No tolerance for error or deception



When the issue is deadly toxins, there's no room for error.

That's why American taxpayers are spending billions of dollars to destroy chemical weapons in Anniston and why officials there insisted that millions of dollars be spent on emergency response gear.

But all the grand scientific designs and disaster planning won't go very far to protect the public if the Army doesn't shoot straight when things go wrong at the incinerator.

So far, it's not looking good.

After insisting that an alarm Aug. 21 had falsely indicated a sarin leak at the incinerator, the Army has now acknowledged it was no false alarm. Sarin was actually detected in a room where blades that cut up rockets had been washed.

Army spokesman Mike Abrams acknowledged the leak just this past Monday, having repeated the false alarm story as recently as Friday. He said he got the story wrong because he didn't ask the right questions of incinerator officials. This was no effort to deceive the public, he said, just a failure to communicate.

His explanation is supposed to be - what - comforting?

This is a deadly serious matter. The people of Anniston must be able to rely on the Army to keep them informed about the incinerator. Any deception seeping from the facility is as toxic as sarin to public confidence. It kills it. That is cause for real alarm.

The Birmingham (Ala.) News

"didn't ask the right questions of incinerator officials"!!
Do they think we're retarded? I didn't think to ask if there was an actual leak!!??