How Big a Deal Are Chemical Weapons?
by Howard Uhal / May 1st, 2013
What do Saddam Hussein, Bill Clinton, and Vladimir Putin have in
common? They’ve all been reported to have used nerve gas on their own
people.
In 1988, Saddam Hussein ordered a poison gas attack on the Kurdish
city of Halabja in northern Iraq. Thousands of people are reported to
have been killed and many others injured. Chemicals used in the attack
are said to have included the nerve agents sarin, tabun, and VX.1
During the protests at the 1999 World Trade Organization Ministerial
Conference in Seattle, US police mostly used chemical agents known as
irritants (e.g., pepper spray) for crowd control. However, on the day
that President Bill Clinton visited the conference, the police (and I
use that term loosely) used a type of nerve agent known as CNX on the
crowd. This was discovered by doctors at free clinics treating the
protesters, who reported undeniable symptoms of nerve agent poisoning in their
patients. Some have chosen to call this substance an
“incapacitating agent”, but in its action it is clearly neurotoxic.2
In 2002 Chechen militants invaded the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow and
held hundreds of people hostage. Russian Alfa special forces ended the
two-and-a-half day crisis by shooting or fatally gassing everyone left
in the theater, including 130 hostages, using a previously unknown nerve agent
said to have been an opiate gas. Russian officials have never
accepted responsibility for the deaths, which occurred during the
presidency of Vladimir Putin. This substance also could be called an
“incapacitating agent”, but it also is neurotoxic.3
Now we’re being told that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used
chemical weapons (a nerve agent) on his own people, which if true would
surely be a heinous crime.4 But before we go off the deep end, perhaps we
should ask ourselves
whether he’s just following the lead of fellow presidents Vlad and Bill. Why
should there be a “red line” crossed when Ba’athists use nerve gas, but none
when Russians and Americans do?
1. “Thousands die in Halabja gas attack,” BBC News. [↩]
2. “Nerve Agents Used in Seattle It Appears.” [↩]
3. “Moscow Theater Siege 2002: Russians Mark Chechen Hostage Taking.”
[↩]
4. “Were Chemical Weapons Used in Syria?” New York Times. [↩]
Howard Uhal is a Vietnam era veteran of the US
Army and a former nuclear submarine officer. He has held various
positions in the nuclear and environmental industries and has degrees in
Geology and Environmental Systems Engineering. He can be reached at:
[email protected]. Read other articles by Howard, or visit Howard's website.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/05/how-big-a-deal-are-chemical-weapons/#more-48680
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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