POP QUIZ TIME
Ok everyone, put away your books and notes and PDAs, it's time for a pop quiz.
Question?
Where are our forces most likely to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?
a. In a big scary building next to one of Saddam's former palaces, under a big golden arches-sized sign that says "Weapons of Mass Destruction: Over 100 Million to Kill."
b. In weapons caches inside the former Russian embassy, the former French embassy, and the former German embassy.
c. Under Saddam's bed in one of his former palaces, next to his Playboy collection and his Gameboy Advance.
d. In a briefcase in the trunk of a car in Fallujah.
No cheating now, what's your answer.
ANSWER: It's d. Our troops found 40 vials of sarin gas, the same stuff a cult used to attack the Tokyo subway system in 1995, in a briefcase in the back of a car in Fallujah. 40 vials of that stuff is enough kill a good sized city if the terrorists know what they're doing. Go here to see the vials for yourself--slide #2. I saved a screenshot, just in case USA Today decides to push this story down the memory hole.
(via JGEBGD and Neal Boortz)
UPDATE: The consensus over at Captain's Quarters is that the 40 vials constitute a sarin gas test kit, not vials of poisons for use as weapons. But they do contain small quantities of sarin, soman and V-agents (VX nerve gas?). The date on the packages indicates that they were manufactured in 1981, though that doesn't mean they necessarily arrived in Iraq at that time. The lettering on the packages is in English, German and Russian, which could mean quite a few things, not many of them good. The photo's caption indicates the vials were found alongside two mortar tubes and three mortar rockets, which tells me that whoever was carrying this stuff around intended to try to weaponize it.