So that's where Saddam hid them!

ABC please don't scare everyone with this story. This isn't terrorism but just some samples that were stored there from nearly two decades ago. Please reflect that in your headlines before you cause panic.

Your headline represents a significant factual error. Phosgene is a choking agent that interferes with lung function (as the article gets to eventually), not a nerve agent.

Perhaps 'nerve gas' and 'chemical warfare agent' have become synonymous in some people's minds, but ABC News should collectively know better.

This is obviously a plot by Carl Rove to discredit the UN (sarcasm off)

Hey, the media gotta make sure there is no way anyone could possibly say it is a WMD, hence the "believed to have been discovered in Iraq and manufactured prior to 1991" reference. Way to go there ABC.

It's not a nerve agent...it's a blister agent

phosgene is a choking agent. Not a nerve agent.

Phosgene is not a nerve gas, it’s a pulmonary agent. Phosgene combines with water in the tissues of the respiratory tract to form hydrochloric acid and has nothing to do with the nervous system. Maybe you’ve confused it with Sarin or something similar.

"the phosgene was believed to have been discovered in Iraq"

How can this be true? There are no WMD's in Iraq. Don't you people watch your own newscasts?

So apparently how can we could have expected iraq to dispose of the wmd when the UN never disposed of it nearly 15 years later.....

Also why would they bring it INSIDE the HQ?

"It shows immense stupidity to have that kind of thing sitting around as a souvenir."

Agreed. Should we expect nothing less from the UN though?

It would seem that it would have been illegal for the UN to bring that kind of dangerous weapon to the US, how do we know that a terrorist doesn't have any of that chemical? I wonder if any of those vials could be dumped into an after shave bottle and brought onto a plane.

I guess we found where Saddam's WMD's went.

"They need to get it out of there and put it in a safe canister," Hauer said. "It shows immense stupidity to have that kind of thing sitting around as a souvenir"

Oh .. the vials were just "souvenirs" ok fine, nothing to see here, move along people ..

So the UN was planning an attack on the US? "interesting"

I can't control my laughter.

Maybe Bush got it wrong.. these chemicals (WMD) that he was accusing Saddam of having was actually at the UN. DUH! Imagine that we bomb and kill hundreds and thousands of Iraqis and we found not WMD Oor chemicals there, but we send a janitor to a UN office and he finds 8 vials of it. LOL LOL LOL LOL!!!!!!!

I bet George Bush is blushing now!!!

I can't believe someone would have that sitting in their office.. I'll be interested to hear who's office it was and where exactly they found it.

Impossible, their is not one individual in the UN with any nerve

The United Nations you say? And we are worried about this because...?

Classic karl rove tactics.

Dear ABC "journalists". Phosgene is not a nerve gas. Please go to school and learn how to read. Thanks.

Unless I am misinformed, phosgene is not a nerve agent--please correct your headline. Using the phrase "nerve gas" where none exists smacks of sensationalism--though phosgene is certainly dangerous, "nerve gas" undoubtedly sounds much more dramatic.

Phosgene is not a nerve gas. I hope this is an honest editorial mistake and not an attempt to make a poison gas scare even more dramatic and attention-grabbing.

Hey, the media gotta make sure there is no way anyone could possibly say it is a WMD, hence the "believed to have been discovered in Iraq and manufactured prior to 1991" reference. Way to go there ABC.

Very sloppy journalism. Phosgene is a lung irritant causing pulmonary edema. Nerve agents are chemicals that react with the nervous system. They are chemicals that bind with the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) rendering it noneffective in its purpose - to break down the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine (ACh). Without AChE, acetylcholine remains in the junction between two neurons resulting in continual nervous stimulation.

Folks, I'm 66 years-old and I'd like to reintroduce an idea to you that had overwhelming national support during my 20-30's. The only reason this idea did not become reality is that our useless and self-serving national legislature envisioned the organization as a way to further their corruption and graft. It was the earliest edition of "earmarks" and "Lobbyists." Folks, we need to get rid of the United Nations (UN) from our shores! It's a despicable organization that embellishes every dictator and national monopoly except for the humans within those countries. Most importantly, the American public that pays for the actual building and the salaries of the corruption that exits within the organization continues to be taken for a ride.

Unbelievable. This is such a transparent ploy to scare the American people, just prior to the September rollout of their new product – God help us – and the upcoming report on the "surge". But of coruse, the right-wing knuckle draggers will pounce upon this, and shriek that eureka!!!, we've done found them thar weapons o' mass destruction. Nevermind, the FACT, that the weapons inspectors actually used this substance in their controls, as stated in this article.

I think you all have this wrong. It is obvious that the UN took bribs to store the Iraqi WMDs from the US and we have just stumbled on a few of them. They probably have a warehouse full somewhere.

Oh my God! WMD's from Iran. I guess it's time to attack another mid-east country. Oh, never mind, Republicans are too busy in bathroom stalls to prepare for another unwarranted war.

I think the only reasonable thing to do is, INVADE THE UN, lmao

I'm very pleased to see that many other people reacted to the initial "Nerve Gas" headline like I did. I'm glad to see it corrected, but this isn't the first time I've noticed misleading, manipulative, or just plain wrong initial headlines on ABCNews.com. In fact, recently I've been frequently disappointed with the quality of the reporting on this site, one I used to expect good things from. I suspect facts are dropped in the rush to post a story before competitors, but that's no excuse for continuing errors.

I smell bush starting another wmd war...

"According to an article in Foreign Affairs, the chemical was allegedly used by Iran in the Iran-Iraq war in 1987."

Dubya-em-dee at the U.N?

This administration is so backwards. What do you want to bet some one in the Bush administration had something to do with these chemicals being placed where they were found?

Amen, James

WMD in the hands of the UN on US soil? Doesn't this scare anyone? What on earth is an organization doing bringing weapons of "mass destruction" to New York City? They can't destroy these weapons where they find them! They have to bring the danger here! I'm glad I don't live in New York City. If I was a New Yorker, I'd be angry! Heck, as an American I'm angry! As far as I'm concerned, this is an act of war on the part of the UN!

Phosgene is the most dangerous of the choking agents. It is non-persistent. It causes, as its primary fatal effect, pulmonary edema. It was responsible for about 80% of all chemical agent deaths during WW1 and was considered at the time to be the only choking agent worth keeping for future wars.

This agent was supposed to have been kept in an NBC bunker, not a box in a closet in the UN. What did Hans Blix know about this, as well as Kofi Annan, and when did they know it? Why were we told by UNMOVIC that Saddam had no agents left after the 1991 surrender agreement was signed? What other chemical weapons found by UNMOVIC were hidden by the UN and where are they now? And so on.

ANOTHER COVER UP BY THE U.N., THEY WERE STEALING SO MUCH MONEY FROM THE OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAM, THEY WERE WILLING TO HIDE A LEGITIMATE THREAT FROM SADAAM AND CONTINUED TO LIE ABOUT FOR 10 YEARS.

Iraq had WMD and this proves it

can you not see the public is being scared and setup for a major scare and the instution of Marshall Law and ruler by the Dictator in office

could have been the " bungle" that hurt many Americans because of the waste and inept UN 'officials"...what will it take to pull out and not support it any longer?
we are dying and going broke over WMD and all along their in the UN bldg!!

Yes, Dennis, this scares the hell out of me. I am a New Yorker and have seen enough death & destruction in this city. I take this very personally. The UN may need to 'calibrate' their instruments but not in NYC. This is a crime, pure and simple. Tear down the UN and throw the bums out!

WMD? ... from Irag?

"Bush lied, people died!" Yeah, right.

yes, phosgene was used in WWI, but not considered a nerve agent. It is widely used today in plastics and pesticides. Phosgene is transported across America's highways on a daily basis along with hundreds of other dangerous chemicals. Boo!

The agent in the vials was likely diluted by 10000:1 or more.

what kind of an idiot thought that keeping 8 vials of BIOCHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIAL in their was a good idea?!! if that stuff had broken and gotten into the air system who knows how many would have died. im smarter than this guy. plus, a JANITOR found it. does that mean they were all lying on his desk waiting to be knocked off and start a huge commotion of nationwide panic thinking that the un and their country was under attack?

So "What's Up" with the Phosgene? Boy, they have a "nerve"! CHOking agent?...hmm. "Lung irritant (made in?)causing pulmonary "edema"...They are chemicals that bind with the enzyme ACEtylcholinesterase (AChE) rendering it noneffective in its purpose - to break down the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine (ACh). Without AChE, acetylcholine remains in the 'junction' between two neurons resulting in continual nervous stimulation." Seems there is a lot of "stimulation" (not to be confused with 'simulation') going on between various parties. Maybe there was some CIAlis in one of those vials. Seem to recall seeing a lot of references before this in the media, about "janitors" that liked Pizza (Uno, Dominoes, Mystic)...fact of the matter is that somebody's "cleaning up" and it's not the janitor. (Broom...Broom) Decent people seem to be "torn" as to what to do with helping the corrupted find their "Moral Compass". It's almost like trying to find a "needle" in a "Hay" stack. (Media insider trader/traitors BEEware...(esp. a certain 'person' by the name of SUsan)...WE ARE WATCHING YOU. BTW: Interesting AP picture yesterday of French President SarkOZy pointing like "Uncle Sam" (also like Nixon and Broderick Crawford pose in "All The Kings Men").....there was a Butterfly on SarkOZy's finger.....a MONARCH perhaps?

"yes, phosgene was used in WWI, but not considered a nerve agent. It is widely used today in PLASTICS and PESTICIDES. Phosgene is transported across America's highways on a daily basis along with hundreds of other dangerous chemicals. Boo!"

"Posted by: Alan | Aug 30, 2007 9:19:39 PM"

Plastics like "Melamine" from CHINA in the "pet" food...(real lame)...Vicks "Vapor" Rub and abuse of Dogs...POPeye Spinach...Fisher "Price" (not to be confused with Vincent Price of the "Pit and the Pendulum") toys and Thomas the "Tank" engine...hmm...makes One Wonder.

Glad to see the headline was corrected. ABC - see Harris and Paxman (2002) "A Higher Form of Killing" for the difference between choking agents (like phosgene) and nerve agents (like sarin).