For Army, a new primer in chemical war

Staff Sgt. Edgar Rodriguez barks out orders, and dozens of infantrymen hastily pull on gas masks attached to olive-green hoods.

"You will be asked to hold your breath, break the seal, and then clear the mask," Sergeant Rodriguez instructs. "If you get a whiff of CS [tear gas] when you do that – it could be nerve gas in a combat situation – understood?"

"Hoo-ah!" reply the troops as they march single file toward the "chamber" – a cement-floored cabin filled with tear gas.

Here in the sprawling backwoods of Fort Stewart, Georgia, the Army's 3rd Infantry Division is preparing for a possible war against Iraq – including what the Pentagon considers a very real risk of Iraqi chemical or te weapons attacks. For the division's heavy infantry troops, some 2,000 of whom are deploying to Kuwait in coming weeks, war-fighting drills have taken on a complex new dimension that could spell the difference between fighting through deadly agents and being stopped in their tracks.

From narrowed vision, heat exhaustion, and mental stress for troops, to the massive logistics of decontamination, to the potential for panic among civilians, US commanders admit that lethal toxins would seriously impact the prosecution of a war.

"Does it [better US protection] mean that this is still not going to be a horrific event, that we're going to have to fight our way through?" asks Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Is it going to slow us down? Probably. Will it cause us maybe to change our plans in a localized area? It could possibly."

Despite advances in US military protective gear, sensors, and decontamination equipment since the 1991 Gulf War, senior defense and military officials say the threat of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs has also grown: The Iraqi regime is developing more potent chemical and biological agents, they say, as well as pilotless aircraft, sprayers, artillery shells, and longer-range missiles with which to deliver them.

As a result, US commanders say they are planning for a worst-case scenario, in which a WMD attack would, at minimum, slow ground troops, and could paralyze an entire base or contingent.

At Fort Stewart, troops trained by Nuclear-Biological-Chemical (NBC) experts such as Rodriguez must pass tests aimed at ensuring they can protect themselves – and carry out their missions – amid lethal agents. Training can be an ordeal. Minutes after Rodriguez orders troops into the gas-filled chamber, the door bursts open and the young men dash out, whooping and spitting. "Wooooooh! It's strong!" yells Pfc. Anthony Young, his eyes watering and nose running.

In fact, the gas masks worked. The soldiers found out just how effective the masks were by taking them off – part of a dare to see how long they could stand the tear gas. "It's a confidence booster," says Secont Lieutenant William Muraski, a battalion-level chemical weapons expert.

US forces in Iraq or nearby are most likely to face two types of WMD threats from Mr. Hussein's regime, with some weapons deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them, according to military officials and Western intelligence estimates.

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