“On April 2 [2003], U.S. signals intelligence intercepted the Iraqis calling for ‘blood,’ which according to U.S. intelligence was the Iraqi code name for the long-dreaded chemical weapons attack. [1st Marine Expeditionary Force Commander Lieutenant General James] Conway told his officers that the Marines were about to be attacked with poison gas. U.S. forces had not uncovered any caches of WMD, but Conway was convinced his Marines were about to find the evidence–the hard way. After the war, however, it became clear that Saddam’s assertions to his commanders that he had no WMD had been truthful. General Amar Husayn al-Sumarrai, head of Iraq’s chemical corps, told his American interrogators that it was his job to ensure that the army was equipped to handle a coalition chemical attack, but was not aware of any plans for chemical warfare against Iraq’s enemy.”
– Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, Cobra II, Page 415