British Specialists to Help Iraq Destroy Stockpiles of Saddam-Era Chemical Weapons

British soldiers wearing protective suits in Iraq circa 2003

The UK's Ministry of Defense announced that they would be sending a team of experts to Iraq to help the government there dispose of chemical warfare agents dating back to Saddam Hussein's regime.

The British Defense Ministry will start training Iraqi technical and medical workers this year, an embassy statement said. The teams will work to safely destroy remnants of munitions and chemical warfare agents left over from Saddam’s regime.

Saddam stored the chemical weapons near population centers so that he could access them quickly, despite the danger to his civilian population.

Most of Iraq’s chemical weapons were destroyed by military forces in 1991 during the first Gulf War or by U.N. inspectors after the fighting. The inspections halted just before the invasion.

The head of the Iraqi National Authority, Mohammed Al Sharaa, said the remnants "represent a great challenge to the Iraqi experts to safely dispose." He called the agreement with British authorities "a good opportunity for Iraqi experts to benefit from the well-known expertise of U.K. experts."

Most notoriously, the Saddam Hussein regime used chemical weapons against civilians and the Kurdish peshmerga militia in the village of Halabja in 1988.

Hussein was deposed during the American-led invasion in 2003, captured and eventually executed by Iraq's civilian government. Many anti-war activists and politicians had claimed there were never any chemical weapons to begin with and such talk was merely a fabrication to justify the an American-led invasion.

Althought no massive WMD cache was discovered by American or coalition forces, Sarin was discovered in a 2004 roadside bomb and in 2008, the Pentagon was approached by Iraq's civilian government to ship more than 500 tons of uranium out of Iraq to Canada for disposal by Cameco [NYSE- CCJ; TSX- CCO].

Some have speculated that Hussein was able to spirit away major components of his WMD program to Syria before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This claim had been revisited when Syria's Bashr Al Assad threatened to use chemical weapons- including mustard gas, VX and Sarin- against armed insurgents clashing with his military or foreign forces who intervened in the ongoing conflict. However, Syria has had its own WMD program independent of Saddam Hussein's since before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

'Combat Barbie' Redux- 2009 Miss England Returns to Active Duty With Royal Army

*sigh* All good things must come to an end. Some of you who were around towards the beginning of Not Another New England Sports Blog!might remember the name Katrina Hodge- Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge of the Royal Army, to be specific.

A decorated Iraq war vet, she competed in the 2009 Miss England pageant and was awarded 1st runner up when the then-reigning Miss England was stripped of her crown for getting into an altercation with another contestant at a nightclub [No word on whether or not it was a prolonged Dynasty-esque face-slapping, dress-ripping, hair-pulling, falling-into-a-pond catfight- NANESB!]. So in a rather ironic twist, the military woman is awarded the Miss England crown for not fighting.

And now that a new Miss England was crowned last year, Corporal Hodge is back with the Royal Army and awaiting deployment to Afghanistan.

the move from soldier to beauty queen was a lot easier that the move in the other direction.

‘I’m not going to lie, it was hard to come back,' said Hodge.

‘It’s definitely a change of lifestyle from having your hair and make-up done every day to being in your combats and having your hair scraped back.'
But after 12 months of fancy hotels, false eyelashes and beauty assistants at her beck and call, Combat Barbie is back in combat training

Aside from her Miss England duties, Corporal Hodge had a pretty eventful 2010 in that she married some lucky bastard a fellow British soldier at a private ceremony in Sri Lanka last June.

Lazy, Inept Blogger Scoops Mainstream Press AGAIN: Miss England/'Combat Barbie' Revisited

(The Sun)

Actually, I noticed this courtesey of the British tabloids, but for some reason this story that I reported on nearly 6 months ago just now is getting noticed here in the USA. Granted it's nowhere near as deadly serious as the developments in Pakistan that I beat the Washington Post by several weeks, but I pride myself on being ahead of the curve [moreso when it actually happens- NANESB!]

And speaking of curves....

Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge isn't just a decorated veteran of Iraq- she also happens to be the reigning Miss England. She actually was runner-up in the Miss England pageant when then-winner Rachel Christie was stripped of her crown for fighting with another contestant at a Manchester nightclub (not Hodge tho', otherwise Christie would probably still be in traction).

Hodge travelled to the 2009 Miss World pageant in South Africa where she didn't even place in the top 12. Personally, I thought that was unfortunate....but apparently field-stripping and reassembling the L85A2 service rifle blindfolded for the talent competition wasn't enough to impress the judges.

Hodge will retain the Miss England crown until at least June....and at the risk of repeating myself, does anyone else find it ironic that the professional soldier was awarded the title for not fighting?

Barroom Brawl Leaves Royal Army Squaddie With Miss England Crown

(Graham Stone/ The Telegraph)
OK- I should probably keep the posts about dysfuntional beauty pageants and their problem-child contestants to a minimum, but I thought this was too cool to pass up.

(Adrian Harlen/Ministry of Defense)

Meet 22 year old Lance Corpral Katrina Hodge of the Royal Army's Royal Anglian Regiment and decorated Iraq war veteran.

Ms Hodge was given a bravery commendation in 2005 after members of her regiment were threatened at gunpoint by a suspected Iraqi insurgent after the vehicle they were travelling in overturned.

She said: "I was in complete shock at first. The force of the accident caused our vehicle to roll over three times and threw us off guard.
"As I came round, the Iraqi suspect was standing over us with the rifles. I knew if I didn't act fast then our lives would be in danger. I punched him and the force startled him enough for me to retrieve the rifles from him."

And...oh yes- she's the current Miss England. Now keep in mind that she was a runner up and the winner of the 2009 Miss England crown, Rachel Christie, was recently arrested after allegedly getting into a barrom brawl with another contestant, Sara Jones. Presumably the beatdown of another contestant and subsequent arrest means she had to relinquish her crown. Ironically, the soldier is being rewarded for not fighting

So LCL Hodge will now represent England at the upcoming Miss World pageant in Johannesburg later on this month- the same pageant Singapore is having such a hard time finding a suitable contestant for.

I'm wholeheartedly looking forward to the talent competiton where she's going to field-strip an Enfield L85A1 rifle and reassemble it blindfolded. Congratulations and best of luck to Ms. Hodge.