Actually, I wouldn't count on the Iraqis successfully using chemical weapons against our troops. Number of reasons: 1) Any Iraqi who follows those orders is dead. They know that. Still, that alone is probably now a total deterrant... 2) Our troops will be in MOPP IV. It is unlikely that even heavy chemical attacks will produce mass casualties against us. More likely to kill Iraqi civilians or military in the area. 3) Most important - the Iraqis have to find us to fire at us. It is nearly impossible to target troops on the move with ballistic weapons, so SCUDs and Al Samouds are out. Rocket and tube artillery need firing coordinates to target us. During the Gulf War, they never were able to obtain firing solutions against us, and there is no reason to think they would now. At any rate, their artillery will likely (99.9% chance) be destroyed before we are even in range. The Iraqi air force is a nonfactor. In short, many Iraqi commanders will likely refuse the order to use chem weapons against us. Those that do likely won't be able to actually hit us with them. And even if they did, we're protected in MOPP IV... It is far more likely that chemical weapons will be delivered via SCUD or terrorism action against Israeli, Qatari, Bahraini, and Kuwaiti civilian populations. The worst-case scenario in this whole affair is that they kill thousands of Israelis, who then proceed to nuke Baghdad... But I think that is preventable. Unlikely.
I agree with Treeman, I think, hope, and pray that our troops are well equipped to deal with chemical attacks. I've also heard that Saddam may not have the massive amounts needed to cause real mass casualties among our troops. I believe since we could still dominate without using nukes, it would be inappropriate to use them in this instance. We can beat the Iraqis the old-fashioned(and new hi-tech) way without nukes no matter what Saddam throws at us.
Speaking of new hi-tech ways, has anyone ever watched that show Future Fighting Machines? They usually show some new types of guns, protection, helicopters, missiles, etc. Some of the stuff is pretty cool, though I wish we wouldn't have to use it.
