Ichhabe
02-16-2003, 06:42 PM
From the Independent.
US plan to use illegal weapons
By Severin Carrell
16 February 2003
While American forces invading Iraq face the threat of chemical attack, they could themselves be using biochemical agents which are banned under international law.
The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, revealed earlier this month that American forces are planning to use "non-lethal" biochemical weapons such as anti-riot gases and crowd control agents if they invade Iraq. Mr Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee they were preparing to ask President George Bush for permission to use these weapons, known in military circles as "calmatives", on Iraqi civilians, in cave systems or to take prisoners.
But two of Britain's leading authorities on chemical weapons, Professor Alistair Hay and Professor Julian Perry-Robinson, who are collaborating on an expert guide for the World Health Organisation, said such weapons are illegal under the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention and the 1928 Geneva Protocol, which ban the use of chemical agents against people in wartime.
"It would be absolutely outrageous if they did this," said Prof Hay, an epidemiologist at Leeds University. "Surely this war against Iraq is to stop the use of those weapons, not about also using them."
The dangers of such weapons were exposed, the experts said, when Russian special forces used an opiate-based crowd control gas, with devastating consequences, on Chechen rebels holding theatregoers hostage in Moscow in October. Both men said Mr Rumsfeld's comments also threatened to put the Pentagon on a collision course with Britain.
Ministry of Defence experts have repeatedly warned their US counterparts that their proposed use of these weapons in warfare is illegal.
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After reading this I must ask; Who came up with that idea? Yeah! Sure! I is only to calm them down, I can hear some of the replies that will come. Any remember thos shots soldiers got before entering the Gulf area back in '91? They were given a chemickal coctail of everything so they could be preapered for the worst. Well, a lot of them today is still going through the worst, tnx to that mix that was given to them. And now they talking/planning to use chemical agents on civilians? And don't come up with that the terrorists already used anthrax. They are terrorists. Aren't civilized countries supposed to be better? This may also just be the case for the terrorist to REALLY make havoc. I'm normally a person who's not so easally being disturbed in what I read in the media. But if only 25% of this is correct... Ai ai ai.
US plan to use illegal weapons
By Severin Carrell
16 February 2003
While American forces invading Iraq face the threat of chemical attack, they could themselves be using biochemical agents which are banned under international law.
The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, revealed earlier this month that American forces are planning to use "non-lethal" biochemical weapons such as anti-riot gases and crowd control agents if they invade Iraq. Mr Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee they were preparing to ask President George Bush for permission to use these weapons, known in military circles as "calmatives", on Iraqi civilians, in cave systems or to take prisoners.
But two of Britain's leading authorities on chemical weapons, Professor Alistair Hay and Professor Julian Perry-Robinson, who are collaborating on an expert guide for the World Health Organisation, said such weapons are illegal under the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention and the 1928 Geneva Protocol, which ban the use of chemical agents against people in wartime.
"It would be absolutely outrageous if they did this," said Prof Hay, an epidemiologist at Leeds University. "Surely this war against Iraq is to stop the use of those weapons, not about also using them."
The dangers of such weapons were exposed, the experts said, when Russian special forces used an opiate-based crowd control gas, with devastating consequences, on Chechen rebels holding theatregoers hostage in Moscow in October. Both men said Mr Rumsfeld's comments also threatened to put the Pentagon on a collision course with Britain.
Ministry of Defence experts have repeatedly warned their US counterparts that their proposed use of these weapons in warfare is illegal.
_____________________________________________________________
After reading this I must ask; Who came up with that idea? Yeah! Sure! I is only to calm them down, I can hear some of the replies that will come. Any remember thos shots soldiers got before entering the Gulf area back in '91? They were given a chemickal coctail of everything so they could be preapered for the worst. Well, a lot of them today is still going through the worst, tnx to that mix that was given to them. And now they talking/planning to use chemical agents on civilians? And don't come up with that the terrorists already used anthrax. They are terrorists. Aren't civilized countries supposed to be better? This may also just be the case for the terrorist to REALLY make havoc. I'm normally a person who's not so easally being disturbed in what I read in the media. But if only 25% of this is correct... Ai ai ai.