ISIS believed to have attacked US base in Iraq with chemical agent

[mystery-ak]

ISIS believed to have attacked US base in Iraq with chemical agent
Published September 21, 2016 FoxNews.com

ISIS fighters are believed to have attacked U.S. and Iraqi forces with a chemical weapon Tuesday evening, a U.S. official told Fox News.

The U.S base outside Qayyarah, 25 miles south of Mosul, came under rocket fire, and traces of a "mustard agent" were believed to be present, the official said. The attack was first reported by CNN.

A Pentagon official told reporters that a “tar-like black oily substance” was found on one of the shells that landed within the base, only hundreds of yards from U.S. forces. An initial test for the agent was positive, but “could be false," the official said. The second test was negative, possibly because the shell had been exposed to the elements.

No U.S. troops were injured in the attack and there were “no signs of exposure” shown by any U.S. troops, including the two soldiers who inspected the shell. Two to four soldiers who were near the shell received full decontamination treatment.

more
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/09/21/isis-may-have-attacked-us-base-in-iraq-with-chemical-agent.html

[Smokin Joe]

http://www.wnd.com/2004/05/24713/

http://worldtribune.com/worldtribune/wmd.asp

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=15708

http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/06036/649858.stm

http://wmdevidenceiniraq.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-happened-to-wmd.html


Gee Whiz....I wonder where those came from?

[HonestJohn]

Well, the chlorine would have been readily available, as it's needed in industry... and in oil refineries.

The question is whether they were able to synthesize/acquire the rest of the materials and then successfully combine them all into sulfur mustard and then develop a way to aerosolize it.

Also, the gas is a yellowish-brown... and the article describes a 'tar-like black oily substance'.  So I'm not too sure this was mustard gas.

Maybe a dioxin?

[Smokin Joe]

Well, the chlorine would have been readily available, as it's needed in industry... and in oil refineries.

The question is whether they were able to synthesize/acquire the rest of the materials and then successfully combine them all into sulfur mustard and then develop a way to aerosolize it.

Also, the gas is a yellowish-brown... and the article describes a 'tar-like black oily substance'.  So I'm not too sure this was mustard gas.

Maybe a dioxin?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/world/middleeast/questions-answers-abandoned-chemical-weapons-in-iraq.html
(watch video)
Mustard, Sarin, and Tabun were known to be in Iraq, and believed to have been removed to Syria. Many of the munitions found were in poor shape and not useful as weapons, but large stockpiles of older munitions were found. If the munition did not deploy the contents effectively, it may have been an old munition which had been cracked or corroded, leaving only a residue from the chemical inside.
See also...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html

[Smokin Joe]

Well, the chlorine would have been readily available, as it's needed in industry... and in oil refineries.

The question is whether they were able to synthesize/acquire the rest of the materials and then successfully combine them all into sulfur mustard and then develop a way to aerosolize it.

Also, the gas is a yellowish-brown... and the article describes a 'tar-like black oily substance'.  So I'm not too sure this was mustard gas.

Maybe a dioxin?

Check out the table here:

http://www.fas.org/cw/cwtable.htm

The things which would be likely to leave a brown residue are the Nitrogen Mustard gasses, Lewisite, Mustard Lewisite, and Diphenyl-Dichloroarsine.

See also: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/duelfer-report-on-chemical-weapons-in-iraq.html

and https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/index.html for pdf versions of the different volumes of the report Volume III has the chem/bio stuff. I had a heck of a time and had to repeatedly reopen the links in another tab before they would load correctly. If at first you don't succeed...

See Also: https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/addenda.pdf Addenda for information on the prewar movement of WMDs (CIA 2005 dated report).