The U.S. Defense Department recently sent five biological weapons detection systems, known as “Portal Shields,” to bases in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the Wall Street Journal reported today.  As part of an overall effort to defend against a possible biological weapons attack from Iraq, the Pentagon has also extended tours of chemical and biological reserve units by one year and ordered 35,000 gallons of a recently developed decontamination foam (see GSN, Sept. 26; Jaffe/Robbins, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 2).

Coalition Holds WMD Response Exercise

Meanwhile, U.S., German and Czech troops are holding a two-day exercise in Kuwait to prepare for a biological or chemical weapons attack, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday.

The military personnel, all of whom are stationed in Kuwait, are preparing to support that country’s response to a potential attack from Iraq.  A unit of German vehicles is stationed in the country to detect biological, chemical and nuclear materials (see GSN, Feb. 19).  There are 10,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Kuwait and 250 Czech troops who are trained in dealing with weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, April 30).

“If called upon, coalition forces are well prepared to help Kuwait deal with the effects of a chemical or biological incident,” U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones said.

The emirate’s Interior Ministry plans to hold separate exercises later this week (see GSN, Sept. 27; Agence France-Presse, Oct. 2).

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