Toxic gas latest insurgent weapon in Iraq

[Guest 66Alpha1]

On my daily review of new sites, i found this article posted on cnn.com...under all the anna nicole crap, naturally. While, it doesnt surprise me - these inusrgents are very smart and crafty - it does scare the crap out of me. God bless all the men and women in all theater's of combat.

All credits to www.cnn.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Deadly and debilitating chlorine gas has been added to the arsenal of weapons fueling the explosive insurgency in Iraq, with the chemical attacks leaving at least 12 dead and more than 200 hospitalized in the past week.

"It's a real crude attempt to raise the terror level by taking and mixing ordinary chemicals with explosive devices, trying to instill that fear within the Iraqi people," said the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell.

The toxic yellow-green gas was a main component in Wednesday's bomb attack near a hospital in southwestern Baghdad's Bayaa neighborhood, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Thursday.

Six people were killed and more than 70 were hospitalized with respiratory problems caused by the noxious gas.

On Tuesday, a bomb hidden on board a tanker carrying chlorine gas exploded outside a restaurant in Taji, north of Baghdad, killing six people. At least 140 people were either injured by the blast or sickened by the fumes.

A third chlorine bomb attack occurred in late January. According to the U.S. military, a suicide bomber drove a dump truck loaded with a chlorine tank and explosives into an emergency response unit compound in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

Sixteen people died in the blast, but no one appeared to be hurt by the chlorine gas, the military said.

One of the most commonly manufactured chemicals in the United States, chlorine was employed by the military during World War I as a choking agent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Exposure to chlorine gas can cause difficulty in breathing, coughing, burning in the nose, throat and eyes, nausea and vomiting, the CDC said.

Caldwell told CNN on Thursday that within the past 24 hours, U.S. troops had raided a facility near Falluja that apparently was making vehicle bombs that included chemicals.

Troops found three car bombs in progress -- about 65 propane tanks --- and "all kinds of ordinary chemicals that were there, too," Caldwell said. "They were going to obviously try to mix and do the same type of things," he said.

Caldwell said the raid came about after a tip from an Iraqi civilian.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/22/iraq.main/index.html