kiltboy

I edited some of the text but if you can follow the link to the whole story where they appear to have found similar stuff 18 months ago in Basra. Looks like it was training material. http://www.drumbeat.mlaterz.net/March%202003/Sarin%20kit%20found%20by%20British%20troops%20033003a.htm March 30, 2003 The chemical appeared not to be a sample of Sarin but some sort of simulator used to test if Sarin was in the atmosphere. Nevertheless it was marked “dangerous to humans if exposed for ten minutes without a respirator”. The discovery was made in an Iraqi ordnance facility south of Basra in territory now controlled by coalition forces. “Until further tests are carried out on the vials of chemicals we have found here we do not know exactly what the material is,” Captain Kevin Cooney of the Joint NBC Regiment said. “To my eye it looks like training equipment to teach people how to identify if there is something like Sarin in the air and what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. Perhaps the most worrying thing were two packets of thin, glass vials, each containing some coloured crystals, apparently with instructions on how to use them for detection of nerve agents, including “Sarin, Soman and V-Gases”. The directions indicated how the vials could be broken and the vapour in some way pumped into a small hand pump which was then filled with the atmosphere that was to be tested. A certain colour change in the chemical appeared to the indicator of the presence of Sarin, one of the most sinister and dangerous nerve agents, believed by western intelligence agencies to be in Saddam’s arsenal.

I wouldn't say it was decon kit. I could see it being a training kit as the packet label state Sarin/soman and v gases i.e nerve agents. Did the Iraqis train with live agents during the Iran/ Iraq war? Aside from whe they actually used them obviously. The UK (and I'm assuming the rest of NATO) has three colour detector paper that has a different reaction to nerve, blister and blood agents but I've not read the pamphlet in a while so the details escape me. It's conceivable that the vials are training stock that are left over from years ago. There's a full NBC kit in my parents closet that's a left over from when I was in the reserves. No combopens or naps tablets but the rest of it is there. David

Yes they are.

I remember reading that there were arms dumps in Iraq stretching over several square miles. If I recall the rhetoric properly, there was no need to guard the arms dumps as the coalition would be welcomed as liberators. The WMD sites under monitoring (IAEA, UN) should have been a different story given the reasons for the invasion. The post-invasion plan would appear to have been a bit poor and more information on how poor is coming to light. David

I'd say a political judgement should be good enough as he consulted Parliament. It was debated in the commons so Parliament should hold him accountable. There were major problems with the intelligence community and the way that the intelligence was presented to the PM. I do feel that professional intelligence officers should have known better and should have been able to put the proper weight and caution on the intelligence presented. I believe that the PM should also have questioned the intelligence chiefs to clearly understand what was being presented. On that point I feel he failed to question and heard what he wanted to hear. That I believe is a failure in his duty as PM to be fully aware of the issue before he committed troops to war. War should be the most serious decision a PM makes and he should be fully aware of the situation. Incidentally the troops that went were lacking in ammo and equipment which I find disgusting I also find the latest round of defence cuts to be crazy. David (Brit in the US)

Yeah the book was a lot better especially the way the President went to pieces. The whole affair with the National Security advisor added to the flavor of events with the decision making etc.. David

"The Sum of All Fears" Watched it this past weeknd. David

Certainly a very just cause but I had to rip the attachment off of another web page. David

So I take it the issue is that the muslim community isn't outraged enough by what happened in Russia? I know little of the Islamic religion and it's different branches but it seems that it is the extremists that are resorting to terrorism and not the mainstream (I believe that there are extremists in all religions). I think the mainstream muslim community is outraged but I feel they are scared to voice that opinion because of the current political climate that is painting all muslims with the same brush as the extremists. just my 2 cents. As for suicide bombers, well that's due to religion and the promise of direct entry to paradise with martyrdom. Some other terrorists will die for their cause but it's a lot easier to convince someone to become a suicide bomber with the promise of heaven/paradise than it is to persuade someone to do it for a cause. Self preservation and wanting to survive to see victory etc. David

Just out of curiosity how would the UN enforce those resolutions when it has no armed forces? I thought that the member countries submitted resolutions, voted on them and then provided troops. I view the UN as an arena for political debate between countries (a world parliament kind of deal) but its the responsibility of the member countries to abide by the resolutions and to cooperate with them. I see it as the UN can do nothing IF THE COUNTRIES that make up the UN decide to do nothing. David

I'm pretty sure the UK will send some guys though god knows where they'll get them from. Aid to Sudan has been debated in Parliament recently and given that the UK sent guys to Rwanda (similar circumstances) I would expect that the UK will send some troops once the UN passes a resolution. David

Unfortunately according to the Independent story Hans Blix, the IAEA and the CIA said that the Uranium claim was inaccurate. A former diplomat, Joseph Wilson, visited Niger in 2002 on behalf of the CIA, and reported that there was no evidence that Saddam had sought to buy uranium from the country. George Tenet, the CIA director at the time, declared that the Niger claim was "not tenable". And in last week's damning senate report on pre-war intelligence, a memo by a senior CIA official was revealed which said: "We told Congress that the Brits have exaggerated this issue." Mr Blair's Iraq dossier claimed Saddam "sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa, despite having no active, civil nuclear programme that could require it." But the IAEA points out that it would have been impossible for Iraq to acquire uranium from Niger without this being discovered. The country's entire output at the time came from two mines controlled by a French company, and its entire output was pre-sold to France, Japan and Spain. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=540446 David

I thought the State of the Union Address stated that the British had intelligence on Iraq attempting to get uranium from Niger. Prior to that statement I believe the CIA had investigated the British claim and found no evidence to support the British claim. I also thought that the documents had been shown to be forged. Why then would a President state what was factually correct (i.e. the British claim to have intelligence showing that Iraq is trying to get uranium) when his own intelligence agency had investigated the claims and found nothing and the other documents were forged? Maybe not lying but possibly used to provoke an emotional response of fear/anger when there was cause to doubt those claims. Provoking fear and anger to generate support for a war? Just a thought. David

Ahh yes memories. I ended up keeping the bottom of the mag on my right hip so I knew it was there. David

Turns out the IFF transponder failed and the battery then identified it as an incoming threat. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/3714251.stm I believe this time round that US troops (small forward air control type groups) were deployed with the UK forces to assist with air strikes and this helped reduce the number of friendly fire incidents. Some still happend unfortunately. David