thedrifter
07-04-06, 01:33 PM
July 10, 2006
Report: Troops found chemical weapons in Iraq
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
A new report about old weapons is causing a political squabble that might be putting U.S. troops in Iraq at increased risk.
The still-classified report from the National Ground Intelligence Center, part of the Defense Intelligence Agency, says U.S. troops have recovered about 500 chemical weapons in Iraq and there are likely to be even more found later.
Republicans have seized on the report as proof that deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in 2003.
“These 500 chemical munitions are weapons of mass destruction,” said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., who chaired a June 29 House Armed Services Committee hearing on the report.
Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, the DIA director, said most of the munitions were artillery shells carrying sarin nerve gas or mustard gas, and were so old they could no longer be fired from an artillery piece. The munitions appeared to have been produced in the 1980s and were similar to those used during the Iran-Iraq war, Maples said.
But their age doesn’t preclude them from being considered weapons of mass destruction, said Maples, who called the munitions “hazardous and potentially lethal.”
Both sarin gas and mustard agents can be fatal if a person is exposed to enough of the toxic material, he said, even though the toxicity erodes over time.
Democrats found the fuss difficult to understand. Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the House Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democrat, said the committee had better things to do than “rehashing old news about old weapons.”
If the chemical weapons were so threatening, wondered Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., why hadn’t insurgents tried to use them in attacks aimed at U.S. and coalition troops?
One factor, military officials said, is that the aging shells are dangerous when handled, even by the people who would make improvised explosive devices.
There are concerns that if more news gets out about possible chemical weapons stockpiles still in Iraq — possibly in munitions storage facilities whose doors may have been sealed by U.S. troops during early stages of the invasion — the more likely it is that insurgents will try to find the weapons and use them against coalition troops.
Maples raised this as an issue in citing his reluctance to totally declassify the report on found chemical weapons.
However, under questioning from Weldon, Maples said there is no reason to think all chemical weapons have been found.
When Weldon asked if Iraq is “a WMD-free zone,” Maples said, “I would not say that,” but added that he could offer more details only in a closed hearing.
The report was prepared to give U.S. commanders an idea of the risk facing ground forces from weapons they might come across but not as a defense of the decision to go to war, Maples said.
But the fact that Democrats said 39 times during the June 15 debate in the House that weapons of mass destruction had not been found in Iraq prompted Republicans to call the hearing.
“I am a firm believer that when facts are available, the American people should have them,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the armed services committee chairman who said news that weapons of mass destruction had been found and secured in Iraq would be important to the 922,000 service members who have deployed there since the start of the war.
Ellie
Report: Troops found chemical weapons in Iraq
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
A new report about old weapons is causing a political squabble that might be putting U.S. troops in Iraq at increased risk.
The still-classified report from the National Ground Intelligence Center, part of the Defense Intelligence Agency, says U.S. troops have recovered about 500 chemical weapons in Iraq and there are likely to be even more found later.
Republicans have seized on the report as proof that deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in 2003.
“These 500 chemical munitions are weapons of mass destruction,” said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., who chaired a June 29 House Armed Services Committee hearing on the report.
Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, the DIA director, said most of the munitions were artillery shells carrying sarin nerve gas or mustard gas, and were so old they could no longer be fired from an artillery piece. The munitions appeared to have been produced in the 1980s and were similar to those used during the Iran-Iraq war, Maples said.
But their age doesn’t preclude them from being considered weapons of mass destruction, said Maples, who called the munitions “hazardous and potentially lethal.”
Both sarin gas and mustard agents can be fatal if a person is exposed to enough of the toxic material, he said, even though the toxicity erodes over time.
Democrats found the fuss difficult to understand. Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the House Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democrat, said the committee had better things to do than “rehashing old news about old weapons.”
If the chemical weapons were so threatening, wondered Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., why hadn’t insurgents tried to use them in attacks aimed at U.S. and coalition troops?
One factor, military officials said, is that the aging shells are dangerous when handled, even by the people who would make improvised explosive devices.
There are concerns that if more news gets out about possible chemical weapons stockpiles still in Iraq — possibly in munitions storage facilities whose doors may have been sealed by U.S. troops during early stages of the invasion — the more likely it is that insurgents will try to find the weapons and use them against coalition troops.
Maples raised this as an issue in citing his reluctance to totally declassify the report on found chemical weapons.
However, under questioning from Weldon, Maples said there is no reason to think all chemical weapons have been found.
When Weldon asked if Iraq is “a WMD-free zone,” Maples said, “I would not say that,” but added that he could offer more details only in a closed hearing.
The report was prepared to give U.S. commanders an idea of the risk facing ground forces from weapons they might come across but not as a defense of the decision to go to war, Maples said.
But the fact that Democrats said 39 times during the June 15 debate in the House that weapons of mass destruction had not been found in Iraq prompted Republicans to call the hearing.
“I am a firm believer that when facts are available, the American people should have them,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the armed services committee chairman who said news that weapons of mass destruction had been found and secured in Iraq would be important to the 922,000 service members who have deployed there since the start of the war.
Ellie