Iraqi Missiles Contained Nerve Gas, Report Says

Warhead fragments recovered by U.N. weapons inspectors indicate that Iraq put deadly VX nerve gas into missile warheads before the Persian Gulf War, the Washington Post reported today.

The information is included in a confidential U.S. Army laboratory analysis completed June 10 of warhead fragments taken from a pit at Taji, Iraq, in March, the Post said. It obtained a copy of the report from the Iraqi National Congress, the principal Iraqi exile group, and confirmed the findings with diplomatic sources.

Analyzed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the samples from the warhead fragments revealed “significant amounts” of VX disulfide and stabilizer, the Post reported. A few drops of the nerve gas can kill a human in minutes.

The new report could reignite concerns about Iraq’s hiding of weapons of mass destruction. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler is scheduled to report his completed findings to the Security Council on Wednesday.