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Chemical Found could be Insecticide or Banned Nerve Agent
Aired April 07, 2003 - 15:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, samples of what could be chemical weapons material are being flown to the United States for testing.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote with the Army's 101st Airborne Division reports that the materials were found in a paramilitary camp in Hindya, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Chilcote is with us live to tell us what's going on in this potentially significant story.
Ryan, for our viewers who may just be joining us right now at the top of the hour, tell us about these dramatic developments.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, well, Wolf, we'll start at the beginning, soldiers from the 101st Airborne 2nd Brigade have been investigating several sites they've been led to, primarily by the local population, east of the city of Karbala. And they've been uncovering weapons caches. Now, at a site that they found about three days ago, they found a large weapons cache and they also found outside of it a large number of drums with some kind of chemical in it.
Now, they learned very quickly that this facility was an agricultural complex, because inside of it, it had a lot of literature about pesticides, and it also had a small warehouse, and I was there for all of this where they have a large number of insecticides. So they did, an initial test to see, given the fact that they had found such a large weapons cache at this site, to see what those chemicals were in the drums. They were actually hidden behind the agricultural complex, covered up with a, like a reed mat, if you will, in some bunker type holes.
They did a test initially for nerve agent and for blister agent and those tests came up mixed. Today, the development is they brought in a higher level of, more sophisticated level of testing. It's called the Fox Vehicle. They brought this fox Vehicle in to do some more testing. They tested again for both nerve and for blister agents, chemical agents, and they came up positive. Now, nothing is simple about any of this. These tests can obviously be erroneous, and there will need to be more tests. And that's something that the 101st Airborne is planning on doing. They've already requested from 5th Corp, which is the umbrella, the army's umbrella above the 101st Airborne -- actually above the 101st and 3rd ID.
Here in country, they've requested another set of experts to come in. So far, they have positive for both a blister agent and a nerve agent, and according to the one star general, General Benjamin Freakly, there's two ways, they say, to understand the results. Let's have a listen to what the general said about their findings so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. BENJAMIN FREAKLY: This could be either some type of pesticides, because this was an agricultural compound and literature inside the compound talked about dealing with mosquitoes and other type of airborne vermin. And it was right along the Euphrates River, very close to the Euphrates River. On the other hand, it could be a chemical agent, not weaponized.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHILCOTE: To explain that, Wolf, it's possible that you can get a false positive, if you will. A misleading result from these tests if you have a lot of insect sides around. I mean, effectively, insecticides sort of act like nerve agents. They attack the nervous system of insects. So, if you're going around with a lot of high tech, very sensitive equipment, it is possible, according to the experts that I've been talking to here on the ground from the U.S. Army 63rd Chemical Company, from the 51st Chemical Company, the experts involved in exploiting, as the military puts it, these sites, it is possible that you could get a false positive. But like I said, so far, they believe there is two possibilities. One, they've encountered a chemical agent that they really don't know a whole lot about. They haven't seen before. Or two, that this is an insecticide -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ryan, tell our view yourself about -- viewers about some of the soldiers, some of them became ill after exposure to some of the chemicals or maybe not, including yourself. Tell our viewers what condition is of all the U.S. Troops. The ones that came upon this suspicious site.
CHILCOTE: Actually, Wolf, I need to be very clear here. There are actually two sites. Like I said at the beginning, the soldiers have uncovered a number of weapons caches, and found a number of sites of interest east of Karbala. Now, there are two sites that were investigated for possible chemical agents. I just described one. That was the agricultural complex where they had the tests come back today positive for chemical agents, for a nerve and blister agent. And they're going to do a further test there. was another site that was presumably an Iraqi training complex. Inside, it had an indoor firing range, an obstacle course out there and a large number of MBC chemical protective suits and gas masks. At that site, several soldiers, 13, to be exact, after they'd been in the vicinity of the site of those rooms...
BLITZER: Unfortunately, we've lost Ryan Chilcote with the 101st Airborne Division, not far from Karbala, where the U.S. Soldiers came upon the two suspicious sites. They're doing further investigation to see if there are nerve agents in those drums that we saw those pictures of, chemical weapons, chemical agents banned by the international community, banned by the United States. The suspicion being that perhaps, no conclusion yet, these are the so-called smoking guns that the U.S. Have been looking for in terms of finding Iraq's so-called weapons of mass destruction. We'll continue to check in with Ryan Chilcote, get the latest on this developing story.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 7, 2003 - 15:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, samples of what could be chemical weapons material are being flown to the United States for testing.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote with the Army's 101st Airborne Division reports that the materials were found in a paramilitary camp in Hindya, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Chilcote is with us live to tell us what's going on in this potentially significant story.
Ryan, for our viewers who may just be joining us right now at the top of the hour, tell us about these dramatic developments.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, well, Wolf, we'll start at the beginning, soldiers from the 101st Airborne 2nd Brigade have been investigating several sites they've been led to, primarily by the local population, east of the city of Karbala. And they've been uncovering weapons caches. Now, at a site that they found about three days ago, they found a large weapons cache and they also found outside of it a large number of drums with some kind of chemical in it.
Now, they learned very quickly that this facility was an agricultural complex, because inside of it, it had a lot of literature about pesticides, and it also had a small warehouse, and I was there for all of this where they have a large number of insecticides. So they did, an initial test to see, given the fact that they had found such a large weapons cache at this site, to see what those chemicals were in the drums. They were actually hidden behind the agricultural complex, covered up with a, like a reed mat, if you will, in some bunker type holes.
They did a test initially for nerve agent and for blister agent and those tests came up mixed. Today, the development is they brought in a higher level of, more sophisticated level of testing. It's called the Fox Vehicle. They brought this fox Vehicle in to do some more testing. They tested again for both nerve and for blister agents, chemical agents, and they came up positive. Now, nothing is simple about any of this. These tests can obviously be erroneous, and there will need to be more tests. And that's something that the 101st Airborne is planning on doing. They've already requested from 5th Corp, which is the umbrella, the army's umbrella above the 101st Airborne -- actually above the 101st and 3rd ID.
Here in country, they've requested another set of experts to come in. So far, they have positive for both a blister agent and a nerve agent, and according to the one star general, General Benjamin Freakly, there's two ways, they say, to understand the results. Let's have a listen to what the general said about their findings so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. BENJAMIN FREAKLY: This could be either some type of pesticides, because this was an agricultural compound and literature inside the compound talked about dealing with mosquitoes and other type of airborne vermin. And it was right along the Euphrates River, very close to the Euphrates River. On the other hand, it could be a chemical agent, not weaponized.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHILCOTE: To explain that, Wolf, it's possible that you can get a false positive, if you will. A misleading result from these tests if you have a lot of insect sides around. I mean, effectively, insecticides sort of act like nerve agents. They attack the nervous system of insects. So, if you're going around with a lot of high tech, very sensitive equipment, it is possible, according to the experts that I've been talking to here on the ground from the U.S. Army 63rd Chemical Company, from the 51st Chemical Company, the experts involved in exploiting, as the military puts it, these sites, it is possible that you could get a false positive. But like I said, so far, they believe there is two possibilities. One, they've encountered a chemical agent that they really don't know a whole lot about. They haven't seen before. Or two, that this is an insecticide -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ryan, tell our view yourself about -- viewers about some of the soldiers, some of them became ill after exposure to some of the chemicals or maybe not, including yourself. Tell our viewers what condition is of all the U.S. Troops. The ones that came upon this suspicious site.
CHILCOTE: Actually, Wolf, I need to be very clear here. There are actually two sites. Like I said at the beginning, the soldiers have uncovered a number of weapons caches, and found a number of sites of interest east of Karbala. Now, there are two sites that were investigated for possible chemical agents. I just described one. That was the agricultural complex where they had the tests come back today positive for chemical agents, for a nerve and blister agent. And they're going to do a further test there. was another site that was presumably an Iraqi training complex. Inside, it had an indoor firing range, an obstacle course out there and a large number of MBC chemical protective suits and gas masks. At that site, several soldiers, 13, to be exact, after they'd been in the vicinity of the site of those rooms...
BLITZER: Unfortunately, we've lost Ryan Chilcote with the 101st Airborne Division, not far from Karbala, where the U.S. Soldiers came upon the two suspicious sites. They're doing further investigation to see if there are nerve agents in those drums that we saw those pictures of, chemical weapons, chemical agents banned by the international community, banned by the United States. The suspicion being that perhaps, no conclusion yet, these are the so-called smoking guns that the U.S. Have been looking for in terms of finding Iraq's so-called weapons of mass destruction. We'll continue to check in with Ryan Chilcote, get the latest on this developing story.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
