The 155-mm shells containing sarin gas that exploded in Iraq May 17 were manufactured before 1991, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. That was a pre-Gulf War shell, a different category than the weapons being sought by the Iraq Survey Group, Brig. Gen. David Rodriguez, the joint staff deputy director for operations, told a Pentagon news briefing.
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An artillery shell bearing traces of mustard gas was discovered in Baghdad, Knight-Ridder reported May 7.Neither find is being offered as evidence of Saddam Hussein’s alleged illegal weapons programs, one of the prime reasons offered by the Bush administration for the March 2003 invasion and war.
It took them long enough to figure this out. Scott Ritter probably could’ve told them this after a two-minute inspection. But then, if Scott or any other expert had been allowed to inspect the shell right away, the warbots would’ve missed all the entertaining WMD victory dances they’ve been doing over a 1980’s dud artillery shell.