Quote:
Originally posted by Sty
...and as far as I know chemical/biological agents used in weapons have 'shelf-life' 10 years or less unless stored in specialized environment. Meaning a vast controlled storage site. You just don't put anthrax in a bottle and put it in a desk drawer and expect it to stay vibrant.
Also, before the war started I read from somewhere that Iraq never had such equipment (one thing you never sold to them  ) and never aquired any.
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Here's a link to a tech sheet on Sarin gas (something the US did NOT provide; most likely provided by Germany, France, or Russia):
http://www.dupont.com/safety/downloa...DataSheets.PDF
Look under "incompatibilities" and you will see that sarin can be stored indefinitely in 1020 steels, and in Iconel and K-monel(nickel alloys).
These metals are commonly used in commercial chemical applications, and hardly require US assistance to synthesize.
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As for anthrax, this report shows that Apartheid South Afrika freeze-dried it for storage. Freeze-drying allows for indefinite storage, not a measlely 10 years:
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/researchpub/p...ocs/CBW119.htm