Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Our chem vs Iraqi Chem Message-ID: <1990Aug28.043205.521@cbnews.att.com> Date: 28 Aug 90 04:32:05 GMT References: <1990Aug22.025307.16138@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc, Seattle, Wa Lines: 34 Approved: military@att.att.com From: uunet!mcgp1!flak (Dan Flak) In article <1990Aug22.025307.16138@cbnews.att.com> sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney) writes: >The Iraqis might not want to pick a chemical battle with us; so far as the >press has been advertising, most of the Iraqi nerve agents are of short >(what's short?) duration. I seem to recall we have various long-duration >nerve agents which could contaminate areas for weeks, as do the Soviets. I don't think that it's so much that their agents don't last as long as the Soviets, it's the environments in which they will be deployed. The successs of chemical weapons depends very much upon the weather. A calm, cool, moist air mass will keep the chemical agents suspended in the air for a long period of time. (Spray your hornet's nest just before dawn). This does not sound like a typical weather pattern for the Iraqi dessert. Also, vegetation is instrumental in trapping gases and keeping those blister agents where they can do damage. Mixing chemical agents with streams and puddles helps transport the agents in still leathal quantities. Having sticky agents fall on concrete or hard (non absorbant, clay-like) soil will keep them around where they can be tracked into other areas. It seems that a lot of the chemical agents would get soaked into the sand, evaporated, blown away, or otherwise dissapated. Caveat warning: I'm not an expert, I'm just trying to recall a conversation with someone who is. -- Dan Flak - McCaw Cellular Communications Inc., 201 Elliot Ave W., Suite 105, Seattle, Wa 98119, 206-286-4355, (usenet: thebes!mcgp1!flak)