Tango01 | 22 Aug 2015 11:16 p.m. PST |
"Fragments from mortars fired by Islamic State militants at Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq earlier this month tested positive in a U.S. military field analysis for sulfur mustard, a chemical weapons agent, a U.S. general said on Friday. Marine Corps Brigadier General Kevin Killea, chief of staff for operations against the group, said the test was not conclusive proof of chemical weapons use, and the fragments would be further tested to confirm the finding. Killea said that in addition to the Aug. 11 mortar attack, he was aware of at least two other claims of chemical weapons use by Islamic State. He was not immediately able to say whether any previous testing had supported allegations of chemical weapons use…" Full article here link Amicalement Armand |
mandt2 | 23 Aug 2015 8:16 a.m. PST |
Oh-boy. Here we go again. I don't think I would take this too seriously until we start to see victims of these chemical agents. Even if we do, then what. I'm not sure I find the notion that ISIS is using chemicals any worse than what they have already been doing. Though if it is true, it begs the question, "where did they get it"? |
Noble713 | 23 Aug 2015 8:45 a.m. PST |
Though if it is true, it begs the question, "where did they get it"? Depends on the type of chemicals. Iraqi insurgents have used simple chlorine gas bombs in the past. Sarin is easy enough to produce that Japanese civilians cooked some up in the 90's. I'm sure there are at least a few people in the Islamic State's hierarchy able to do the same. |
Legion 4 | 23 Aug 2015 8:49 a.m. PST |
Once again … No real surprise … Maybe Deash captured old stocks of Assad's or maybe even Saddam's inventory ? |
John Treadaway | 23 Aug 2015 9:25 a.m. PST |
As the people involved in this madness have access to the interweb, I'm sure the chemical composition and process for manufacture of Mustard Gas are easy enough to find. Plus, they are barbaric enough to behead 82 year old Archaeologists link but smart enough to tweet the pictures of them doing it so I'm sure they can mix stuff up in a bath tub. I mean it's not as if they have to be overly careful, Health and Safety wise, during the manufacturing process when you have people lining up to strap on an explosive waistcoat/jacket/show/underpants/etc… I'm pretty certain they could look up how to build all sorts of nasty stuff and I would guess that the only reason they haven't built anything more unpleasant (ie nuclear) is the technical and logistical difficulty of doing so. Sure a delivery system is also an issue but a nuclear truck bomb (or even a boat bomb) driven into, say, Tel Aviv would do the trick. And sure, the Israelis would probably retaliate by turning significant portions of the middle east to glass but that wouldn't stop any outright nutters from doing it in the first place, or so I would guess. John T |
David Manley | 23 Aug 2015 11:13 a.m. PST |
"but that wouldn't stop any outright nutters from doing it in the first place, or so I would guess." Quite the reverse. I would think. |
Mad Mecha Guy | 23 Aug 2015 11:35 a.m. PST |
Only need to mix two chemicals to make Mustard Gas ( link ) I remember decade or so back, an UK newspaper easily getting the two to prove the ease of accessing the chemicals. The buyer only got asked if they weren't going to use them for chemical weapons! |
Weasel | 23 Aug 2015 1:49 p.m. PST |
Nuclear weapons are a lot harder than it's assumed. There's a reason the "nuclear club" is quite small. Chemical weapons are much easier. The nutters who released Sarin in Japan in the what? 80's? weren't military specialists, and they figured it out on their own. |
Legion 4 | 24 Aug 2015 8:47 a.m. PST |
The big fear of most of the world … especially the West. Is that some fanatical, radicalized, islamists nut jobs, hoping for martyrdom and Paradise, like members of Deash, AQ, etc. … Would get a hold of a nuc or two and use it somewhere. With Israel and/or the US being the target(s) … If anyone doubts that if UBL had got a hold of a nuc. That he wouldn't use it. Most likely on the US if not Israel, is not accepting the reality of the situation with islamic jihadis or their mentality. |
Weasel | 24 Aug 2015 5:19 p.m. PST |
I mean, we invented nuclear weapons 70 years ago, and so far not a single one has shown up in the hands of someone who didn't build it themselves. It's not like they are just lying around. |