The U.S. envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition said on Wednesday the coalition was already taking steps to ensure there would be no repeat in the Mosul offensive of the abuses seen in the wake of the recapture of Falluja in June, when Shi’ite militias detained, abused and tortured scores of Sunni civilians.
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US officials had said Wednesday that an oily substance found on a fragment of the rocket that landed inside the security perimeter of the base initially tested positive for mustard agent, but that a second test was negative.
A rocket launched by Islamic State militants at American troops based in Iraq did contain a mustard agent, the U.S. military has confirmed. It is regularly targeted by indirect fire, a senior defense official at the Pentagon said. No one showed any immediate signs of exposure to the suspected mustard agent, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Further tests were underway. Still, Obama said he and Abadi were confident that Iraq’s military and the USA -led coalition could make progress in Mosul “fairly rapidly”, adding that he was hoping for progress by year-end.
“It wasn’t particularly effective but it was a concerning development”, Dunford said.
Dunford made no mention of the USA presence on the Qayara West base, but an official on Wednesday said “hundreds” of US troops are there helping the Iraq security forces prepare for a coming offensive in Mosul. United States officials have told CNN that the “the agent had “low purity” and was ‘poorly weaponized'”.
The defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said all of the forward-deployed US forces are equipped with protective gear, including a mask and suit.
The use of chemical weapons on USA forces, however ineffectual, raised ominous echoes of the ultimately false rationale cited by the George W. Bush administration for invading and occupying Iraq from 2003 to 2011.
Troops are equipped to handle chemical attacks.
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“We have a moderate level of concern … on a day to day basis and our concern isn’t much greater after seeing this, because it falls into the expected realm”, the official said.
