The Khamisiyah ASP, also known to Coalition Forces as Tall al Lahm, Suq Ash Shuyukh (local Iraqi place names), or Objective GOLD [1], was a large munitions storage depot. It is located in southern Iraq along the southern side of the Euphrates River and about 25 kilometers southeast of the city of An Nasiriyah. The ASP area borders a major highway [2] used extensively by U.S. troops transiting the area after the cease-fire began. Khamisiyah was an extensive complex of above- and below-ground ammunition bunkers, general storage buildings, and open equipment storage revetments (sand mounds, or berms) covering approximately 50 square kilometers. The main site covered 25 square kilometers. Figure 1 shows the location of Khamisiyah in the Kuwait Theater of Operations (KTO).
Beginning in late 1995, both the U.S. Intelligence Community and DoD's Persian Gulf Illness Investigation Team (PGIIT) began a thorough review of Iraqi chemical capabilities during Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield and the demolition of munitions at the Khamisiyah ASP. These investigations eventually led DoD to announce that "it now appears that one of these destroyed bunkers contained chemical weapons."[3] The following details what is currently known of the events at Khamisiyah ASP involving U.S. troops:
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