Bombers Use Chlorine Again in Iraq

Suicide bombers attempted yesterday to attack an Iraqi government facility in Fallujah with chlorine-laden trucks, but the attackers were shot before they entered the site, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 26).

The bombers, however, did succeed in detonating the explosives on their truck, wounding 15 U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to the U.S. military.  Some Iraqi police and soldiers received treatment for breathing troubles, vomiting and other symptoms of chlorine exposure, according to the AP.

“I hate to call it chemical warfare in the sense that there are real chemical weapons, and those are profoundly toxic,” said defense expert William Arkin, a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University.  “My sense is that these are attacks directed against Iraqi citizens because American military can protect themselves better, they are in better health and they can put on gas masks.”

The attack was the eighth to use chlorine since the series began in late January, AP reported.

How long they will continue could depend on insurgents’ access to chlorine.  Arkin speculated that Iraqis may have stolen the gas from a major plant in Ramadi following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“Really, the only concern is how much of this stuff got out during the ... period in which a lot of looting was going on,” Arkin said (Associated Press/Houston Chronicle, March 28).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.