A new report reveals that Iraq still has some secrets.

Back in 2003, following the September 11th terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush announced the start of the American war in Iraq. The stated goal of the conflict was to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Years later, the public learned that government's intelligence was wrong—there were no WMDs in Iraq. But now, in a major investigation by our partner The New York Times, Foreign Correspondent C.J. Chivers uncovered a whole new layer to this story.

According to Chivers' report, there were in fact chemical weapons in Iraq, which both the FBI and the United Nations Office of Disarmament categorize as weapons of mass destruction. In all, U.S. troops reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical aviation bombs, shells, or warheads.

At numerous points during the occupation, American and Iraqi forces came into contact with these weapons—and some were even wounded by these chemical agents. But these weapons were not the ones American intelligence expected, and troops were neither notified nor prepared for what to do.

“What we found when we started looking at this a long time ago was that, in fact, there were a fairly large number of abandoned chemical weapons in Iraq after the invasion,” says Chivers.

These chemical weapons stem from the remnants of long-abandoned programs that were built in close collaboration with the West.

“These were old shells and warheads; many of them had been buried, and a lot of them were pitted and rusted,” Chivers says. “They turned up as a feature of what the war became.”

Soldiers that we principally responsible for countering explosive devices and makeshift bombs often found these chemical weapons while digging through enemy caches or old stockpiles of weapons.

Army Specialist Andrew Goldman told Chivers that he still suffers headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath after being exposed to a leaking shell that tested positive for sulfur mustard.

“As I'm handing a round up, there's this oily, reddish substance that just kind of pours out of the round,” says Goldman. “As I’m handing it up to my teammate, Sargent Duling said, ‘Hold on just a minute’ as a precautionary measure. We already had one scare that day...It was already on our minds. He went to truck and got some more M8 paper, and when I tested it, this time it was an obvious positive.”

Chivers says that many of the soldiers that were exposed to these abandoned chemical agents suffered from a mix of inhalation injuries and burns.

“The burns tended to cluster on the upper legs, the shins, and the hands,” he says. “The reason for that is pretty simple: These shells are big. They’re about 40 inches long, and 90 or 100 pounds. When they were picking them up to move them, they were usually not even aware that they were chemical shells.”

Soldiers that were picking up these large shells, Chivers says, would frequently use their hands and lower extremities to help them pick up the shells. In doing so, some these American troops would have the chemical agent pressed against their bodies and they would frequently inhale some of the toxins.

“They suffer shortness of breath, and in one case there was nasal bleeding and scarring,” he says of the effects from these chemical agents. “Blisters would pop up usually within hours or the next day on their legs or their hands.”

Dr. Dave Edmond Lounsbury, a former Army colonel, told Chivers that there was extensive government secrecy surrounding the troops that were wounded by these chemical weapons.

“If the allies had found WMDs, and more to the point if Americans had been injured by them, it strikes me that might be you'd make a big deal about,” he says. “These patients would have been celebrities in their own right because they were chemical casualties. But there was no such report.”

Government secrecy surrounding these chemical weapons, says Chivers, prevented these troops from getting the proper treatment they so desperately needed.

“Had all this information been released and made public in real time, if it weren’t for this mix of habitual and reflective secrecy, then these troops would have been treated well,” he says. “Their doctors might have been expecting them and not trying to talk them out of their wounds when they showed up at the aid stations and medical clinics. This whole investigation that we had to do wouldn’t have been necessary.”

Chivers speculates that this information was kept hidden for a very simple reason: The military’s culture of secrecy.

“I think it was kept quiet mostly out of habit,” he says. “You’re talking about a government that will classify a weather report when it’s in a combat theater. It’s an enormous game of ‘keep away’ with information. This information was withheld not just from and not just from you, but from other people inside the military that needed it in real time.”