The unmarked shell contained two inert chemicals meant to be mixed together when fired from a cannon. As an improvised explosive device, Kimmitt said, the weapon was "ineffective," and he said he doubted whoever had rigged it even knew it contained the potentially lethal chemicals.

Sarin is a WMD. the fact that the chemicals did not mix properly to kill hundreds or thousands does not mean it was not a WMD.


No stocks of banned weapons have turned up since the U.S. invasion.

Not yet; but Iraq was not suppoed to have ANY WMDs. So the fact that ONE has been found destroys the Iraqi claims that they did not have ANY WMDs. Iraq is about the size of California, and the troups can not dig up every square inch of the land. Hussein was gound in a 1 meter sized spider hole. weaponized Anthrax to fill a 5 pound bag of sugar would be enough to kill millions if it was released in populated cities like New York or Chicago. How many 5 pound bags of sugar could you hide in the state of California?

A Pentagon official told CNN that a single field test indicated the shell contained sarin and that a more definitive laboratory test had not been conducted. Initial field tests are often incorrect.

I am VERY well aware of false positives. I confronted false positives every day when I worked in the field of Computer Anti-Virus research.

I did not say anything the day the device was found, and the positive field test was reported.

When I wrote the message; another more accurate test HAD been performed, and CONFIRMED the device DID contain Sarin.

CNN military analyst Ken Robinson noted that more than 15,000 "false positives" for chemical weapons were registered during the first Gulf war."

That is true, and that is why I WAITED until the more accurate tests were performed that CONFIRMED Sarin.

Two Bears