Say Anything Blog

Turns out they were hidden in their office all along.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations officials found vials of dangerous chemicals, which had been removed from Iraq a decade ago, in a U.N. building in New York, but U.N. officials said on Thursday there was no danger.

The FBI was called in to help remove the substances.

The material was phosgene, a chemical warfare agent, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a news conference.

The inspections unit said in a statement that the chemicals had been found last Friday.

The Iraqi weapons inspectors came across the material as they were closing their offices, which are housed in a building near the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the inspectors.

There’s a joke in there about UN weapons inspectors and not being able to find their own feet with two hands and a flashlight, but I’m not sure reality needs any embellishment.