Gas Masks and Chlorine Choke Points

There's surprising news, from the battle over Iraq's chlorine bombs. First, Army Times reports that top U.S. generals still haven't ordered troops to bring their chem-defense gear on patrol. "It is still up to unit commanders to decide whether soldiers will carry their chemical protective masks with them, according to a senior military official in Baghdad who asked to remain anonymous."

“It depends on where they are on the battlefield and what the local commander deems necessary,” the military official said.

At low levels, exposure to chlorine gas causes difficulty in breathing and irritation of the skin and eyes. At extremely high levels, it dissolves in the lungs to form hydrochloric acid, burning lung tissue and essentially drowning a person.

I am a bit shocked that carrying the protective masks is an optional issue. (The article is dated from 10 days ago, so maybe there's been a shift, since then.) It's not as if these attacks are predictable or limited to a specific area. Or maybe they are? Baghdad local and Akbar province?

Meanwhile,* Iraqslogger *looks into a choke-point on the chlorine supply chain:

A dozen trucks laden with chlorine are reportedly being held by Iraqi customs officials at the Tribil checkpoint on the border with Jordan, awaiting secure passage to their final destinations.

“Customs authorities at Tribil crossing-point have held for several days 12 25-ton trucks laden with chlorine imported from Jordan to be used for water purification projects in Baghdad and other provinces," the independent Iraqi news agency Voices of Iraq cites an anonymous governemt source as reporting.

The trucks are apparently being held until their safe passage to Baghdad can be secured.

Chlorine delivery trucks have been attacked and looted on the highway running through Anbar province between Baghdad and Tribil, feeding a supply of the chemical to the insurgency, which has used it with deadly efficiency numerous times in recent weeks.

Evidently there are no chlorine production plants open in Iraq - the containers come from Syria and Jordan. It makes sense to protect their journey to the water purification plants, but what then? Still have to guard the containers. But it is a step in the right direction.

-- Jason Sigger, cross-posted at Armchair Generalist

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* Inside a Chlorine Bomb Attack
* How to Handle a Chlorine Bomb
* Everything is WMD
* Coping with Chlorine Bombs
* Chlorine Bomb Countermeasures