November 11, 2004

Sarin Gas Found in Fallujah (Updated)

UPDATE 11/17: An image of the Sarin found may be found here.

UPDATE: Christian Science Monitor:

In the course of locating seven weapons caches in a single block around a mosque in northeast Fallujah, an Iraqi platoon Wednesday found a suitcase full of vials labeled "Sarin," a deadly nerve agent.

While further analysis determined that the find was probably part of a Soviet test kit with samples, its discovery in a room with mortar shells appeared to indicate an intent to weaponize the material.

NPR reported yesterday afternoon that US troops had found what they believed to be Sarin gas in Fallujah. I would caution that the report had not verified whether or not the substance was Sarin, only that troops suspected that it was.

According to NPR, Iraqi forces attached to Bravo Company found a truck that was loaded with weapons. In the truck was a briefcase with four packages containing ten vials each. The packages were labelled "Sarin-VGases" in English.

One Marine is reported as saying, "Awesome" upon the discovery of what potentially could be WMD, claiming that he now felt vindicated that the war was justified. The Marines also had intelligence that Sarin was in Fallujah and came prepared carrying gas masks.

It should be noted that the NPR report noted that the substances have not been independently analyzed yet. I was going to save this until it was confirmed, but since Glenn and James have put it out there, I figured I'd let my readers in on it too. Occasionally these reports turn out to be true, but often these early reports don't pan out.

Related logical string.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 01:42 PM | |