The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons

[Snaquebite]

Long article in the NYT...... Surprise surprise...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...=fb-share&_r=0

Five years after President George W. Bush sent troops into Iraq, these soldiers had entered an expansive but largely secret chapter of America’s long and bitter involvement in Iraq.

From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule.

In all, American troops secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs, according to interviews with dozens of participants, Iraqi and American officials, and heavily redacted intelligence documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

[Pete]

What chemical weapons?

[Streck-Fu]

That read too much like a hit piece. As though the NYTs dug for anything they could write to disparage the military.

17 individuals since 2003.

How long until this becomes the new Agent Orange?

[cbtengr]

Why would the Pentagon bury that info and ask that it not be reported? I am sure the MSM will vigorously report on this in order to vindicate GW.

[Snaquebite]

Originally Posted by cbtengr

Why would the Pentagon bury that info and ask that it not be reported? I am sure the MSM will vigorously report on this in order to vindicate GW.

PArt 1: No idea...
Part 2: FOX is reporting
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014...report-claims/

[Team Sergeant]

How stupid have we become? We knew for a fact Iraq had tons of chemical weapons before we attacked in 1991. The CIA knew this and the DoD knew this. Since when does the NYT's have the lowdown on Iraq's chemical weapon program? And would someone please tell me how the DoD kept this "secret" for decades? Sorry NYT's but we already knew about the chemical weapons long ago.
Only the liberals thought saddam didn't have chemical weapons, and I sure as hell didn't see one liberal fighting in Iraq, Kuwait or Saudi while I was there.

This is how liberals write articles, with an extreme left-wing, socialist agenda.......

As anyone with have a brain can see the CIA was writing reports about Iraq's Chemical weapons arsenal long, long ago....... And guess what , we read the classified reports concerning Iraq's chemical weapons before we arrived on the battlefield.



https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/...htm#appendixb1

Iraq’s Pre-Gulf War CW Program

Prior to the Gulf war, we assessed that Iraq had the largest CW program in the developing world. A large body of information indicated Iraq had produced mustard and nerve agents and used them to fill bombs, artillery shells and rockets, and ballistic missile warheads. Although it began its CW program in the 1970s, Iraq did not begin producing sizable quantities of CW agents until the early 1980s. The Iraqis were producing large quantities of the blister agent sulfur mustard by early 1983 and the nerve agent tabun by 1984. The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) reported publicly that Iraq produced nearly 4,000 tons of CW agents prior to 1991. IC estimates from the late 1980s through 1991, credited Iraq with a production capability of about 1,000 tons per year each of blister and nerve agents.

[Team Sergeant]

Iraq's Abandoned Chemical Weapons???? This is way too funny......

Maybe someday the extreme liberal/socialist NYT's will write the truth.

Iraq didn't abandon it's chemical weapons, the Sunni's hid them for use at a later date. And now they are being employed once again by the Sunnis. What a huge surprise.

Just wait until the Pakistanis decide to assist their sunni brothers a bit more and give them tactical nuclear weapons......

I'm just waiting for a tactical nuke to go off in Syria's capital, courtesy of Pakistan via the sunni rebels fighting Assad.

Just keep thinking that will not happen.......

[2018commo]

Chemical Weapons in Iraq? "There is nothing in the desert..."

[Monsoon65]

When I'd get into "discussions" with liberals, they'd always crow about, "Hey, nothing was found in Iraq but a few old chemical shells. That's all. No WMDs at all. Bush lied for oil!!!!"

I'd always remind them to dig out a map and take a look at Iraq. Big desert. Lots of places to hide things if you wanted to.

Or, it was on some of those trucks I saw beating-feet to Syria.....

[Dohhunter]

Yep, high tailing it to Syria.

Right into black flag waving, goat humping central.

[YM Cating]

More on this.

Here's what I don't get, why didn't Bush come out with it when they found WMDs? What is so critical about it that he was willing to take all that criticism over an "illegitimate" and "illegal" war when he had the proof to justify it and make it perfectly legitimate?

My other question. Why didn't we destroy the contents? It seems it takes an incinerator and 15+ hours to destroy something like Sarin (at least as of 2003,) so I guess a Bunker Buster wouldn't suffice. But it seems very irresponsible that we just left that kind of weaponry in the hands of the Iragi Army. It would seem IS may now have access to this kind of weaponry.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/10...ons-unleashed/


Second link, half way down is an article about the Army destroying Sarin back in 2003

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...pg=2997,926453