Fuzzy ethics of nonlethal chemical weapons_Christian Science Monitor

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Fuzzy ethics of nonlethal chemical weapons_Christian Science Monitor

 

Sun, 16 Feb 2003

 

ON February 5, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and General Myers, Chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee the US was

prepared to use chemical incapacitants in a war with Iraq. (An audio of the

testimony is on www.sunshine-project.org)

 

The use of chemical " incapacitants " is outlawed by the Geneva Convention of

1925, ratified by the US in 1975. And by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)

of 1993, entered into force in 1997, which the US also signed. This treaty

prohibits not only use, but also development, production, stockpiling and

transfer of toxic chemical weapons. Article II of the CWC states: " Toxic

chemical means any chemical which....can cause death, temporary incapacitation

or permanent harm to humans or animals. This includes all such chemicals... "

 

The Christian Science Monitor (below) raises concerns about the US Defense

Department officials' " fuzzy ethics " which, if followed, would lead us down the

slippery slope " toward the use of more lethal chemicals. "

 

Indeed, as the Chrisitian Science Monitor points out: " the two major uses of

chemical weapons in the 20th century - World War I and the Iran-Iraq War -

started out with tear gas and escalated to deadly chemicals. "

 

Recent experience demonstrates the falacy of the Defense Department argument:

so-called " nonlethal " weapons " can kill people, as Russia found out when it used

a gaseous opiate to knock out Chechen hostage takers in Moscow and killed more

than 120 hostages in the process. "

 

The use of these chemical weapons will essentially be a large-scale human

experiment, since the types of chemicals to be deployed by the US have

previously not been used anywhere in the world.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0214/p02s01-usmi.html

The Christian Science Monitor

February 14, 2003 edition -

 

The fuzzy ethics of nonlethal weapons

Pentagon wants to use riot-control agents in Iraq, but critics say it's chemical

warfare.

By Brad Knickerbocker |

 

As the world waits to hear more from UN weapons inspectors about Iraq's

potential for producing chemical weapons, the US itself is pondering the use of

chemicals in any conflict there.

 

Defense officials would like to use so-called, " nonlethal chemicals " to take the

fight out of Iraqi soldiers who may be holed up in caves or buildings or mixed

in with innocent civilians. But as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

acknowledged in Congressional testimony the other day, the use of riot-control

agents and other substances designed to incapacitate people without causing

death or lasting injury violates international law - specifically, the 1993

Chemical Weapons Convention.

 

" In many instances, our forces are allowed to shoot somebody and kill them, but

they're not allowed to use a nonlethal riot-control agent, " Mr. Rumsfeld

complained to lawmakers. Some find it ironic, if not incomprehensible, that

under the Chemical Weapons Convention, civilian police forces may use chemicals

to put down riots but military units may not fire them at enemy soldiers.

 

On its face, this would seem to be a problem that even arms-control advocates

and those opposed to war would like to see rectified. Especially, as President

Bush told religious broadcasters this week, because " Saddam Hussein is

positioning his military forces within civilian populations in order to shield

his military and blame coalition forces for civilian casualties that he has

caused. "

 

In an audio broadcast Tuesday, chief terrorist Osama bin Laden seemed to

encourage Iraqi civilians to join the fight against a US-led invasion. Bin Laden

spoke of " the importance of drawing the enemy into long, close, and tiring

fighting, taking advantage of camouflaged positions in plains, farms, mountains,

and cities. " Hussein reportedly has armed one million Iraqi civilians with

rifles and grenade launchers.

 

Such combat - at close quarters and with civilians and perhaps hostages part of

the mix - could call for nonlethal chemical weapons to sort out the real " bad

guys " from noncombatants, human shields, and those forced to take up arms.

 

But others see big problems. For one thing, US allies in the fight - and

certainly many in the Arab world - would be opposed to anything that smacks of

chemical warfare. " Special Forces no doubt have knockout gas to neutralize

bunkers, " says Stephen Baker, a retired US Navy rear admiral and senior fellow

at the Center for Defense Information in Washington. " But my feeling is that the

sensitivities are way too great to use [it]. "

 

Others fear that the use of chemicals to incapacitate enemy troops while saving

nearby civilians could be the slippery slope toward the use of more lethal

chemicals. They point out that the two major uses of chemical weapons in the

20th century - World War I and the Iran-Iraq War - started out with tear gas and

escalated to deadly chemicals.

 

Also, " nonlethal " weapons can kill people, as Russia found out when it used a

gaseous opiate to knock out Chechen hostage takers in Moscow and killed more

than 120 hostages in the process. Still, the US military - bolstered by a recent

report by the National Research Council urging the military to give greater

priority to such devices - continues to push for the development of nonlethal

weapons. Research paid for by the Pentagon is under way.

 

Critics say this already violates international law, including the Biological

and Toxin Weapons Convention as well as the Chemical Weapons Convention. They

worry that in an age of dangerous peacekeeping missions plus unconventional

warfare involving armed militias and terrorists, there may be greater pressure

to use chemicals and other nonlethal weapons.

 

The US experience in Somalia in 1993, when a failed peacekeeping mission saw 29

American servicemen (and hundreds of Somalis) killed in violent urban combat, is

a case in point.

 

" After Mogadishu, the Pentagon decided that it was morally, militarily, and

legally acceptable to arm itself with supposedly nonlethal biochemical weapons

for the purpose of attacking civilians that, in the Pentagon's view, pose a

threat to US forces, " says Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project in Austin,

Texas, a nongovernmental organization that works on biological-weapons issues.

 

Mr. Rumsfeld sees the situation in less sinister terms. " There are times when

the use of nonlethal riot agents is perfectly appropriate, " he says, although

legal constraints make for " a very awkward situation. "

 

In order for US troops to use incapacitating chemicals, the president would have

to sign a waiver of longstanding restrictions. When US troops pulled out of

Vietnam in 1975, then-president Gerald Ford issued an executive order

" renouncing " the use of herbicides like the infamous Agent Orange as well as

riot-control agents. Such agents can be used in wartime to control prisoners,

protect civilians, and carry out rescue missions, but the president must

preapprove such use.

 

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