Rumsfeld raises threat of chemical attacks

US INTELLIGENCE suspects that ground troops are increasingly likely to face chemical weapons as they approach Baghdad, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last night.

The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division is now about 50 miles of Baghdad, with the Medina armoured division of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard in its path. Elements of the 1st Marine Division are approaching the capital from a more easterly direction, and some analysts believe the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, now in southern Iraq, will join the battle for Baghdad.

Asked about reports that Republican Guard forces ringing Baghdad have been given authority to use chemical weapons, Mr Rumsfeld cited “scraps” of intelligence suggesting that the closer the 3rd Infantry gets to the capital, the greater the danger.