1. FYI – this message was distributed to UN staffers in NYC on Friday 28 September:

Message from the Department of
Safety and Security

The US authorities concluded the analysis of substances removed from the UNMOVIC premises and determined that these did not contain any harmful materials.

The United Nations would like to thank the host country authorities for resolving this issue.

Thank you.

For any further questions pls contact:

Anne Marie Pinou
Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, UNDSS
Office: +1 917 367 8197
e-mail: pinou@un.org

2. [Me] I have not been able to find FBI’s own report. I’d like to know for a fact whether UN is stating the whole truth by reporting that the substances found at UNMOVIC “did not contain any harmful materials”.

The NYT article from 5 September reported the substance was likely a “solvent”. The article also said it had been “misplaced” in a box of documents, “sealed in a container inside a plastic bag” after having been assigned an “inventory number” denoting a sample of phosgene – - and not just any random sample, but a sample collected “from a chemical weapons facility in 1996 in Samarra.” Well, that’s a lot of very specific detail. Now we are to understand it’s just a lost dollop of Mr Clean? Well-maybe. But if that story is true, how did such a colossal “mix up” occur – even at a UN agency? And if the UN explanation is the whole truth – how much better should we all feel, now?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/nyregion/06clean.html?ex=1346644800&en=f4afa6e9a8f8202f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

3. Previous info (UN briefing on 30 August) here:
http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2007/db070830.doc.htm