Iraqi Bunker Complex - Southeastern Iraq (between Kuwaiti border and Basra) March 1, 1991

This case involves the experiences of former Sergeant David Allen Fisher, who also discovered what appears to have been a cache of chemical weapons where the Department of Defense says none were deployed.

While searching an Iraqi ammunition bunker in Iraq in an area south of Basra, Mr. Fisher brushed up against some wooden crated marked with skulls and crossbones. Within 8 hours his arm had reddened and began to sting. Several hours later, he noticed painful blisters on his upper arm.^[65]

In his report of the incident, in a Question and Answer Brief prepared for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Public Affairs Office, and in a subsequent journal article, Colonel Michael Dunn, who would later become the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Chemical Defense confirmed that Fisher's injuries were the result of exposure to chemical agents.^[66]

In this case, as in the other cases like it, it seems impossible to obtain an explanation from the Department of Defense that is consistent with the events as reported by the soldiers present. In August, a pentagon spokesperson stated that whatever chemicals were encountered in the bunker must have been left over from earlier fighting between Iraq and Iran.^[67]

However, in September 1994, that same spokesperson said that he was not aware that any chemical weapons crates were discovered by Mr. Fisher, despite Colonel Dunn's report and despite the fact that Mr. Fisher received a purple Heart for his injuries.^[68] Others who were present that date including the FOX vehicle operators, one of whom received a bronze star, and Colonel Dunn corroborate these events. Further, according to Mr. Fisher, this was an active bunker complex with artillery pieces present and their mission there was to go from bunker to bunker searching for Iraqi soldiers.^[69] Old chemical weapons, left over from a previous war, would be stored in a separate storage facility; if they were present at an active artillery position, they were deployed with the intention of using them.

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