Iraq War Watch: Clandestine Chemical Production and Storage Facilities Discovered

The ASSociated Press has U.S. Raids Suspected Chem Facility in Iraq.

U.S. troops raided a suspected insurgent chemical weapons factory in northern Iraq, finding about 1,500 gallons of dangerous substances, the U.S. military said Saturday.

Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a military spokesman, said 11 chemicals were found in the hideout in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, “which are dangerous by themselves, and mixed together they would become even more dangerous.”

“Our feeling at this point is that had this stuff been mixed and used, it could have been very easily used against Iraqi and coalition forces,” Boylan said.

The United States Department of Defense has Iraq Raid Yields Possible Chemical Production Facility.

Acting on detainee-provided tips, coalition forces found what’s believed to be an insurgent chemical production facility and chemical storage locations during Aug. 9 raids in northern Iraq, officials in Iraq reported today.

The early morning raids, conducted by Task Force Freedom, uncovered what technical experts believe to be a “clandestine chemical production facility” and possibly related storage sites.

Military officials are careful to state that ongoing analysis of the chemical evidence collected from the sites is currently insufficient to determine what the insurgents had been producing.

“We are continuing to investigate the production and storage facilities to determine what type and quantities of chemicals were produced at the facility and the specific threat posed to our forces,” said Col. Henry Franke, Multinational Corps’ nuclear, biological and chemical defense officer.

“We don’t want to speculate on any possibilities until our analysis is complete,” he added.

Well, no speculation yet…. but where did these chemicals come from? Were they left over stores of WMD chemicals from Saddam’s regieme or freshly imported and when?

And were the insurgents actively manufacturing chemicals weapons of mass destruction and did they have the help of the Syrians or Iranians? or was it just Al Qaeda?

Stay tuned.

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