Scattered WMDs Iraq Really Had

Lest we forget, the fear of massive biological, chemical or biological weapons that deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could use in attacking the United States seem to have been a fabrication by a government looking for an excuse to start a war. There were mini-hints that stores of old chemical weapons could be found, but the threats were minor, and even those caches were only discovered in dribs and drabs over the years. But those dribs and drabs were very unpleasant surprises for those who found them, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had no problem using them on his own people. But that use was hardly a new threat, such toxins having been used almost a decade and a half before the new WMDs were declared to exist in 2003.

“Beginning in the morning on March 16, 1988 and continuing all night, the Iraqis rained down volley after volley of bombs filled with a deadly mixture of mustard gas and nerve agents on [the Kurdish town of] Halabja. Immediate effects of the chemicals included blindness, vomiting, blisters, convulsions, and asphyxiation. Approximately 5,000 women, men, and children died within days of the attacks. Long-term effects included permanent blindness, cancer, and birth defects. An estimated 10,000 lived, but live daily with the disfigurement and sicknesses from the chemical weapons… Saddam Hussein's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid was directly in charge of the chemical attacks against the Kurds, earning him the epithet, ‘Chemical Ali.’” About.com. So those “secret weapons” were well-known to the world in 1988!

Make no mistake, these older chemical agents are still deadly. One of the most common, most-easily fabricated battlefield toxins is mustard gas. Also known as “sulfur mustards,” these weapons were common in the trench warfare of World War I (see picture above). “[T]hey are usually yellow-brown in color and have an odor resembling mustard plants, garlic, or horseradish, hence the name…

“Because people exposed to mustard gas rarely suffer immediate symptoms, and mustard-contaminated areas may appear completely normal, victims can unknowingly receive high dosages. Within 24 hours of exposure to mustard agent, victims experience intense itching and skin irritation, which gradually turns into large blisters filled with yellow fluid wherever the mustard agent contacted the skin. These are chemical burns and are very debilitating. Mustard gas vapour easily penetrates clothing fabrics such as wool or cotton, so it is not only the exposed skin of victims that gets burned. If the victim's eyes were exposed then they become sore, starting with conjunctivitis, after which the eyelids swell, resulting in temporary blindness. Miosis may also occur, which is probably the result from the cholinomimetic activity of mustard. At very high concentrations, if inhaled, mustard agent causes bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system, damaging mucous membranes and causing pulmonary edema.” Wikipedia.

If the gas doesn’t kill the victims immediately, there are longer-term impacts like an increased likelihood of developing virulent strains of cancer. But years after the President declared “mission accomplished,” as American soldiers were destroying Iraqi weapon stores, they have stumbled on the few pockets of these weapons still remaining.  “It was August 2008 near Taji, Iraq. They had just exploded a stack of old Iraqi artillery shells buried beside a murky lake. The blast, part of an effort to destroy munitions that could be used in makeshift bombs, uncovered more shells.

Two technicians assigned to dispose of munitions stepped into the hole. Lake water seeped in. One of them, Specialist Andrew T. Goldman, noticed a pungent odor, something, he said, he had never smelled before… He lifted a shell. Oily paste oozed from a crack. ‘That doesn’t look like pond water,’ said his team leader, Staff Sgt. Eric J. Duling.

“The specialist swabbed the shell with chemical detection paper. It turned red — indicating sulfur mustard, the chemical warfare agent designed to burn a victim’s airway, skin and eyes… All three men recall an awkward pause. Then Sergeant Duling gave an order: ‘Get the hell out.’” New York Times, October 14th. Mustard gas. But even the Iraqi army had no idea where these all of these stores of nerve and mustard gas were. There were no massive stashes of newly-developed WMDs, just remnants of the gasses that were such a horrific part of Iraq’s brutal history.

“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.” NY Times.

All these weapons seem to have been manufactured before 1991, according to the Times; nothing in the way of newly-developed WMDs was found. Also according to the Times, one of the most embarrassing aspects of these weapons was that such weapons were “remnants of long-abandoned programs, built in close collaboration with the West… the munitions appeared to have been designed in the United States, manufactured in Europe and filled in chemical agent production lines built in Iraq by Western companies.” Emphasis added.

Uh oh, we helped develop and make these toxins? And so we kept these little revelations top secret. “The American government withheld word about its discoveries even from troops it sent into harm’s way and from military doctors [even to Congress!]. The government’s secrecy, victims and participants said, prevented troops in some of the war’s most dangerous jobs from receiving proper medical care and official recognition of their wounds.” NY Times. It gets uglier.

“The United States government says the abandoned weapons no longer pose a threat. But nearly a decade of wartime experience showed that old Iraqi chemical munitions often remained dangerous when repurposed for local attacks in makeshift bombs, as insurgents did starting by 2004.” NY Times.

There is increasing evidence that these older weapons do in fact retain significant toxicity, and one particular site – a major former chemical weapons site in Iraq at Al Muthanna where mustard shells and sarin [deadly nerve gas] was stored – is now in ISIL’s hands. “The highly dangerous site had been controlled by the U.S. and then turned over to the Iraqis after our departure with firm instructions to destroy or dismantle the deadly contents and ‘entomb’ it in cement.” Huffington Post, October 15th.

Were these toxic agents destroyed or contained as directed? Has ISIL secured some of these deadly toxins and actually used them on village it has attacked? There are reports that ISIL at least used chlorine gas (a lung-burning “choking agent” that less powerful than Sarin or mustard gas) on an attack against an Iraqi police installation in September, which Western powers are currently investigating. Real? Are there bigger threats? Stay tuned! But as for the chemical agents left in Iraq, they must be pretty effective weapons if we helped to design and build them.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the extent of our folly in this toxic land seems to have exceeded even our most negative critics’ worst accusations.