No Chemical Agent Found
Another false alarm; those Iraqi shells that initially tested positive for a “blister agent” are clean: Tests on Iraqi Shells Find No Chemical Agent.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark �—�Mortar shells found in southern Iraq by the Danish military do not appear to contain chemical weapon agents as originally suspected, Fox News has learned.After a 16-man team from the Iraqi Survey Group was sent to the scene to examine the mortar shells, tests of five of them yielded no traces of chemical agent, a Danish military official told Fox on Wednesday.
Initial testing by the Danes and the British indicated that the set of 36 shells possibly contained blister gas, a type of chemical weapon agent.
One shell was to be brought back to Baghdad for further testing, Fox News learned, and an electronic assessment of the shells was to be sent to a U.S. lab for further analysis.
Both the Danish and U.S. officials told Fox that the latest negative finding wasn’t conclusive and said a more final assessment could come in the next three to five days.