ISIS captures Iraqi chemical weapons plant, largest refinery

[Balog]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10910868/Iraq-crisis-Obama-may-launch-air-strikes-without-Congress-amid-calls-for-Maliki-to-go-live.html

Obama has sent a "team of advisers" in. I'm sure that'll end well.

U.S military advisors were embedded at every level of the South Vietnamese armed forces. They were, however, almost completely ignorant of the political nature of the insurgency. The insurgency was a political power struggle, in which military engagements were not the main goal.[161] The Kennedy administration sought to refocus U.S. efforts on pacification and "winning over the hearts and minds" of the population.

[Balog]

17.09 Chemical weapons produced at the Al Muthanna facility, which Isis today seized, are believed to have included mustard gas, Sarin, Tabun, and VX.
Here is the CIA's file on the complex.
Quote Stockpiles of chemical munitions are still stored there. The most dangerous ones have been declared to the UN and are sealed in bunkers.
Although declared, the bunkers contents have yet to be confirmed.
These areas of the compound pose a hazard to civilians and potential blackmarketers.
Numerous bunkers, including eleven cruciform shaped bunkers were exploited. Some of the bunkers were empty. Some of the bunkers contained large quantitiesof unfilled chemical munitions, conventional munitions, one-ton shipping containers, old disabled production equipment (presumed disabled under UNSCOM supervision), and other hazardous industrial chemicals.

17.05 The Chemical Weapons Convention, which Iraq joined in 2009, requires it to dispose of the material at Al Muthanna, even though it was declared unusable and "does not pose a significant security risk"
However, the UK goverment has acknowledgeded that the nature of the material contained in the two bunkers would make the destruction process difficult and technically challenging.
Under an agreement signed in Baghdad in July 2012, experts from the MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) were due to provide training to Iraqi personnel in order to help them to dispose of the chemical munitions and agents.
The Al Mutannah chemical weapons complex (CIA)
 

16.52 The remaining chemical weapons from Saddam Hussein's regime are stored in two sealed bunkers, both located at the Al Muthanna Chemicals Weapons Complex, a large site in the western desert some 80km north west of Baghdad.
This was the principal manufacturing plant for both chemical agents and munitions during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons were produced, stored and deployed by the Saddam Hussein regime. Iraq used these weapons during the Iran - Iraq War (1980 to 1988) and against the Kurds in Halabja in 1988.

16.32 Isis jihadists have seized a chemical weapons facility built by Saddam Hussein which contains a stockpile of old weapons, State Department officials have told the Wall Street Journal:
Quote U.S. officials don't believe the Sunni militants will be able to create a functional chemical weapon from the material. The weapons stockpiled at the Al Muthanna complex are old, contaminated and hard to move, officials said.
Nonetheless, the capture of the chemical-weapon stockpile by the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, known as ISIS or ISIL, the militant group that is seizing territory in the country, has grabbed the attention of the U.S.
"We remain concerned about the seizure of any military site by the ISIL," Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a written statement. "We do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely move the materials."

[Sergeant Bob]

16.52 The remaining chemical weapons from Saddam Hussein's regime are stored in two sealed bunkers, both located at the Al Muthanna Chemicals Weapons Complex, a large site in the western desert some 80km north west of Baghdad.
This was the principal manufacturing plant for both chemical agents and munitions during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons were produced, stored and deployed by the Saddam Hussein regime. Iraq used these weapons during the Iran - Iraq War (1980 to 1988) and against the Kurds in Halabja in 1988.

That's unPossible! Iraq didn't have any chemical weapons!

[KD5NRH]

Send them some crystal meth recipes and see what happens.

[Perd Hapley]

The headline I saw was that they had Hussein's chemical weapons. That's gonna confuse a lot of people.

[birdman]

The headline I saw was that they had Hussein's chemical weapons. That's gonna confuse a lot of people.

Indeed.
It will be hilarious if Obama sends troops to prevent ISIS from getting WMDs...in Iraq.

[Sergeant Bob]

Indeed.
It will be hilarious if Obama sends troops to prevent ISIS from getting WMDs...in Iraq.

The irony would be delicious!

[RevDisk]

That's unPossible! Iraq didn't have any chemical weapons!

https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/chap5_annxB.html

After 1994, CW production related activities ceased at the Primary Al Muthanna site that once was Project 922 (Samarra’ Chemical Weapons Production and Storage Complex).A small security detail remained. Two sealed cruciform bunkers containing the largest declared stockpile of chemical munitions, old bulk chemical agent, and hazardous material associated with the CW program remained. The surrounding area at the facility became a refuse area or junkyard for relics of Iraq’s past CW weapons program.

    Two damaged cruciform bunkers were used to seal damaged chemical munitions, residual chemical agents, and hazardous material.
    The contents of the bunkers were declared to the UN but never fully. The munitions inside the bunkers were damaged from ODS bombings; fires, leaking munitions and physical damage to munitions made the environment inside the bunker extremely dangerous.
    The National Monitoring Directorate and a small security detail monitored the bunkers.

Between 1994 and OIF, Iraq requested UN approval to remove and relocate some of the equipment and facilities.Imagery analysis revealed in early 1997 that the Iraqis excavated many of the research and production buildings. Iraq had razed most of the Al Muthanna Complex by early 2000, leaving only the southern part of the former chemical and material storage area intact (see Figure 7).

    Prior to OIF, Iraq removed buildings and their contents from the northern section of the Chemical Precursor storage area. The facilities at the southern section of the facility were removed by unknown entities between April and June of 2003.
    Between 2002 and OIF the Iraqis removed some of the facilities/warehouses (photo above). This activity was probably not WMD related.

[RevDisk]

Essentially, a lot of chemicals that were once chemical weapons, now basically just hazmat. I wouldn't crack open those bunkers without professional top of the line hazmat gear.

The difference is the same as the difference between a nuclear weapon and a radiological weapon. They could strap explosives to bulk containers and cause contamination issues. But not exactly ideal for actual weapons production. Saddam scrapped most of the equipment, and we blew up what was left.

It's a toxic junkyard.

[KD5NRH]

Essentially, a lot of chemicals that were once chemical weapons, now basically just hazmat. I wouldn't crack open those bunkers without professional top of the line hazmat gear.

So, in other words, get the bad guys clustered around them and use our best bunker-opening-and-spreading-around munitions?

[RevDisk]

So, in other words, get the bad guys clustered around them and use our best bunker-opening-and-spreading-around munitions?

 

I can neither confirm, nor deny.

Honestly, probably don't even need to do that. They're in real danger just rooting through the complex.