MOSUL, Iraq — The contraption looks like a homemade moonshine distillery fashioned from junk-yard parts, but the Army suspects it is a “clandestine” chemical plant .
Army officials today took reporters here on a brief tour of the facility, which was captured during an Aug. 9 raid along with 1,500 gallons of suspicious chemicals.
Initial testing by chemical teams from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) found no evidence of chemical warfare agents, but more detailed tests are being conducted in Baghdad as well as the United States, said Maj. Michael Petrunyak, chemical officer for Task Force Freedom.
Petrunyak said the home-made equipment found at the chemical plant could be used for mixing these industrial chemicals into some type of weapon such as an accelerant for explosives. He said there was no evidence as to whether the plant existed before the start of the U.S. war in Iraq in March 2003.
Unit finds possible chemical laboratory
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By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer
MOSUL, Iraq — The contraption looks like a homemade moonshine distillery fashioned from junk-yard parts, but the Army suspects it is a “clandestine” chemical plant .
Army officials today took reporters here on a brief tour of the facility, which was captured during an Aug. 9 raid along with 1,500 gallons of suspicious chemicals.
