But according to Dave Jackson second-in-command at Tooele none of the leaks posed a threat

But according to Dave Jackson, second-in-command at Tooele, none of the leaks posed a threat to civilian populations. "It clearly indicates the high potential for the release of some of the most toxic chemicals on the planet into civilian communities."Toxic emissions have been recorded both at a prototype research incinerator already running on the Tooele site and at anoperational facility on the Johnston Atoll, a US territory in the Pacific where 292,000 chemical weapons are stored. "There is clear scientific evidence that the incineration facilities will emit toxic materials that will impact on the environment and on public health," Mr Williams said. "There is a lot at stake, because this will be the first plant to go 'hot' in the continental US," she said. "The other plants are dependent on their operating this one." Also campaigning against the Army is Craig Williams of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, which advocates developing alternative methods of dismantling the munitions and neutralising the agents inside them. For almost 20 years, he says, he petitioned the British embassy in Beirut for a pension.

He was examined by an embassy doctor and urged by an ambassador to ask for his pension. But none came.Then in the 1970s, Taybe came under the control of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian guerrillas. Hussein Ali fled the village and was in Beirut when the Israelis staged their first invasion of Lebanon in 1978, pulverising Taybe and destroying his own home with tank fire. Inside the building was Hussein Ali's 1942 Africa Star British campaign medal, lost forever in the rubble of the house.Last year, the British Embassy sent Hussein Ali pounds 300 and a letter stating that the Government was considering him for a permanent disability payment. Hussein Ali's eyes light up when the letter is re-read to him "People are very kind to me," he says. "The Finnish UN soldiers come to see me and their Finnish doctor looks after me and my wife when we are ill He has examined my old wound But now I am waiting for Tuesday.".

THE Republican Party raised $16m (pounds 10m) towards this year's presidential election campaign over dinner in Washington on Wednesday night. The huge black-tie affair, billed as "the Road to the White House" by the Republican National Committee, was priced at $1,000 a plate. The reason why the 3,200 guests at the event donated an average of $5,000 each was that the the committee, known as the RNC, had offered some pleasing inducements to generous contributors. On the menu, for a mere $4,000, was an opportunity to pose for a photograph with Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. More intimate encounters with Republican celebrities were offered in exchange for larger donations. Those wishing to go down in history as the dinner's "co-chairmen", for example, parted with $250,000, a sum which also secured four tickets to the Republican National Convention in San Diego this summer and lunch with both Mr Gingrich and Bob Dole, the senator who leads the Republican race for the party's presidential nomination.The Democratic National Committee has not been above engaging in similar transactions. That could mean as far as Salt Lake City, a city of 160,000 people.Representing Mr Jones in a lawsuit against EG&G is Joanne Royce, of the Government Accountability Project, a support group for government whistle- blowers. Mr Jones has turned whistle-blower against the government, alleging that the Tooele incincerators are riddled with design flaws and could emit plumes of toxic gases.

He contended last week that, in a worst-case scenario, such a plume could be blown 40 miles. The Army hopes now to fire up the plant on 15 April, but even that target is in doubt. Two years ago, 80 gallons of mustard gas poured from a tank stored above ground and out in the open.But the US Army, which is responsible for the plant, is engaged in a furious public relations struggle to convince doubters that incineration is the best method for disposal. Only when it has done so, and begun to prove the new plant's viability, can the Army hope to gain public support to begin construction of similar ones at the other stockpile sites.The project's greatest foe is Steve Jones, who was hired to monitor safety and security at Tooele until he was sacked in September 1994 because of "irreconcilable differences" with the management of EG&G, the civil contractor hired by the Army to set up and run the facility. The controversy has contributed to several delays in the start-up of the facility.