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SCUD attack, bio scare alarm forces in Kuwait

USMC News

Story Identification Number: 200332834827
Story by Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait(March 27, 2003) -- An Iraqi missile attack and the detection of biological agents March 27 had the U.S.-led, multi-nation task force, whose mission is to respond to biological and chemical attacks here, believing they would be called into action.

However, while the incidents were unrelated and caused no harm to the people in Kuwait, together they served as a grim reminder to the Combined / Joint Task Force - Consequence Management of the potential for Iraq to use ballistic missiles to deploy biological or chemical weapons against troops in Kuwait.

While Iraqi hasn't used biological or chemical weapons yet in the war, U.S. officials believe Saddam Hussein issued orders to his Republican Guard to do so when coalition troops crossed an imaginary "red line," south of Baghdad, just north of Karbala and Al Kut.

Patriot missiles successfully intercepted the inbound Iraqi missile at approximately 11:30 a.m. only seven kilometers east of Camp Doha, headquarters of the Combined Forces Land Component Command who controls ground troops involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense reported the missile to be a SCUD B (Al Hussein) launched from at site north of Basrah.

A short time later at approximately 1 p.m., an unknown biological agent triggered several aerosol sensors within the Mishref district of Kuwait City. The task force's Czech contingent deployed a biological sampling team who eventually determined the agent to be nothing more than e. coli, a virus commonly found in tainted meat.

Czech analysts believe the source of the e. coli was not the SCUD, but rather unregulated public dumps on the outskirts of Kuwait City. The combination of recent wind, humidity and blowing dust spread the virus beyond the dumps to the sensors, said Capt. Petr Vohralik, a Czech nuclear, biological and chemical defense officer with the task force.

The sensors are a first line of defense and detect biological agents with particles of a certain size, which could be hazardous, said Vohralik. After the sensors detect something, NBC troops collect samples and determine the exact agent.

Since the biological alarms sounded on the heels of the SCUD attack, Kuwaiti officials issued a warning to residents in Mishref to stay in their homes or to don protective masks. Once Czech analysts determined the bacteria didn't pose a threat to the public, Kuwaitis went about their business.

People in Kuwait are already tense due to military action in the area, said operations chief and task force translator Gunnery Sgt. Osama B. Shofani.

For the past several weeks, German, Czech and Slovak chemical reconnaissance troops patrolled sites around Kuwait monitoring for harmful agents.

The patrols have calmed some of the fears of the Kuwait people, said Maj. Andreas Kayser, the German's senior NBC officer.

In addition, the task force positioned their forward command post adjacent to Kuwait's main emergency operations center. With every SCUD warning alarm comes the potential for the unit to be launched into action. After a missile is shot down, the command post serves as a hub for various pieces of information collected from the task force's troops and the local fire and police departments to determine whether biological or chemical agents were onboard.

"Eventually the picture materializes," said Maj. Alan Greenwood, the command post's officer-in-charge.

Consisting of German-operated Fox reconnaissance vehicles and various Czech and Slovak detection equipment, the U.S.-commanded task force is capable of detecting a wide variety of chemical and biological agents. If something is detected and casualties arise, the task force can extract victims and decontaminate them.

However, the task force cannot be deployed unless Kuwait specifically asks the United States for assistance, but considering the continued coordination and training between the task force and the government of Kuwait the plea for help is almost assured.

Established in November 2001 primarily by Marines from the I Marine Expeditionary Force, the task force was created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Today, the task force numbers approximately 1,000 troops from the U.S., Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and the Ukraine.

Initially focused more on responding to terrorist attacks using biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, the unit is now focused more to responding to the use of chemical munitions by Iraq against the people of Kuwait in retaliation for allowing the U.S. use the nation as a launch pad for an assault.

With coalition troops closing in on Baghdad and its imaginary "red line," the next alarm, unfortunately, may be the swan song of a biological and chemical-free war thus far.