Friday, August 31, 2007

Iraq Chemical Weapons Found At United Nations

United Nations officials found vials of dangerous chemicals, which had been removed from Iraq a decade ago, in a U.N. building in New York, but U.N. officials said there was no danger. The FBI was called in to help remove the substances. The material was phosgene, a chemical warfare agent, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a news conference. The inspections unit said in a statement that the chemicals had been found last Friday.The Iraqi weapons inspectors came across the material as they were closing their offices, which are housed in a building near the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the inspectors. Phosgene was used extensively during World War I as a choking agent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.