Chemical Weapons in Iraq?

[Boudreaux Bob]

Seems there has been a bit of a cover up about Chemical Weapons in Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html?_r=0

[MAINJAFAD]

Bob

No cover up at all, bar the fact that Bush Jr didn't make use of the fact that Iraq had failed to give up All WMD stocks as specified in the original UNSCR for the ceasefire in 1991. If you read this book, you will see the efforts that Saddam took to hide WMD related equipment.

Saddam's Secrets: The Hunt for Iraq's Hidden Weapons: Tim Trevan: 9780006531135: Amazon.com: Books

Written by a Brit who was on the UNSCOM Bio weapons inspection team, he is quite blunt on his conclusions on why things turned out in Iraq the way they did up to 1998. UNSCOM pretty much got the shipping manifests for all of the WMD and dual use material shipped to Iraq throughout the 1980s. Every man and his dog was selling Saddam something or other that could be used for the production of WMD. When UNSCOM was kicked out in 1998, there was still a lot of stuff that hadn't been accounted for

[Lonewolf_50]

The report doesn't surprise me, given the political climate at the time, but it angers me. Someone was not taking care of the troops. :mad:

[nimbev]

MAINJAFAD. The cover up is not so much the existence of the weapons, but the way that the US Army treated those troops that were contaminated. I dont think that I am particularly naive, but I was appalled at the way those bomb disposal guys were treated (or rather, not treated). The NYT article made fascinating reading.

[nimbev]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/world/middleeast/-more-than-600-reported-chemical-weapons-exposure-in-iraq-pentagon-acknowledges.html?emc=edit_th_20141107&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=57780611&_r=0

Official acknowledgement at last. This could run and run.

[NutLoose]

MAINJAFAD. The cover up is not so much the existence of the weapons, but the way that the US Army treated those troops that were contaminated. I dont think that I am particularly naive, but I was appalled at the way those bomb disposal guys were treated (or rather, not treated). The NYT article made fascinating reading.


It happens the World over, remember Porton Down and their trials into the "cough, cough" common cold and what they turned out to be testing.

Also the Aussies and the F111 fiasco..

Personally I hope they sue them for millions

[Danny42C]

Nutloose,

We were in the business in the Far East, too. My posts on the "Brevet" Thread Page 153/ #3046 and Page 152/ #3036 may be of interest.

D.

[BEagle]

Primary chemical threat for many at KKIA came from 'Jeddah gin' or similarly vile illicit alcohol brewed by the expats.

Anyone stupid enough to drink it thoroughly deserved the side effects.

Earlier, at Tabuk, the BWoS mob made beer by mixing non-alcoholic Kaliber with Jeddah gin and adjusting the colour with gravy browning.....:yuk:

We had a few 'Black' warnings at KKIA, usually because someone had driven a vehicle too close to the CAM site. So the ground defence guys bought some canaries in a cage as they were likely to be more reliable than the CAM!

Wasn't 'Gulf War Syndrome' discovered to be the result of exposure to organophosphate pesticide fumes ingested by soldiers who'd been forced to have various experimental inoculations? Exposure to the enemy's nerve agents was one thing, exposure to one's own chemical cocktails and a subsequent cover-up something entirely more sinister.....:hmm:

[Danny42C]

BEagle,

Your:

"Primary chemical threat for many at KKIA came from 'Jeddah gin' or similarly vile illicit alcohol brewed by the expats.

Anyone stupid enough to drink it thoroughly deserved the side effects"

But fine for priming paraffin Primus Stoves and Pressure Lamps ! :ok:

D.

[Tashengurt]

Squipping with the F3s in GW1, we were called out one day to carry out a 'live' de-contam of some returning crews.
I never found out why this was but the thing descended into farce as other crews wandered into the LHA for maps etc as we went through the drills.
Still. I contend I'm one of the only Squippers around to have carried out these drills for real.

[ORAC]

Claimed as a definitive research paper.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61398886

Sarin gas blamed for Gulf War syndrome

US scientists say they have discovered what caused thousands of soldiers who served in the 1991 Gulf War to fall sick with mysterious symptoms.

They have pinned the blame on the nerve agent sarin, which was released into the air when caches of Iraqi chemical weapons were bombed….

[Lonewolf_50]

Right, so maybe it was that. Interesting that they point to "genetic predisposition" which may explain the wide variability of symptoms.