Islamic Dawa party MP Ali al-Badri said, at a press conference at the parliament building in the presence of a number of deputies of Diwaniyah province and attended by IraqiNews.com that “the terrorist organization ISIS used chlorine gas for the first time in the region of Saqlawiyah after trapping more than 400 troops, resulting in the deaths of many of them due to suffocation while the terrorist gangs detonated car bombs within the brigade headquarters.”
Badri said, “We hold the full responsibility for the fate of the trapped soldiers to the Commanding General of the Armed Forces, Haider Abadi, and the security leaders, especially the Anbar Operations Chief, Lt. Gen. Rashid Flaih, because of the slow measures taken by the Air Force despite frequent appeals for rapid procedures to rescue the soldiers since several days ago.”
Badri added that the “Saqlawiyah crime is considered as the second Speicher Massacre,” stressing that “300 soldiers were killed in the attack.”
http://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/urgent-isis-kills-300-iraqi-soldiers-chlorine-gas-attack-saqlawiyah/
22/9/14
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Related:
Kerry: Syria Uses Chlorine Gas Despite Chemical Weapons Agreements
UK condemns Syria for chlorine use. --(OPCW Fact Finding Mission: “Compelling Confirmation” That Chlorine Gas Used as Weapon in Syria)
OPCW Fact Finding Mission: “Compelling Confirmation” That Chlorine Gas Used as Weapon in Syria
Syrian regime used chemical weapons in April, UN says
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Chemical arms in ISIS territory in Iraq spark fear...
ReplyDeleteWith a recent report revealing that the U.S. government had tried to hide the extent to which its troops were exposed to chemical weapons in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, fears are mounting that extremist militants could possibly use the antiquated arms which are reportedly stored in ISIS-held territories in Iraq.
The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing intelligence documents and former soldiers, that American forces uncovered 5,000 warheads, shells and bombs filled with chemical agents but their findings were kept secret.
The newspaper, citing government papers obtained through the Freedom of Information Act request, said although U.S. forces never found evidence of an active program, they did find remnants of an aging chemical arsenal.
While the U.S. government said the abandoned weapons no longer pose a threat, there are fears that militants could use these arms in the production of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), The British Independent newspaper reported Wednesday.
The UK paper also reported “that this summer the Iraqi government said it had witnessed intruders looting the corroded equipment before their surveillance cameras were shut off” in the ISIS-controlled and unguarded region where chemical weapons are reportedly present.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon/ or a confidential source at the Pentagon? also told the New York Times that the suspected weapons had to be destroyed “promptly.”
“These suspect weapons were recovered under circumstances in which prompt destruction was dictated by the need to ensure that the chemical weapons could not threaten the Iraqi people, neighboring states, coalition forces, or the environment,” a statement read.
Former colonel sounds the alarm
Meanwhile, a former commander of the British Army’s chemical and nuclear weapons protection forces sounded the alarm that ISIS militants could possibly make dirty bombs as it has the capability of doing so.
Ex-colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told The National Post that ISIS had shown it was determined to use chemical arms in Syria, and now the militants are said to have made “significant” advances in Iraq despite the U.S.-led air strikes targeting the radical group.
“These materials are not as secure as we had been led to believe and now pose some significant threat to the coalition in Iraq fighting ISIS,” he said................http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/10/16/Chemical-arms-in-ISIS-held-Iraqi-territory-sparks-fears.html
16/10/14
Comment by the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia on the discovery of chemical weapons in Iraq (MFA Russia)....
ReplyDeleteAn article in The New York Times drew our attention. Citing official sources and until recently classified documents of the US Department of Defence, the article talks about the discovery and secret destruction by the occupying coalition forces in Iraq in 2004-2011 of up to 5,000 different chemical munitions produced during the Iran-Iraq conflict, including those produced using technology provided by Western countries.
This information raises a number of important questions in relation to existing international legal norms. Having found chemical weapons, the United States, in accordance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, should have declared them to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and then destroy them under the OPCW direct control, which was not done for reasons that are now obvious.
Such legal voluntarism, nihilism and selectivity in favour of its own geopolitical interests have become a habit for Washington, a fact that is corroborated, following the well-known events in Iraq and Libya, by the policy pursued by the US administration with regard to Syria, including in relation to the elimination of its chemical warfare potential. Ignoring existing issues regarding the safe destruction of chemical weapons and their components in Iraq and Libya and looking away from the repeated use of toxic chemicals as chemical warfare agents in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State rebels and other Islamist groups, Washington and its allies continue a massive campaign accusing the Syrian authorities of allegedly hiding part of its military chemical programme.
Furthermore, even before the completion of an investigation by a special OPCW mission on the military use of chlorinated compounds, a verdict of guilt of the al-Assad government was categorically rendered. Meanwhile, similar events in Khan al-Assal and East Huta in 2013, caused by provocations of the Syrian opposition, tell a different tale, and the international programme for chemical demilitarisation of Syria is nearing completion.
Once again, we call upon the United States to consider the harmful and irresponsible nature of such approaches. Double standards are unacceptable, particularly in the Middle East, which seems to have become a testing ground for terrorists honing their skills in the synthesis, production and use of chemical warfare agents.
http://mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/0825BF51E016736A44257D78005F6470
21/10/14
US troops claimed chemical weapons exposure in Iraq, report says...
ReplyDeleteMore than 600 U.S. service members told military medical staff that they believe they were exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, The New York Times reported Thursday. Pentagon officials said the department will now expand its outreach to veterans and establish a toll-free hotline for reporting potential exposures and seeking medical evaluation or care, the newspaper said.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered an internal review of military records after the Times reported in October that U.S. troops encountered degraded chemical weapons from the 1980s that had been hidden or used in makeshift bombs. The initial newspaper report disclosed that 17 service members had been injured by sarin or sulfur mustard agent, and several more came forward after the story appeared, the Times said Thursday...................http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/07/us-troops-claimed-chemical-weapons-exposure-in-iraq-report-says/
7/11/14