It is likely, and we will never be told the truth, that the source of many of Assad's Syrian chemical weapons were moved there from Iraq by Saddam Hussein.

Iraq did not have an active chemical weapons program but did have a history of using chemical weapons and possibly some stockpiled weapons.

The NYTimes story is that of unproven allegations by soldiers that claim harm from Iraqi chemical weapons much the same as the Agent Orange harm claims alleged from the Vietnam war.