Chemical Weapons in Iraq and Beyond - The DENISE SIMON EXPERIENCE Blog
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During the first Gulf War, distribution was made to our soldiers for the protection of chemical weapons.
U.S. troops were frequently ordered to don their gas masks and protective suits. The term Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) refers to the amount of protective gear that troops are ordered to wear in response to an assessed chemical-warfare threat, and ranges from MOPP-0 (no protection) to MOPP-4 (the entire protective ensemble).The incidents are recorded here by date, location and the type of chemical weapon. The Veterans Administration noted the types of risks and was careful omitting admission of chemical weapons, yet did include them on the website.
There was also congressional testimony in 1992/1993. One cannot ignore the in depth report the New York Times did about two years ago.
Soldiers Exposed to “Chemical Unknown” in Iraq not Getting Adequate FOIA Responses from DOD, and More: FRINFORMSUM 5/19/2016
May 19, 2016
The two-page 2003 Camp Taji Incident report — released a dozen years after the dangerous exposure.
The Defense Department is telling soldiers that
were exposed in 2003 to a “chemical unknown” in Taji, Iraq that it has
no documents on the incident – after a decade of saying that documents
on the event were classified.
C. J. Chivers of the The New York Times reported in
May 2015 that, for over a decade, the US military denied FOIA requests
on the chemicals soldiers were exposed to, resulting in chronic
illnesses. The Army only released the two-page 2003 Camp Taji Incident report,
written by the multinational Iraq Survey Group, after years of FOIA
requests; the report found that the chemical soldiers came in contact
with was a potentially fatal “carcinogen and poisonous chemical.” The
Archive’s Director Tom Blanton told the Times in 2015 that, in
addition to the secrecy trumping common sense, that “the outrage here is
extraordinary.” Blanton noted, “Soldiers exposed to something really
dangerous cannot find out what it was because ‘Sorry it’s classified’?”
he said. “It’s creepy and it’s crazy.”
Now, according to reporting by Samantha Foster at the Topeka Capital-Journal, the
Army is telling soldiers like Army Spc. Sparky Edwards and former Sgt.
First Class Dennis Marcello that there are no documents on the chemical
they were exposed to or the incident. Nate Jones, the Archive’s FOIA
project director, notes that the DOD may be claiming to have no
documents because they were possibly destroyed or misfiled during the
war – or because the large, decentralized Defense Department genuinely
doesn’t know where to look to find the records. Jones identifies this as
a prime example of why FOIA requesters “must specify exactly where they
want to search or risk the agency not going the extra mile” to find
them, and that it is always a good idea to appeal a “no records”
response.
According to Department of Justice statistics, last fiscal year an obscenely high 130,113 FOIA requests (16.9
percent of requests processed) were deemed to result in “no records”
responses. As the Archive has learned, more often than not, appealing a
“no records” response and explaining why you think the records exist and
even suggesting which records (including the Washington Records Center –control f) the agency should search leads to more records being found. Link for citation is here.
As recently as last month, it was found that Islamic State had taken cached and reserve chemical weapons and made a new factory at Mosul University.
Just last week:
ISIS testing chemical weapons on prisoners and animals in grisly laboratories
VILE Islamic State (ISIS) jihadis are testing chemical weapons on its prisoners in grisly suburban laboratories, terrified Iraqi citizens have claimed.
ExpressUK: The
sick militants are testing chlorine and mustard gas on its captives, in
direct opposition to the Geneva Protocol’s war crime guidelines.
ISIS’s laboratories are located deep within its territory in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.
The
lunatic extremists are understood to be working frantically to improve
its chemical and nuclear weapon capabilities, with plans to launch
attacks in Iraq, Syria and on the West.
Abu
Shaima, the head of ISIS’s chemical warfare unit, has now moved the
operation away from the city’s university to residential areas like
al-Mohandseen, which are surrounded by innocent civilian homes.
Concerned
residents have reported several houses in the area have now been taken
over by ISIS researchers, according to The Telegraph.
Chillingly,
dozens of dead dogs and rabbits have also been found nearby, hinting at
the cruel experiments taking place within, while nearby residents are
suffering from breathing difficulties and rashes.
The
extremists are believed to have seized chemicals and weapons from
Syrian forces, with which they have already launched a devastating
chemical attack on the Iraqi town of Taza.
That
attack this March killed a three-year-old girl and injured 600 others,
as well as highlighting the terror group’s chemical warfare intentions.
Hamish
de Bretton-Gordon, formerly of the UK Chemical, Biological,
Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said: “ISIL’s chemical weapons
operation has been heavily targeted – as is detailed in this report –
and moving into residential areas is exactly what you would expect them
to do now.
“Now
we know the extent of the ISIL chemical and dirty bomb aspirations we
must make doubly sure that our security in the UK is absolutely
water-tight against this threat.”
Iraqi
forces uncover an Islamic State weapon hideaway including gas canisters
used to make homemade bombs. For the slide show on photos, go here.
*****
Chemical Agents as Weapons of Terror Rather Than as Weapons of Mass Destruction
In
February 2012, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
identified that “terrorist organizations are working to acquire and
employ chemical, biological, and radiological materials.”43
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