28 March 2003
CENTCOM Officer Says Iraqis Have Orders to Use Chemical Weapons
(Central Command Report) (570) By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr. Washington File Staff Writer Iraqi forces have been given preliminary orders to use chemical weapons on advancing coalition forces headed for Baghdad, and apparently they would be used when coalition forces cross pre-selected "trigger lines" as they near the Iraqi capital, a U.S. Central Command briefing officer says. "We have seen indications through a variety of sources and reporting means that, first, orders have been given that at a certain point chemical weapons may be used," said Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, during the daily CENTCOM briefing March 28 at its forward headquarters at Camp As Sayliyah near Doha, Qatar. "We've seen chemical protective equipment in a number of areas south of where we thought that red line might be." Brooks added that war planners have not seen a specific order from the Iraqi high command to fire chemical weapons on allied forces. "We know that the capability does indeed exist. We know that the will exists. And we take it very, very seriously at this point and we'll prepare ourselves accordingly," Brooks said. In recent days U.S. and British forces have uncovered major stashes of gas masks, chemical protective suits, and nerve agent antidote autoinjectors that contained the drug atropine. U.S. Marines on March 26 found more than 3,000 chemical protective suits, gas masks, nerve agent antidotes and a tank at a hospital near An Nasiriyah that was being used by Iraqi irregular forces as a base of operations. Brooks said the discovery by British forces of several thousand more chemical protective suits in the Ar Rumaylah oil fields in southern Iraq strongly indicate "a certain knowledge in the Iraqi forces that chemical weapons will be used." Since coalition forces do not have chemical weapons, Brooks said, there may already have been an Iraqi decision to use banned weapons at some point. He added that there is evidence some Iraqi forces may have moved chemical weapons south from Baghdad, which leads coalition war planners to suspect the Iraqis will use chemical agents once coalition forces cross trigger lines. In other operations, Brooks said: -- In the previous 24 hours coalition forces have directed attacks against the regime of Saddam Hussein, its structures and its units with a focus on communications systems, hiding places and surface-to-surface missile batteries. -- Iraq has fired at least 12 Ababil-100 or al-Samoud ballistic missiles at Kuwait and all have been intercepted by U.S. Patriot missiles. -- Special operations forces continue operating throughout Iraq, and special operations aircraft destroyed two paramilitary headquarters March 27 in An Nasiriyah. -- The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force continued advancing beyond Al Kut, while the U.S. Fifth Corps forces defeated paramilitary attacks north of An Najaf. -- British forces succeeded in preventing any reinforcement of Al Basrah, while securing the southern oil fields, and the key port of Umm Qasr. -- The channel of Khor Abdullah has been successfully cleared of mines, and the waterway is now open and humanitarian supplies have begun arriving. The HMS Sir Galahad has arrived at the port of Umm Qasr with at least 200 metric tons of supplies. -- There are currently three oil well fires in the Ar Rumaylah oil field, and a combined U.S.-Kuwaiti team of firefighters is there now and working to put them out. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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