[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Chemical gear for the Chemical group.

Thought process going on here....I don't see anything specific to an offensive capability....but seems to be specific to only the Chemical Group....was he not equipping the regular soldiers with some of the same equipment....would be a question....course the plan would be only that the enemy would be hit by the chemicals...

So by INF ERENCE

Can't we say that the Chemical Group is an Offensive group!!!! Just trying to nail down obvious things......

[jveritas]

The Chemical group was part of Feedeyeen Saddam and I strongly believe this group was designed more for offensive and not defensive actions. You are right, why they only equipped very few soldiers with such a gear and not all of them if they are really worried about the welfare of soldiers being attacked by Chemical weapons. Saddam knew very well that the US will not Chemical weapons against his army or his city.

[JerseyHighlander]

Even up to the point that US forces were driving toward the Kabala Pass, Saddam had so compartmentalized his military that senior military commanders were not sure or not if Iraq had chemical or biological weapons. It was only after the US Marine Expeditioary passed through Karbala that Saddam Hussein told his own senior military commanders that they indeed did NOT have WMD. He had up until that time maintained the Chemical Platoons to reassure his military, and to threaten the Kurds and Iranians, with their assumptions made about Iraq's WMD capabilities.

The Chemical Platoons described in jveritas' previous post today has the same platoon composition as has been the standard Chemical platoon for the Iraqi military since 1983.

The purchase of the Belgian chemical protection equipment was a rouse to fool senior Iraqi commanders and the outside world...

[SittinYonder]

the plan would be only that the enemy would be hit by the chemicals.

If your unit is firing chemical weapons they still need to be protected, particularly if there is a chance the wind could blow back your way.

[Dog]

No smoking gun here..close but no.

[BlueStateDepression]

I think that much can be gained from determining if this was declared activity or not.

Hold on for a minute and I'll get Koffi on the phone and get that question answered post haste! /sarc.

Wether these tidbits were declared or not does more than infer, imho.

[popdonnelly]

"So by INF ERENCE
Can't we say that the Chemical Group is an Offensive group!!!!"

I think it's a reasonable inference that the Iraqi Army was preparing for chemical warfare. Now, since the U.S. hasn't used chemical weapons since 1918, had signed agreements banning their use, and was publically in the act of destroying chemical stockpiles, whose chemical warfare was the Iraqi Army preparing for?