Setbacks fail to dent the resolve of
leaders
'In Washington, the
Pentagon confirmed it was authorising
use of "non-lethal" gases of the type used in last October's
disastrous Moscow theatre siege - a move that has already provoked
accusations of hypocrisy by a country that claims to be at war to prevent
chemical weapons being used' (
Independent )
�
The 'non-lethal' gas used during the Moscow theatre siege, killing about
120 hostages, was an aerosol form of the drug fentanyl, a synthetic
narcotic. However, that was an act of domestic law enforcement - any
military use of fentanyl, CS gas or similar chemical agents would be a
clear breach of the Chemical Weapons
Convention
�
See also this Village Voice article
from November, the Sunshine Project
website, and this FAS page
�
See also this BBC article from
Thursday about the UK Defence Secretary's claim that UK troops had found
evidence 'categorically' proving that Iraq was prepared to use chemical
and biological weapons, and this Independent
article about his retraction of that claim
