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Tests Show No Agent in Iraq Mortar Shells
14 minutes ago
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer
CAMP EDEN, Iraq - U.S. tests on mortar shells found in Iraq (news - web sites) and suspected of containing blister agents have turned up negative, though further tests will be conducted, a Danish army spokesman said Wednesday.
The 36 shells, discovered last week by Danish troops, are believed to be from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Four initial tests by British and Danish experts came up positive for blister agents, Danish spokesman, Capt. Kim Vibe Michelsen, told The Associated Press.
But later tests by U.S. experts from the Iraq Survey Group on five of the shells have shown no trace of chemical weapons, the Danish military said.
However, more tests are needed, and the results will be sent to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the military said in a statement.
A U.S. official said the tests suggest the munitions may not contain blister agents, as initial field tests had indicated.
The official, speaking on condition of anonimity, said that the test results aren't definitive, but "it seems to be turning away from being a blister agent." The official said there are chemicals associated with certain munitions, such as phospohrous, that can produce false positives.
Initial tests by troops in the field are designed to favor a positive reading, erring on the side of caution to protect soldiers. More sophisticated tests are often necessary.
"The Iraqi Survey Group has never encountered this type of shells before," the Danish military said. "They will therefore take a shell for closer investigation," including a look into why the four initial tests gave a positive result.
Before invading Iraq, the United States said Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent that is stored in liquid form. The chemical burns skin, eyes and lungs.
U.S. intelligence officials also claimed Iraq had failed to destroy stocks of sarin, cyclosarin and VX in violation of U.N. resolutions. So far, however, no such materials have been found nine months after the collapse of Saddam's regime.
The Danish troops initially found 36 shells, exposed by rain, in the ground outside a village near Qurnah on Friday. The Danish army's Camp Eden is near Qurnah.
"This was a stash. They were stacked and ordered and wrapped in plastic," Michelsen said, adding they must have been buried 10 or more years ago.
Michelsen said the 120mm shells, which have no markings indicating the country of manufacture, "don't look like any known" mortars in the Iraqi arsenal.
Michelsen said the Danes have unearthed 50 shells so far and at least 50 more are believed still buried. Villagers told the troops that they had found about 400 or more some years ago and threw them in the Tigris River, Michelsen said.
The flat, muddy terrain where they were found was the scene of intense fighting during the Iran-Iraq war. The villagers told the Danes that one bloody battle was fought in the area in 1984 for seven days.
The villagers said they fled the area and returned after the battle to find all their cattle dead and the area littered with human bodies, Michelsen said. He quoted the villagers as saying that none of the dead bore gunshot wounds, but all were bleeding from the mouth and nose.
"This is a clear indication of chemical weapons use," he said.
He said the villagers have also spoken of people coughing blood, and livestock getting sick and bleeding from the mouth. But the time frame for the reported sickness is not clear.
Since the war ended last year, the U.S.-led coalition has found several caches that tested positive for mustard gas but later turned out to contain missile fuel or other chemicals.
Other discoveries early in the U.S.-led occupation turned out to be old caches that already had been tagged by U.N. inspectors and were scheduled for destruction.
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Oh thank you Mr Baketech sir, for keeping me on the "short" list. I don't know how I'd ever repay you 
Hmm, wait a minute, that was the wrong emoticon.
