Does it mean anything? It's hard to tell at this point. LT Smash makes the best preliminary argument that it might.
Smash points out that, "In October 1995 (after the UN discovered some previously undisclosed documents), Saddam revised his weapons declaration, admitting that his scientists had developed 'prototypes' of shells capable of delivering binary sarin, but claimed that the project had never reached full production. UN inspectors noted at the time, however, that 'new documentation shows production in quantities well beyond prototype levels.' "
In other words that the Iraqis had manufactured sarin warheads in some quantity.
Further, the shell that exploded earlier this week, contaminating two U.S. soldiers, contained a "mix-in-flight" warhead that was more advanced than those Iraq had used in the Iraq-Iran war, according to our military command.
If all this is accurate, Smash says, it's possible a stockpile of some size exists in Iraq.
It's certainly still possible that a cache or two of chemical weapons may turn up in Iraq, breathing some new life into the administration contention that Saddam Hussein was actively developing weapons of mass destruction. We'll see what emerges.
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