Salahaldin Al-Ayoubi Brigades is the military wing of JAMI, Al Jabha Al-Islamiyya l'il-Muqawama Al-'Iraqiyya, announced on January 10, 2007 that it had fired four missiles loaded with chemicals at a U.S. base near Samara, Iraq.
Canada Free Press has the still images 'showing militants wearing gas masks and filling the missiles with a liquid which the organization claims are chemicals.' MEMRI has the video, appears to show the attack being carried out. (JAMI), 'has carried out numerous bombing and rocket attacks against U.S. military installations, including a mortar attack last October 10 that destroyed a major military ammunitions dump and lit up the sky on the outskirts of Baghdad.' (Fox)
Based upon publicly accessible data on known Forward Operating Bases (FOB) in Iraq, as well as the historical reports on the levels of intensity of enemy attacks in the specific geographic region, there is a high probability that FOB McKenzie (the former Samarra East-Al Bakr Air Base) could be the location of this attack. Public data identifies FOB McKenzie as the recipient of as many as 21 incoming rocket attacks in a single night. A lesser possibility could be FOB Brassfield-Mora located 10 km north of Samarra.Analysis of the imagery (to be posted shortly) accompanying the terrorist report, obtained and provided to the Northeast Intelligence Network as a courtesy of Archangel, as well as a review of known chemical weapons, a preliminary assessment is that the black oily liquid seen being hand-poured in the missile warheads could be the chemical weapon and blister agent Lewisite. Iraq is known to have conducted research on lewisite. Lewisite is similar to mustard agent but faster acting and the persistence of this blister agent is reported to be from 24 hours to one week.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense stores of Lewisite were not located in Iraq by weapons inspectors following the 1991 Gulf War.
However, on Friday, April 4, 2003, the 101st Airborne discovered 13 drums of suspected chemical weapons in a bunker at an agricultural facility east of Karbala. The 101st division commander at the time, Brigadier General Benjamin Freakley, told media that the drums initially tested positive for nerve agent. The following Monday, 7 April 2003, two 'Fox' nuclear, chemical and biological reconnaissance vehicles, armed with more sophisticated sensors than the Improved Chemical Agent Monitor (ICAM) most likely utilized by the 101st in the initial determination, conducted additional testing and reportedly detected sarin, tabun and lewisite. -- Northeast Intelligence Network
The five Iranians held by U.S. troops in Iraq are linked to Revolutionary Guards who are arming and funding Iraqi militants, but Tehran called them diplomats and demanded they be released. (more at Reuters)
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