Suspect chemical stash likely to be pesticides

ALLIED hopes of finding Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction suffered a setback yesterday after a stash of suspect chemicals looked increasingly likely to be pesticides.

US scientists were still carrying out tests on the chemicals but appeared not to have found a “smoking gun”.

Initial tests on the liquid chemicals found in 14 barrels at an agricultural site near Hindiyah, central Iraq, indicated the possible presence of nerve agents sarin, tabun and the blister agent lewisite. US military sources have repeatedly urged caution over the find.

One said: “First reports are very often wrong American Brigadier General Vince Brooks at Central Command in Qatar said: “More detailed analysis is required and some samples have been moved to the US.”