The U.S. Marines who guarded the sprawling complex in northwest Iraq where Saddam Hussein’s 1980s war machine churned out some of the most deadly chemical and biological weapons known to man had a name for one especially mysterious bunker: The Dragon’s Egg.

Although the Americans assigned to the Al Muthanna facility until 2008 were forbidden by superiors from peering inside the bunker, they knew the larger complex’s history. From 1983 to 1990, the brutal dictator’s scientists worked there, developing mustard, sarin, VX and Tabun gases for use on Iranian soldiers and Iraqi Kurds. And although it was under the control of U.S. and Iraqi military forces for most of the last decade, the entire facility - and whatever it held - is now firmly in the grasp of the Islamic State, the terrorist army that has claimed a vast swath of Iraq and Syria and allegedly used chemical weapons against Kurds this summer.

The X-shaped bunker, encased in cement and shrouded in mystery, was one of two that were handled differently from the many other bunkers that made up the facility, according to Lt. Joshua Hartley, who was stationed there in 2008. It was off-limits.

“We were made aware of a particular bunker on the north side [of Al Muthanna] which we were informed was sealed and remotely monitored,” Hartley, who served in the weapons company of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, told FoxNews.com. “We were not to approach, and definitely not to attempt to enter.”

An Iraqi Army outpost was positioned immediately next to the Dragon’s Egg bunker, which was under constant observation. It was an open secret that the bunker contained vast amounts of Hussein’s most dangerous nerve agents, according to Hartley.

“We became aware that there were two particular bunkers - one of which had reportedly been sealed up some time before - that held potentially devastating contents,” said Hartley, who went on to serve in Afghanistan and achieved the rank of captain before being discharged from the military. The Georgia native now lives in New York.

On Nov. 2, 2008, the Iraqi troops guarding the Dragon’s Egg were suddenly pulled from the outpost. Hartley’s platoon was ordered to clear the compound and members found 40 shells simply lying around outside of the bunker. They alerted superiors, but as they waited for specialized chemical weapons disposal units to arrive, Hartley recalled, one Marine “picked [a shell] up and could literally hear the liquid sloshing around inside of it.”

Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin Fanning, who served in Hartley’s platoon and corroborated the account, described other ominous discoveries made by the Marines as they cleared the area around the top-secret bunker.

“When we began searching, we discovered a huge stockpile of 105-millimeter artillery shells that were filled with mustard gas,” Fanning told FoxNews.com. “I have always wondered why it never became big news, as well as other incidents. I never doubted the existence of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq.”

Their account was similar to a separate one reported by The New York Times earlier this week, in which U.S. service members guarding Al Muthanna said a toxic agent used in mustard gas leaked out of a shell when a soldier picked it up. According to the Times, more than a dozen U.S. soldiers were injured by chemical weapons but the incidents were not made public.

Gen. Jack Kean, chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, former Army vice-chief of staff and a Fox News contributor, told Fox News’ ‘The Kelly File’ on Wednesday that it was known in high military circles that Hussein’s old weaponry was still around, although it was believed to be in poor condition.

“It was common knowledge in the chain of command that these storage sites existed and occasionally our soldiers would ‘bang into these things,’” Kean said.

Al Muthanna was known to be the nerve center of Hussein’s chemical weapons program, which was reportedly aided by western nations long before Operation Desert Storm. An October, 2000, report by the Federation of American Scientists identified it as a testing ground for Anthrax and Ricin. Although the chaos following the fall of Hussein in 2003 would seem to have made it essential that the secret bunker known as Dragon’s Egg be de-commissioned by specially-trained chemical weapons experts, it wasn’t until much later that international leaders took up the issue, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Discussions were held in November 2011, hosted by the U.S. in Aberdeen, Maryland, with 38 experts from around the world.

“All experts present during the roundtable agreed that bunker 13 at Al Muthanna represents a special case and that an entry into the bunker would expose personnel to explosive, chemical, and physical hazards,” the OPCW reported. “The potential for an explosion occurring is the most serious factor due to the presence of scattered fuses and warhead components.”

It is believed that the “bunker 13” referenced at the meeting is the one Hartley and his men called Dragon’s Egg.

A U.S. State Department report last February indicated that administration officials were fully aware of the potentially huge dangers the bunker and another one like it at Al Muthanna presented.

“The [Chemical Weapons] destruction plan is dependent on the assessment of the contents of the [Chemical Weapons Storage Facilities], bunkers 13 and 41 at Al Muthanna,” the State Department reported. But efforts to neutralize the bunkers appear not to have been carried out, and now Kean and Hartley fear it could be too late. Al Muthanna was overrun by Islamic State militants in July.

“Frankly, the weapons could be used by ISIS,” Kean said. “Our troops’ mission was not to clean this up; that was something the Iraqis were supposed to do, and obviously they didn’t do a very good job of it,” the general added. “I know from talking to people who were involved, that the Sunni insurgents used some of these weapons as IED’s against us.”

With reports that Islamic State fighters may have used chemical weapons to attack the Syrian city of Kobani earlier this summer, Hartley also wonders if the contents of the mysterious bunker known as Dragon’s Egg have been unleashed.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/10/18/dragon-egg-marines-who-guarded-saddam-mysterious-bunker-fear-weapons-unleashed/

Iraq became a member state of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2009, declaring "two bunkers with filled and unfilled chemical weapons munitions, some precursors, as well as five former chemical weapons production facilities" according to OPCW Director General Rogelio Pfirter. No plans were announced at that time for the destruction of the material, although it was noted that the bunkers were damaged in the 2003 war and even inspection of the site must be carefully planned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction#Theories_in_the_aftermath_of_the_2003_war

Interesting. I love how the Press and the Libbo's bashed President for YEARS saying we didn't find Saddam's WMD's, when we really did no matter how much his image was under attack. He put National Security and his Country first.

Back then with President Bush we had a President with class, not like the President of trash, King Ding a Ling Mister Barry Obama. President Bush has things that will clear his image and he sits on them for the sake of National Security, but Obama cant wait to get in front of the press anytime something happens, just look at when they got Osama Bin Laden, Barry couldn't wait to get in front of the media and disclose everything including the Special Forces Unit that got him (Which hasn't ever been disclosed by a President, since we don't ever comment on Seal Team Six or Delta Force, or their missions, especially right after it happened), (just look at how they downed a chopper taking out members of SEAL Team 6 who were part of the Unit that got Osama Bin Laden and not to mention jeopardizing the safety of every member of that Unit).

I hope they nail Obama's a$$ to the wall on this. This is totally his fault. He shouldn't have pulled out of Iraq before making sure these two sites where destroyed, and now they are captured by ISIS giving them WMD's that can do some serious damage to the United States of America and our allies, something we have actively fought for decades.

The second is his failed policy on combating ISIS. This campaign of only bombing (which is failing BTW. We spends millions every time a bomber goes up, not to mention the cost of the Bomb and they are only taking our a couple ISIS terrorists out at a time, where we should be targeting the major ones who are advancing in Iraq, Syria and Africa. Not to mention his former top CIA Directors, Army Officials including the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and several other four Star Generals and Senior Officers have publicly stated his plan has a snowballs chance in hell to work and that boots on the ground are needed. Also his current top military officers like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have stated we will need boots on the ground to destroy ISIS.

Just chalk this up to another of MANY of Obama's failures.

Of course the USA gave them the WMD and don't worry USA bombs have only hit empty buildings. Obama just signed a $1 trillion for the rebels why would he try to kill
Them??

Maybe check out Carl Levin D Michigan dual citizen of Israel who is cutting the checks to the rebels.

One funniest thing we bombed empty Isis headquarters the supposedly good rebels complained to Obama it was too damn close it was 600 ft from their headquarters. It was a great military move by Obama toanannounce he was going to bomb them giving them 3 weeks notice to move out. So we bombed empty buildings.

don't need to be a Rocket-Scientist to cobble some Organo-Phosphate Nerve-Agents together!

http://conservativetribune.com/nyt-wmds-in-iraq/

BREAKING: NY Times Drops Bombshell about WMDs in Iraq… Liberals Are Scrambling

The New York Times has finally admitted what conservatives have been saying for over a decade — that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq regime possessed weapons of mass destruction in violation of United Nations resolutions and international law.

Its even easier to cobble them together if u give them the materials

you can cobble most of them together in your Kitchen with everyday-Stuff!

Anything they found is old and useless. More likely to mess them up playing with them before they could ever get anything useful from them