Two children die as Iraqi poison plot recalls Saddam's assassination method of choice

[unhappycamper]

Two children die as Iraqi poison plot recalls Saddam's assassination method of choice
Michael Howard in Baghdad
Saturday February 9, 2008
The Guardian

Iraqi authorities are investigating a case of poisoning at a Baghdad sports club popular with the army in which two children have died and nine people have been taken to hospital. All were reported to have eaten cakes laced with thallium, the toxin that was often used by Saddam's secret police to kill political opponents.

Security officials said it was the first known incident of deliberate thallium poisoning since the fall of the regime.

Police said they had traced the two cakes to a bakery in Baghdad's Adhamiya district. This Sunni Arab stronghold was a bastion for supporters of the late dictator, and more recently a major locus of activity for Sunni extremists.

"This is a disturbing incident," said Mohammed Abbas, a police official. "The use of thallium in this way appears to show that someone in Adhamiya is reviving the techniques of the mukhabarat .

"What happens if al-Qaida gets the know-how? We are urgently trying to discover how much thallium is out there and who would know how to utilise it."


Rest of article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2254956,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

[Windy]

1. that's scary. Thank you for posting the info.

the primaries are one thing, but the rest of the world isn't stopping because of them. We forget that here.


Too bad we took our eye off the ball and decided to forego going after the real threat to pursue the trumped up one.