IRAQ: ISIS SEIZES SADDAM WEAPONS STOCKPILE AS REGIONAL ACTORS COMMENT ON US INVOLVEMENT

ISIS’s Sunni Islamist militants have successfully overtaken what was once former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s chemical-weapons production site. US government officials believe that the site contains a decent quantity of old weapons. However, most are unsure if they can be used with any effect.

The Iraq study group 2004 report on the weapons site said: "Two wars, sanctions and Unscom oversight reduced Iraqi's premier production facility to a stockpile of old damaged and contaminated chemical munitions (sealed in bunkers), a wasteland full of destroyed chemical munitions, razed structures, and unusable war-ravaged facilities,"

Meanwhile, some called for a shakeup within the ranks of the Iraqi governing structure.

Iraq’s chief Shia spiritual leader, Ayatollah Sistani, called for a new “effective” government Friday, which some see as calling upon Prime Minister Maliki to resign.

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