More about the sarin shell in Iraq

From Donald Sensing

Controversy is afoot about the age of the sarin-filled shell that terrorists exploded this week in Iraq. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit is cited by the LA Times as saying that the shell was "left over from the 1980s, when Baghdad secretly produced hundreds of tons of poison gas." Problem is, says Blaster's Blog, the transcript of the press conference concerned reveals no such remark by Kimmitt. What Kimmitt said was, "It was a weapon that we believe was stocked from the ex-regime time."

Blaster also points out,
According to this source, Iran did use chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq War. However, they are not suspected of production of G-nerve agent (sarin or tabun) until 1993, and not suspected of binary chemical capability until 1995.

So this is definitely not an Iranian dud. It has to be a post Iran-Iraq War, post Desert Storm product.

Vanderleun dissects an NYT headline and story about the shell (it's getting so easy to do it is almost no fun anymore.) He also correctly identifies the issue in determining the age of the shell: it's not when the shell casing was made that matters, but when the sarin was made. Surprise, the NYT didn't get it.

He has several more interesting points and links on the sarin story.