Development in Iraq

[zaibatsu]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3722255.stm

Seems to me like the iraqis who thought up this were stupid, probably stole it from some iraqi armament base a lot earlier and thought it was straight HE.

What do you think?

[Flake2m]

Looks like the Yanks have finally found those "Weapons of Mass Destruction" they have been looking so hard for.
What a better way to find them then by having some shiite set one off by the road?

[tmp]

From the news reports I heard today a small amount of sarin was released when
the shell exploded. It's possible that they didn't know it was a nerve gas round.
I'd say the shell was pretty old if only a small amount was released. Very likely
a leftover from the Iran-Iraq war.

[Zeitgeist]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/17/1084783452932.html

Here's another report.

[Bert]

Donald Rumsfeld should be very pleased! (http://www.buzzflash.com/burns/04/05/bur04083.html)

[Zeitgeist]

I don't doubt that this is a genuine binary sarin round, the lack of lethality is simply due to improper mixing of the binary components with the round used this way.

[nbk2000]

It's entirely possible that the terr's knew that the shell was a CW one, and thought that it would function properly, not knowing that it was a binary and requires mixing prior to dispersal.

This could be a test by the insurgents, in preparation of mass-use of CW agents by them in iraq. Considering how poorly they've been doing against our forces, it may be a desperate escalation by them in an attempt to inspire fear among our forces, seeing as how miserably they've failed to do that so far, with conventional explosive weapons.