Friday, May 21, 2004

Ineffective

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the alleged sarin round that was detonated in Iraq has been deemed not a credible threat. It was designed to mix properly only when fired as an artillery round.

However, when the [binary chemical] round is used in an improvised explosive device, Kimmitt said, the chemicals don't properly mix, so they produce only "very, very small traces" of sarin gas. "When you rig it as an IED, it just blows up and you have … minor amounts (of the chemical) going in different directions," he said. "It's virtually ineffective as a chemical weapon."

1 comment:

Jim said...

Further testing on the shell has confirmed that it did contain sarin. However, it's believed to have been produced prior to 1991.