A team of international chemical weapons inspectors arrived Sunday at the Anniston Army Depot to take inventory of the aging chemical munitions stockpiled here.This is the sixth visit to Anniston by members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The group was established through an international treaty that banned the weapons.
Signed by 90 countries, including the United States, the Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. It also requires the destruction of existing stockpiles.
Based at The Hague in the Netherlands, the inspectors are members of the same group that would seek out Iraq’s suspected chemical arsenal — should Saddam Hussein ultimately open his nation’s borders.
While in Anniston, inspectors will peruse the 155 earthen-covered concrete bunkers that house some of the nastiest chemical concoctions on earth: cartridges, projectiles, rockets, mines and ton-containers filled with mustard agent or the nerve agents GB (sarin) and VX.
The inspection will verify that the number and types of munitions previously declared to the Chemical Weapons Convention are indeed correct, said stockpile spokeswoman Cathy Coleman in a press release.
Chemical munitions were first stored at the depot in 1961, the Army says, with the most recent additions being brought here in 1968.
Six weapons inspectors will survey the Anniston stockpile. It will take them approximately a week, said depot spokeswoman Joan Gustafson.
“The inspections are usually unannounced,” Gustafson said. “We don’t know until several days before.”
All of the munitions said to be stored at the depot have been accounted for during past inspections, Gustafson added.
