Hold the mustard...
Danish troops uncover chemical weapons in
Iraq?
UPDATE: Further tests on the mortar shells found
last week by the Danish team near the town of Qurnah have come up negative --
there are no blistering agents such as mustard gas in the shells according to a
statement
by a Danish army spokesman.
_________________
QURNAH, IRAQ (MM) -- By now you've heard that the Danish forces have found about three dozen mortar shells which initial tests show to contain a blistering agent, probably mustard gas... What you might not be hearing in the "liberal" media are some interesting factoids about this caustic material:
1) Mustard gas is a caustic substance (not really a gas -- it's a fluid) first used by the Germans in WWI at the Battle of Ypres in France. Some 1.3 million were affected by the chemical, including 90,000 who died as a result of exposure.
2) In WWII the only casualties suffered by the Americans from mustard gas (83 died -- some claim 69) occurred when the Germans bombed some American ships parked in Italy's Bari Harbor. Claiming that it was a deterrent -- interestingly a top secret deterrent -- the Americans had about 100 tons of it on one or more of their ships, including the John Harvey. When the German bombs hit, most was burned up, but alot was mixed with the oils released by the ships and burned the unfortunate seamen who fell into the oily water.
3) During World War II mustard gas was produced by Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, the USA and the USSR.
4) Mustard gas (and a lot of other bad shit) was tested extensively on American GIs in WWII, disabling many for life. Sadly, none of the soldiers could claim a disability for their injuries since it was all top secret... In fact, some of this mustard gas may still lie buried in chemical dumps in Guam.
5) The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) list of 1500+ top toxic sites in the US includes three known to contain mustard gas. It is speculated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta that there may be many more sites containing this agent that remain unknown.
6) Nitrogen mustard, as it is also known, has been found to contain properties which may be effective in chemotherapeutic treatment of some cancers, including Hodgkins disease...
7) The Army holds unknown (shhh, it's a secret) quantities of mustard gas. In 1985, Congress mandated that the Department of Defense must destroy all of its chemical weapon stockpiles. The US became the first nation to start eliminating chemical weapons when the actual destruction began in 1990. In 1997, the US declared stockpile of chemical weapons exceeded 30,000 tons at eight Army installations throughout the US.
8) In October 2003, a Tokyo court awarded $2.7 million to 13 Chinese citizens who had been sickened by Japanese mustard gas they left behind in China following WWII. Japan estimates that some 700,000 of their chemical shells remain in China; China claims that are more like 2 million such munitions still buried in China. Some 100,000 casualties are claimed by China as a result of Japanese use of the weapons. Chemicals weren't the only offensive weapon Japan's notorious Unit 731 used on the Chinese -- they sent the plague, too.
9) The use of chemical weapons is banned by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. (This was a reiteration of similar language in the 1899 Hague Declaration.) They are also prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention (1977) proscribing the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction. (The United States is a signatory to both. So is Iraq.) Interestingly, under the Geneva Protocol, the use of such weapons is a no-first-use prohibition -- in fact, using such weapons in response to being first assaulted by another country using them is technically permitted.
10) Iraq used mustard gas on Iran during their war of 1980-88. In fact, it is believed that this week's find by the Danish forces dates to that conflict. This has been verified by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). During Donald Rumsfeld's December 1983 visit to Iraq as Reagan's special envoy (including a personal meeting with Saddam Hussein) promoting an oil pipeline, Rumsfeld made no mention of the chemical warfare (known to Washington) that Iraq was unleashing on Iranian troops at the border. In February 1984, two months after Rumsfeld's trip (the highest ranking US official to visit Iraq in six years), the Iraqis used not only large amounts of mustard gas against the Iranians, but also the lethal nerve agent Tabun. In November 1984, right after Reagan's reelection, the US restored diplomatic relations with Bagdad. Less than four years later, Saddam gassed the Kurds in Halabja.
_________________
QURNAH, IRAQ (MM) -- By now you've heard that the Danish forces have found about three dozen mortar shells which initial tests show to contain a blistering agent, probably mustard gas... What you might not be hearing in the "liberal" media are some interesting factoids about this caustic material:
1) Mustard gas is a caustic substance (not really a gas -- it's a fluid) first used by the Germans in WWI at the Battle of Ypres in France. Some 1.3 million were affected by the chemical, including 90,000 who died as a result of exposure.
2) In WWII the only casualties suffered by the Americans from mustard gas (83 died -- some claim 69) occurred when the Germans bombed some American ships parked in Italy's Bari Harbor. Claiming that it was a deterrent -- interestingly a top secret deterrent -- the Americans had about 100 tons of it on one or more of their ships, including the John Harvey. When the German bombs hit, most was burned up, but alot was mixed with the oils released by the ships and burned the unfortunate seamen who fell into the oily water.
3) During World War II mustard gas was produced by Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, the USA and the USSR.
4) Mustard gas (and a lot of other bad shit) was tested extensively on American GIs in WWII, disabling many for life. Sadly, none of the soldiers could claim a disability for their injuries since it was all top secret... In fact, some of this mustard gas may still lie buried in chemical dumps in Guam.
5) The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) list of 1500+ top toxic sites in the US includes three known to contain mustard gas. It is speculated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta that there may be many more sites containing this agent that remain unknown.
6) Nitrogen mustard, as it is also known, has been found to contain properties which may be effective in chemotherapeutic treatment of some cancers, including Hodgkins disease...
7) The Army holds unknown (shhh, it's a secret) quantities of mustard gas. In 1985, Congress mandated that the Department of Defense must destroy all of its chemical weapon stockpiles. The US became the first nation to start eliminating chemical weapons when the actual destruction began in 1990. In 1997, the US declared stockpile of chemical weapons exceeded 30,000 tons at eight Army installations throughout the US.
8) In October 2003, a Tokyo court awarded $2.7 million to 13 Chinese citizens who had been sickened by Japanese mustard gas they left behind in China following WWII. Japan estimates that some 700,000 of their chemical shells remain in China; China claims that are more like 2 million such munitions still buried in China. Some 100,000 casualties are claimed by China as a result of Japanese use of the weapons. Chemicals weren't the only offensive weapon Japan's notorious Unit 731 used on the Chinese -- they sent the plague, too.
9) The use of chemical weapons is banned by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. (This was a reiteration of similar language in the 1899 Hague Declaration.) They are also prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention (1977) proscribing the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction. (The United States is a signatory to both. So is Iraq.) Interestingly, under the Geneva Protocol, the use of such weapons is a no-first-use prohibition -- in fact, using such weapons in response to being first assaulted by another country using them is technically permitted.
10) Iraq used mustard gas on Iran during their war of 1980-88. In fact, it is believed that this week's find by the Danish forces dates to that conflict. This has been verified by the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). During Donald Rumsfeld's December 1983 visit to Iraq as Reagan's special envoy (including a personal meeting with Saddam Hussein) promoting an oil pipeline, Rumsfeld made no mention of the chemical warfare (known to Washington) that Iraq was unleashing on Iranian troops at the border. In February 1984, two months after Rumsfeld's trip (the highest ranking US official to visit Iraq in six years), the Iraqis used not only large amounts of mustard gas against the Iranians, but also the lethal nerve agent Tabun. In November 1984, right after Reagan's reelection, the US restored diplomatic relations with Bagdad. Less than four years later, Saddam gassed the Kurds in Halabja.
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Published On: Apr 27, 2004 08:09 PM
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Published On: Apr 27, 2004 08:09 PM