Iraq:  U.S. Forces Test Captured Suspect Sites, Find Pesticides Instead of Sarin at One

U.S. troops have begun testing for chemical weapons agents at several recently captured Iraqi sites that were initially suspected of containing banned chemical weapons, and one site has been cleared, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, April 7).

Soldiers guarding a captured military compound near the Iraqi town of Hindiyah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, complained over the weekend of symptoms consistent with very low exposure to nerve agent.  While initial tests detected the presence of sarin, more comprehensive tests conducted yesterday determined the presence of pesticide compounds, said Capt. Adam Mastrianni, a military intelligence officer with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division’s aviation brigade.

“They thought it was a nerve agent.  That’s what it tested.  But it is pesticide,” Mastrianni said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, April 8).

U.S. troops are also conducting further analysis on liquid agent found at an agricultural compound located near the town of Albu Mahawish, according to the National Post.  Initial tests conducted on the agent, discovered in 14 drums, tested positive for tabun, sarin and lewisite, but these results could also be an indication of the presence of pesticides.

“Now, this could be either some type of pesticide because it was an agricultural compound and literature inside the compound talks about dealing with mosquitoes,” said Gen. Benjamin Freakly, assistant commander of the 101st.  “On the other hand, it could be a chemical agent, not weaponized, a liquid agent that is in drums,” he said.

“It is a liquid agent that concerns us and we want to investigate further,” Freakly said (Michael Higgins, National Post, April 8).

U.S. troops have also discovered two additional suspect sites, according to reports.  A warehouse was discovered near an airbase just north of the city of Karbala with more than 500 artillery shells, many with hollow tips, which could indicate they are to be used with chemical weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Wall Street Journal, April 8).  Additionally, members of the 1st Marine Division were reported to have found yesterday 20 artillery rockets filled with sarin and mustard gas at a site near Baghdad.

The U.S. Central Command receives an average of three reports per day of suspect Iraqi WMD sites, but none has been confirmed yet, a U.S. source said (Neil Tweedie, London Telegraph, April 8).

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday warned that initial reports from the field of the presence of chemical weapons are often inaccurate.

“Almost all first reports we get turn out to be wrong,” Rumsfeld said.  “We don’t do first reports and we don’t speculate,” he added (Earl Lane, Newsday, April 8).

Testing Equipment

One of the tools U.S. troops have to use in their hunt for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction is the Fox armored vehicle, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.  While the Fox contains much of the same WMD detection equipment as other vehicles, it also contains a mass spectrometer, which can break a suspicious substance down into its chemical components.  Spectrum analysis, which is often more precise, can then be done at the location and the results immediately reported to commanders, the Inquirer reported (Tom Infield, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 8).

Most field tests, however, often result in false positives, experts said.  The portable kits used to conduct initial tests often lack the specificity needed to precisely identify a suspicious substance.  Instead, the kits are designed to lean toward a positive result to protect U.S. troops, often resulting in false alarms, said Jonathan Tucker with the U.S. Institute of Peace (William Broad, New York Times, April 8).

“Chemical Ali” Dead or Alive?

Meanwhile, U.S. officials have begun to play down reports that Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali” for ordering a 1998 chemical weapons attack on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, was killed Saturday during a British airstrike on the southern city of Basra, according to U.S. News & World Report.  While al-Majid was wounded in the attack, he probably survived and was able to escape, several military sources said.

“I don’t think he’s dead, but I think he’s hurt bad and he’s been neutralized,” said a senior official with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

A number of Marine officers have said they expect to hear of al-Majid again. 

“The thing about Chemical Ali is that he’s got such a great name,” said Lt. Col. David Pere.  “He’s everywhere,” Pere added (Mark Mazzetti, U.S. News & World Report, April 7).

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Iraq:  U.S. Troops Discover Signs of Chemical Weapons at Several Sites

U.S. forces in Iraq over the weekend discovered several possible chemical weapons sites, and some soldiers were decontaminated after they suffered symptoms suggesting they had been exposed to chemical weapons, according to reports (see GSN, April 4).

U.S. troops found suspect chemicals at two sites — an agricultural warehouse containing 55-gallon chemical drums and a military compound that troops began searching Saturday, according to Knight Ridder.  Testing conducted at the warehouse came back positive for the presence of G-Series nerve agents, such as sarin and tabun.  More than a dozen soldiers who guarded the military compound Saturday night suffered symptoms consistent with very low exposure to nerve agent, Knight Ridder reported.  While preliminary tests came back negative, further testing indicated the presence of sarin (Tom Lasseter, Knight Ridder/Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6).

MSNBC has reported that U.S. Marine units discovered cyanide and mustard gas agents in water taken from the Euphrates River, according to USA Today.  Water testing conducted near Nasiriya found “large concentrations” of the agents.  MSNBC reported that Marine commanders believed Iraq deliberately attempted to poison U.S. and British troops (USA Today, April 7).

Marines yesterday also excavated two missiles from a suspicious pit near the town of Aziziyah, about 50 miles southeast of Baghdad, according to Knight Ridder.  They were taken to the pit by villagers who said the Iraqi military had recently buried something there and then covered it with cement and dirt.  The missiles were marked with a chemical symbol, but it still unknown what, if anything, they contained, Knight Ridder reported (Knight Ridder/Philadelphia Inquirer, April 7).

Coalition Prepared to Respond

Meanwhile, coalition forces are maintaining aircraft on standby to immediately react if Iraqi WMD attack systems are detected, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, deputy chief of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday.  Any coalition units, including special forces and reconnaissance drones, can prompt the airstrikes, he said.

The approach is called “time-sensitive targeting,” McChrystal said.  “That’s a series of aircraft in the air, and every time a sensor of any kind … identifies one, those aircraft are there for the express purpose of attacking that immediately,” he said (Ron Laurenzo, Defense Week, April 7).

Threat Lowered

U.S. Marines in Iraq were ordered to remove their chemical protective gear today, in an indication that the U.S. military believes the threat of Iraqi chemical weapons attacks has been reduced, according to Reuters.  The order applies to the entire 1st Marine Division, which consists of about 20,000 soldiers, officers said.

“Whatever intelligence they have is telling us the threat level has been reduced,” Marine Lt. Peter Rummler said (Reuters/Ha’aretz, April 7).

“Chemical Ali” Reported Dead

Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali” for ordering a 1998 chemical weapons attack on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, was killed Saturday by a coalition airstrike on his home in Basra, a British officer said today.

Al-Majid’s body was found along with that of his bodyguard and the head of the Iraqi intelligence service in Basra, said Maj. Andrew Jackson of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment.  The discovery of al-Majid’s body was one reason for the British advance into Basra, because of the belief that resistance there would collapse with the death of the leadership, Jackson said (see related GSN story, today). 

“The regime is finished.  It is over, and liberation is here,” said Group Capt. Al Lockwood, spokesman for British forces in the Persian Gulf region.  “The leadership is now gone in southern Iraq,” he added (Tini Tran, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, April 7).

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Russia:  Moscow to Neutralize Weapons at Storage Sites Prior to Final Disposal

The United States and Russia have agreed to a new plan to accelerate the disposal of Russia’s chemical weapons stockpiles, Zinovy Pak, head of the Russian Munitions Agency, said yesterday (see GSN, March 5). 

Under the new plan, signed March 14, Russia will conduct the initial neutralization of chemical weapons agents at their current storage sites, Pak said.  This new method is expected to accelerate the chemical demilitarization project by at least three years, he added (RIA Novosti, April 1).

Pak also said yesterday that the United Kingdom will oversee the construction of a new chemical weapons detoxification plant in Maradykovo, in the Kirov region (Izvestia/Russian Press Digest, April 2).

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