USAToday has prepared a flash presentation of pictures showing some of the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq. The second picture shows 40 vials of suspected Sarin gas found by U.S. Marines. The vials were found in a briefcase hidden in a truck. The boxes have Cyrillic and German characters on them, indicating they may have come from either Russian or the German sources.

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This is how the Iraqi's were storing and hiding their weapons of mass destruction? This stuff could have killed thousands of people, and where was it hidden? In a briefcase. It's no wonder the inspectors couldn't find any. How many more vials of this stuff will be found in Iraq?


[edit on 17-11-2004 by Banshee]

After all the lies and deceit and misinformation that have come with this war I don't believe any of the news reported anymore no natter what source it's from.

Remember what the first casualty of war is...

Huh?
I thought there were no WMD's in Iraq?



seekerof

It's rather interesting that none of the main stream media is reporting on this.

Until it's verified, just another "chicken little" moment....lets see...

I can't get the second picture to load, but if the vials look anything like these that were discovered a few days ago by the Marines in Fallujah, then they are not WMD.

They are test kits. The vials contain reagents, chemicals that react when in the presence of nerve agents.

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external image:


zero lift

[edit on 17-11-2004 by zero lift]

Even if it is 40 vials of sarin, its just that. It doesnt go boom, you dont arm it, it is not considered munitions, and its in a glass or plastic tub. WMD? No. Dangerous substance? YES! But so is the castorbean plant growing in my Lebonese neighbors yard.

Zero Lift,

The flash show pics look exactly like the pics you posted.

What I don't understand why the US doesn't plant WMD's in Iraq, then find them, as means to justiy this joke of a war to the people at home.

I heard this story was coming.

The military NBC guys will have a much, much better idea of what they have found then the media embeded with them. The media will see Sarin, and react. The NBC teams will know that you don't store sarin in a suitcase. If you did, you would most likely wind up killing yourself.

I know the pictures ZeroLift posted are not of the discovery that prompted this article, but I don't see any equipment in that case that could be used to load the sarin into a rocket. I also however don't see any o the other things I would expect to find in a test kit.

A glass vial of sarin, if it is, is not weaponized nerve agent. It would be stored as such as a liquid. If you drop that on the ground, it's not going to instantly aerisolize and fill the room with poison gas. If you stepped in the puddle it created barefoot, then you could be in trouble.

If the millitants in Fallujah are in possesion of VX stored in vials, they are not going to be able to do a lot of damage with it.

USA Today isn't mainstream media?

Do you know how Sarin is dispurssed as a weapon? I do. Sarin is pretty bad juice. It is easier to use than bio-agents. But I agree these aren't Sarin "canisters". Thats good.

[edit on 17-11-2004 by DrHoracid]

I am wondering what we have found that is kept quiet. There is a logical reason to do so even though it harms one politically.


Better to not let thine enemy KNOW you found it.....

[edit on 17-11-2004 by edsinger]

I'm not a chemical guy. I know enough though to put on my MOPP gear and mask when the alarm sounds. I found the original picture mixed in with the pics from Fallujah and thought it was very interesting. What I meant about reporting by the "main stream media" was anything in any news article -- all there is is this one picture -- nothing on Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.

[edited for typo]

[edit on 11-17-2004 by MasterCoyote]

Is this the picture?

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If so, this story is nearly a week old and has been discredited. It was originally reported by NPR's Anne Garrels, a reporter embedded with a Marine unit in Fallujah.

After all, did anyone really think Saddam labelled his WMD in English, or Russian,or German?

These are testing kits.


zero lift

To the originator of this thread:

It's a non-event. The inscription on the vials says it's an "indicator" kit for the detection of the agents, and not the agents themselves. Same as litmus paper, not the acid itself.

It takes a lot of uneducated and/or zealos people to spread misinformation like this, alleging that these were WMD.

OMG.

Makes me mad.

Where do you see it saying indicator kit?
I'm not doubting you, it's just that I can't understand the german and or Russian writting on the packages.

If this is a test kit, which I'm inclined to believe, it has been seperated from the rest of the test equipment when stored in the suitcase.

Thanks to the many more sensible posters on this thread who know what WMDs are and who do not spread misinformation.

For any reputable medium to pick up and run with this as evidence of WMDs in Iraq (which no medium has done) would be the equivalent of mainstream Arabic media running with the story about Iraqi women and children as human shields atop US tanks in Fallujah (which no medium has done).

Disinformation is easily presented for digestion by the gullible.

Kudos to the people here who value truth.

I'm Russian and read that language as well.

On the previous page, the bottom pic: the middle bunch of tubes has inscription on it in German and Russian, which slightly differ. The German one says the the usage is explained in the enclosed manual (my German is very bad, so it's approximate), but the Russian one is more explicit: "Usage of the indicator tubes is explained in the enclosed instructions".

Thank you much Aelita. You have confirmed my suspicions that the media ran with the only word they could read.

While I am not familar with Russian test kits, US test kits are a little more robust and include additional materials such as litmus papers and such. It looks to me like whoever stashed the tubes in the suitcase, reacted similarly to the media, assumed they had VX and meant to use it to harm people.

I am curious... the suitcase was found in a trunk in a courtyard. Did they find any protective gear with it. Gloves, chem suits, masks? Any decon equipment?