN biological experts arrived for talks with Iraqi authorities. "So far we have reached a figure not quite 157 (tonnes of anthrax), but we are nearing it, there is work in progress," Saadi told a news conference. "So far, more than eight...

Words of Wisdom About Gas, Germs, and Nukes By SFC Red Thomas, Armor Master Gunner U.S. Army (Ret) 10.19.01 Since the media have decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf, I decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert. Lesson number one: In the mid 1990s there was a series of nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack, less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured were better...

     Chemical Warfare Agents NAME CODE TYPE PERSISTENCE 70-90 deg F (HRS) PERSISTENCE 40- 60 deg F (HRS) ACTION STATE (20 DEG C) ODOR REMARKS PHOSGENE CG CHOKING 0.5 1 RAPID COLORLESS GAS GREEN CORN OR NEW MOWN HAY MAY BE KNOWN AS COLLONGITE DIPHOSGENE DP CHOKING .5 - 3 1 - 4 RAPID COLORLESS LIQUID GREEN CORN OR NEW MOWN HAY MAY BE KNOWN AS SUPERPALITE TABUN GA NERVE 24 -48 48 - 96 VERY RAPID COLORLESS TO BROWN LIQUID FRUITY TO NONE   SARIN GB NERVE .5 - 24 24 - 36 VERY RAPID COLORLESS LIQUID NEAR...

Iraq gives al Qaida VX Gas efreedomnews.com December 14, 2002 Jonathan Rhodes 14 December 2002     Washington Post writer Barton Gellman reported December 12, 2002 that al Qaida received VX nerve gas from Iraq in October - smuggled through the Turkish border. [Washington Post Article] Gellman is a well-respected reporter, known to confirm his facts and sources.The report came from "Knowledgeable officials, speaking without White House permission," who " said information about the transfer came from a sensitive and credible source whom they declined to discuss." "The way we gleaned the information makes us feel confident it is accurate,"...

As Yogi Berra says, prediction is hazardous, especially with regard to the future, but here goes: The logic of the situation will force Bush to attack, presumably late in February, though this prediction is not about timing. The really disturbing news, if it’s true, is Blair’s apparent temporizing in the face of Labour Party opposition. I don’t think stiffing the UN will be so hard, but stiffing the UK will be tough. Anyway, once we attack, several things are likely. Hussein is likely to use chemical and biological weapons, making a mockery of all the absurd calls for evidence. We...

Officials from the Esbat al-Ansar group said Friday that US reports accusing the militant Islamic group of having nerve gas supplied by Iraq did not deserve a response. The officials were “adamant” that the reports were “fabricated,” a source said. Esbat al-Ansar, based in Sidon’s Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, has been described as a “terrorist” organization by Washington. The officials from the group were reluctant to speak with reporters, but one said that such reports did not warrant a reply. “We are not in a hurry to reply to (US President George W.) Bush or others,” the official said. The...

Al-Qa'eda has VX nerve agent from Iraq, claims report By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 13/12/2002) The CIA is investigating a "credible" intelligence report that Islamic terrorists linked to al-Qa'eda recently acquired VX nerve agent in Iraq. If the report proves to be accurate, it could be proof that Saddam Hussein lied in last week's 12,000-page declaration to the UN and provide evidence of the link between Baghdad and Osama bin Laden that the White House has so often hinted at. It would also be the first known time that al-Qa'eda had managed to obtain a weapon of mass destruction....