Talk:Sarin

May 2004 IED unlikely to have contained both Sarin presursors

The article currently says:

2004: May 14 Iraqi insurgency fighters in Iraq detonate a 155 mm shell containing several litres of binary precursors for sarin. The shell was designed to mix the chemicals as it spun during flight. The detonated shell released only a small amount of sarin gas, either because the explosion failed to mix the binary agents properly, or the chemicals inside the shell had degraded significantly with age. Two United States soldiers were treated for exposure after displaying the early symptoms.

I think this paragraph needs to be re-written. First, the source it cites, an MSNBC article does not say the IED released several litres of binary precursors. Second, I spent a couple of hours in May of 2004 looking into this incident. I found a number of authoritative looking sources that described the state of the Iraqi chemical weapons industry. I'll go look for them again. In the meantime, let me summarize. The Iraqis had not been able to master the construction of sophisticated binary munitions. They didn't store both binary precursors in separate capsules in their chemical munitions. They used chemical munitions with just a single reservoir. They stored those munitions charged, half full of a single nerve gas precursor. When the munition was about to be fired a courageous volunteer would be suited up, with a syringe full of Atropine ready, and they would charge up the munition with the other precursor, just prior to firing it at the enemy.

So, while it was widely reported by a credulous press that this IED contained Sarin, it did not, could not have contained Sarin.

The Americans cleverly mark their various artillery shells with prominent and unmistakable colour codes. The Iraqis didn't. I strongly suspect that the bomb-maker who made this IED did not realize this shell was not an ordinary 155 mm shell. -- Geo Swan July 3, 2005 06:36 (UTC)