Chemical weapons threat to ground troops

Intelligence reports indicate that ground troops in Iraq could face a last-ditch chemical weapons assault from Saddam Hussein's desperate regime.

Pentagon officials in Washington have warned that the Iraqi leader has given field-level commanders the authority to use chemical weapons on their own initiative without further orders from Baghdad.

"We continue to receive reports supporting the assertion that there is a high risk the Iraqi regime would use chemical weapons at some point during any conflict," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

Allied troops massed on the Kuwaiti border awaiting the order to invade Iraq have been ordered to begin taking their anti-nerve agent tablets.

The tablets - called Naps, short for Nerve Agent Pre-treatment Set - build up the body's resistance to nerve agents and boost the effectiveness of emergency injections given after a victim is contaminated.

But chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said he does not believe Saddam's government will use chemical or biological weapons, even as a last resort.

He says it would turn world opinion in favour of the US.

President Bush has given Saddam and his two sons until 1am UK time tomorrow to flee Iraq or face war.

But officials in Washington have not ruled out an attack before then.

The Iraqi regime has flatly rejected Bush's ultimatum, declaring that Iraq did not choose its leaders "by decree from Washington, London or Tel Aviv".

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