Chemical Shells Found in Iraq

NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS

January 23, 2006: American troops in Iraq have run across chemical artillery shells on quite a number of occasions. There've never been more than a handful found in any particular cache, and all of them have been old, easily dating back to the period of the '90-'91 war. These shells were probably stashed away for "safekeeping" and then forgotten. Apparently none of the shells are usable, and in most cases the chemicals have deteriorated or leaked away. It would be extremely unlikely that any of these shells would be of tactical use. But if someone were to use one in an IED attack, despite the fact that no one would be injured by the chemical component, the PR impact might be serious.