Again.... Confirmation thing is becoming habit.

[codeorama]

New tests see no chemical weapons

Conclusive testing still to be done on barrels; other finds are also being studied

April 7 -- NBC's Dana Lewis reports from the site where U.S. troops found suspicious barrels that had been buried.

NBC NEWS AND NEWS SERVICES

April 8 — Conclusive testing is still under way, but the latest tests indicate that barrels found in central Iraq do not contain chemical weapons agents as first suspected, U.S. military sources said on Tuesday. Other suspicious finds — especially rockets potentially packed with sarin and mustard gas — were also still being investigated.

SAMPLES FROM the sites investigated Monday were being sent to the United States for more definitive tests. If any of the discoveries were confirmed, it would be the first find of chemical weapons during the war.

The barrels discovered Monday by troops of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division had been buried at a pesticide plant in Hindiya, 20 miles southeast of Karbala. The barrels initially tested positive for the nerve agents sarin and Tabun, as well as mustard agent, a blistering chemical first used in World War I.

NBC’s Dana Lewis said the 15 barrels appeared to have been recently buried in a pit and indicated that troops also found weapons in the pesticide plant, suggesting that it might have been a disguised military facility. He said the troops were led to the site by an Iraqi.

Subsequent, more sensitive, tests turned out to be negative, U.S. military sources officers said Tuesday.

“The latest tests turned out negative,” one source said.

In a separate find, soldiers with the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne on Tuesday discovered an unknown number of barrels near Najaf, south of Karbala, NBC News reported.

Soldiers who opened one barrel experienced nausea, vomiting and a rash. Preliminary testing of the substances was under way.

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MISSILES STILL UNDER SUSPICION

Suspicions remained open about warheads found in a warehouse near Baghdad International Airport, which was seized last week by coalition forces. National Public Radio reported that an officer with the U.S. 1st Marine Division had said the warheads contained sarin and mustard agent.

The officer, who said he heard of the discovery over a military intelligence network, said the warheads were on about 20 Iraqi BM-21 unguided rockets. Those rockets are about 10 feet long, with a range of about 15 miles. The BM-21 is a 40-year-old truck-mounted system with 40 rocket tubes, intended for close support of troops.

The Marine officer said the rockets appeared to be ready to fire.

Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. military officers had told troops that soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division had captured an Iraqi BMP Armored Personnel Carrier that was believed to contain sarin gas and mustard gas.

That information was issued over the military secure radio network, according to several Marine officials who heard the broadcast. They relayed the advisory to a reporter who was standing with them.

The radio advisory included no other details, including how much of the material was found or where the discovery occurred.

RUMSFELD DECLINES COMMENT

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld noted Monday that first reports from the battlefield often were incorrect.

“We have to take our time and look at it,” Rumsfeld said, adding that getting samples back to the United States and completing testing could take days.

Earlier reports about possible chemical weapons finds have turned out to be false alarms. Last week, for example, troops searching the Qaa Qaa military complex south of Baghdad found a white powder that was found to be an explosive.

Iraq acknowledged making 3,859 tons of sarin, tabun, mustard and other chemical weapons, though United Nations inspectors suspected Iraq could have made much more. Iraq used mustard and sarin against Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and is believed to have used the chemicals against Kurdish Iraqis.

Sarin and Tabun are related nerve agents that can kill when absorbed through the skin or inhaled as a gas. They kill by causing convulsions, paralysis and asphyxiation.

Mustard gas begins dissolving tissue on contact and is particularly harmful to eyes and lungs. It does not usually kill, but it causes painful injuries that can linger for a lifetime. Lewisite, another World War I-era creation, acts as a systemic poison, causing pulmonary edema, diarrhea, restlessness, weakness, subnormal temperature and low blood pressure