The Boston Herald April 08, 2003
Chemical weapons still feared
By Thomas Caywood
Iraqi forces still could lash out with deadly poison gas in a final desperate attempt to turn back coalition forces, military analysts warned.
The threat of chemical or biological weapons, which drift on the wind killing indiscriminately, hasn't necessarily abated now that American troops are in among the people of Baghdad.
"If you believe the Bush administration, Saddam is willing to gas anybody any time," said Patrick Garrett, an associate analyst with Global Security of Alexandria, Va. "I don't think one can assume he won't use chemical weapons in his own cities."
The continued threat posed by Saddam Hussein as his regime teeters on the edge of collapse was underscored yesterday by chilling reports that American troops uncovered Iraqi rockets armed with chemical warheads.
Preliminary field tests that haven't yet been confirmed in a laboratory indicated the presence of a class of deadly nerve agents that includes sarin and tabun as well as the blister agent lewisite, according to media reports.
"Unfortunately, this is not surprising at all if it's true," said Amy Smithson, a senior associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "Iraq certainly used these agents during its war with Iran in the 1980s."
Saddam also unleashed sarin and mustard gas on the Kurds in northern Iraq, according to Physicians for Human Rights, a Boston group that sent doctors to document the 1988 atrocity.
"We have pictures of burns on people's backs and necks. Some of them had burns on their hands and face as well," said Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of the group.
"Birds and animals and people died within minutes of the bursts of the weapons," Sirkin added. "That was very likely because of the use of lethal nerve agents."
Sarin and tabun, which Iraq has acknowledged making, are related nerve agents that can kill when absorbed through the skin or inhaled as a gas.
Blister agents do not usually kill but cause painful injuries that can linger for a lifetime.
"When he gassed the Kurds, he wasn't gassing his own people," said Garrett, the Global Security analyst. "He might have different feelings about the people in Baghdad. But if they decide not to back the regime, then what incentive would he have not to participate in mass murder?"
Herald wire services contributed to this report
Graphic: Alarming find (art-text graphic)
U.S. forces near Baghdad found a weapons cache of around 20 medium-range missiles equipped with potent chemical weapons. Some of the missile system and the chemical weapons they were suspected to be equipped with:
** BM-21 GRAD (Hail) multiple rocket launcher system
Country of origin: Russia
Firing capabilities: Can fire 40 rockets in 20 seconds or individually in 1-2 second intervals
Countries with weapon: About 50
Crew: 5
** About the rocket:
Diameter: 122mm
Weapons delivered: frag-HE, chemical or incendiary warheads
Range: 20 km
Length: 9 feet
** DEADLY PAYLOAD?
The three chemicals suspected to be inside the warheads are banned from Iraq's arsenal by the United Nations. Here is the danger they represent:
* Lewisite:
TYPE OF AGENT: blister agent
MEANS OF EXPOSURE: Skin contact or inhalation
RATE OF ACTION: Pain and irritation occur immediately
EFFECTS: Skin blistering; burning, watering, swollen eyes; upper airway irritation, systemic blood poisoning
* Sarin and Tabun
TYPE OF AGENT: nerve agent
MEANS OF EXPOSURE: Skin contact or inhalation
RATE OF ACTION: Incapacitating effects occur within ten minutes, fatal effects occur within 15 minutes
EFFECTS: Pain, dim vision, runny nose, nausea and vomiting, twitching and convulsions, heart rate fluctuations, loss of consciousness or seizure, paralysis, death
Source: Henry L. Stimson Center
STAFF GRAPHIC BY JEFF WALSH
(For complete graphic, see Boston Herald microfilm.)
Caption: FRIGHTENING FIND: This video image shows some of the 14 barrels found by U.S. troops at a military training camp near Karbala. Initial tests showed the presence of chemicals. LOAD-DATE: April 08, 2003
Copyright © 2003, Boston Herald Inc.
