From: pn44@therixon.com   
      
   "...the shell may have been an older one that predated the 1991   
   Gulf War."   
      
      
       And I bet it has a serial number on it - issued and printed in America.   
      
       Neocon Cultists - Read and Weep!   
      
      
      
   "Moyehoist"  wrote in message news:2004052612   
   207.15274.00002056@mb-m18.aol.com...   
   Leftists - Read and Weep!   
      
       
       
   Tests Confirm Sarin Gas in Baghdad Bomb    
   Updated: Tuesday, May. 25, 2004 - 7:43 PM    
      
   By JOHN J. LUMPKIN    
   Associated Press Writer   
      
   WASHINGTON (AP) - Comprehensive testing has confirmed the presence of the   
   chemical weapon sarin in the remains of a roadside bomb discovered this month   
   in Baghdad, a defense official said Tuesday.   
      
   The determination, made by a laboratory in the United States that the official   
   would not identify, verifies what earlier, less-thorough field tests had found:   
   the bomb was made from an artillery shell designed to disperse the deadly nerve   
   agent on the battlefield.   
      
   The origin of the shell remains unclear, and finding that out is a priority for   
   the U.S. military, the defense official said, speaking on the condition of   
   anonymity.   
      
   Some analysts worry the 155-millimeter artillery shell, found rigged as a bomb   
   on May 15, may be part of a larger stockpile of Iraqi chemical weapons that   
   insurgents can now use. But no more have turned up, and several military   
   officials have said the shell may have been an older one that predated the 1991   
   Gulf War.   
      
   It likewise is not known whether the bombers knew they had a chemical weapon.   
   Military officials have said the shell bore no labels to indicate it was   
   anything except a normal explosive shell, the type used to make scores of   
   roadside bombs in Iraq.   
      
   No one was injured in the shell's initial detonation, but two American soldiers   
   who removed the round had symptoms of low-level nerve agent exposure, officials   
   said last week.   
      
   The shell was a binary type, which has two chambers containing relatively safe   
   chemicals. When the round is fired from an artillery gun, its rotation mixes   
   the chemicals to create sarin, which is supposed to disperse when the shell   
   strikes its target.   
      
   Since it was not fired from a gun but was detonated as a bomb, the initial   
   explosion on May 15 dispersed the precursor chemicals, apparently mixing them   
   in only small amounts, officials said then. In battle, such shells would have   
   to be fired in great numbers to effect a large body of troops.   
      
   Iraq's first field-test of a binary-type shell containing sarin was in 1988,   
   U.S. defense officials have said.   
      
   Saddam's government only disclosed the testing and production after Iraqi   
   weapons chief Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel al-Majid, Saddam's son-in-law, defected in   
   1995. Saddam's government never declared any sarin or shells filled with sarin   
   remained.   
      
   Saddam's alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction was the Bush   
   administration's chief stated reason for invading Iraq. U.S. weapons hunters   
   have been unable to validate the prewar intelligence.   
      
   Some trace elements of mustard agent, an older type of chemical weapon, were   
   detected in an artillery shell found in a Baghdad street this month, U.S.   
   officials said previously. The shell also was believed to be from one of   
   Saddam's old stockpiles.   
      
      
   (Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may   
   not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)