Dangerous Iraq chemicals found stored at U.N. in NY.
Was this part of the “Oil for Food” scheme? Inquiring minds want to know.
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 on Thursday 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.