American Chemical Weapons Programs

[Sandia]

After gas masks and chemical protection suits were found in a Hospital in Nasiriya Secretary of State Powell said they proved Iraq was planning to use chemical weapons because "the only ones who could deliver such chemical weapons would be the Iraqi armed forces."

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, however, had discussed using chemical weapons against Iraq as recently as February.

Audio file of Rumsfeld testimony

At the Feb. 5th House Armed Services Committee, Rumsfeld testified that the Pentagon was looking at ways to escape the "straitjacket" of international conventions in order to use "non-lethal" weapons in Iraq.

American plans are not secret. At least not all of them, anyway. The
Guardian did a story on the subject on March 12th.

The US wants to use potentially lethal chemicals against Iraq - despite the fact that this would contravene international law.

The US Marine Corps' Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program was organized in 1997, and discusses using chemical weapons on its public
website.

Time and the Independent have also reported on the story:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,322588,00.html

The US is preparing to use the toxic riot-control agents CS gas and pepper spray in Iraq in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention, provoking the first split in the Anglo-US alliance. "Calmative" gases, similar to the one that killed 120 hostages in the Moscow theatre siege last year, could also be employed.

The Independent

The US is thought to be working on a secret bioweapons program as well. The Federation of American Scientists

 

[Azwed]

Everyone knows the US has chemical weapons.

Just last summer I think it was they had that premiter break in at the facility that holds a lot of the US chemical weapons.

It was in NV i think.

Someone got onto the grounds outside the facility but inside the outer fence.

 

[Nora]

Gee, and I thought our secret chemical weapon was to unleash my father on the Iraqis after black bean taco night.

Btw, much to my chagrin it's probably a yes to Saturday if you're still up for it. I'll bring my own gas mask.

 

[Sandia]

From Federation of American Scientists:

Just before the US rejected the draft Protocol in July, 2001, the Chief Negotiator for the US admitted
under questioning before Congress that a number of US government agencies conduct biological
activities that raise “ambiguities” regarding their purpose. The kinds of biodefense activities that
prompted his testimony and the hardline US opposition to a Protocol were illuminated by a New York
Times article on September 4, 2001, exposing three secret biodefense projects that push up against the
permissible limits of the BWC.
The secret projects detailed in the Times were: construction from off-the-shelf materials of a plant for
production of microbial anthrax simulants, known as Project Bacchus and conducted by the Defense
Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA); a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) plan to genetically engineer a
vaccine-resistant strain of anthrax developed by the Russians; and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
project, called Clear Vision, to construct and test a Soviet-model biological bomblet.
Are these projects just the tip of an iceberg? According to a knowledgeable source, all three projects
had predecessors that have not yet come to light, most notably a DoD bomblet project run in the late
1990’s at the Army’s Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. (For more information see “Defending Against
Biodefense: The Need for Limits”)

 

[Sandia]

Azwed: I'm not sure everyone knows that. The chemical suits in Nasiriya were presented as proof that Iraq has WMDs because everyone knows the US would never use them against Iraq.

Nora: Yeah!

 

[Nora]

Cool. Project Bacchus (seems appropriate to borrow) is a go.

 

[Azwed]

Azwed: I'm not sure everyone knows that. The chemical suits in Nasiriya were presented as proof that Iraq has WMDs because everyone knows the US would never use them against Iraq.

Nora: Yeah!

If people and news agencies had any type of memory then everyone would know it but of course most people don't.

 

[marximo]

the us has a chemical weapons program in the worx

they will be overspraying iraq with lysol

 

[Weird Harold]

At the Feb. 5th House Armed Services Committee, Rumsfeld testified that the Pentagon was looking at ways to escape the "straitjacket" of international conventions in order to use "non-lethal" weapons in Iraq.

... The US Marine Corps' Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program was organized in 1997, and discusses using chemical weapons on its public
website.

I can't believe you're seriously comparing America's attempt to find ways to NOT kill people with Iraqi's proven use of LETHAL chemical agents, like Serin, VX and Mustard Gas, and alleged LETHAL bio-agents capabilities like anthrax and smallpox.

I've seen some very despicable attempts to distort and discredit the US's motives on TV, but I think this takes the cake! It goes beyond despicable into vocabulary requirements I don't even have.

 

[Sillyman]

As a serious comparison it really does fail to hold water, although I can't say I'm thrilled with this kind of development with America either.

 

[Lost Cause]

Same old misrepresentations......

Go to the link, and see how many the USA has agreed to.

http://www.una-uk.org/Disarmament/newsviews/treaty table.html

Of course, you won't believe this either.

 

[Nora]

Y'all just haven't been exposed to Dad after black bean taco night. I swear it's lethal.

 

[Sandia]

Re: Re: American Chemical Weapons Programs

I can't believe you're seriously comparing America's attempt to find ways to NOT kill people with Iraqi's proven use of LETHAL chemical agents, like Serin, VX and Mustard Gas, and alleged LETHAL bio-agents capabilities like anthrax and smallpox.

I've seen some very despicable attempts to distort and discredit the US's motives on TV, but I think this takes the cake! It goes beyond despicable into vocabulary requirements I don't even have.

Many people are concerned about America's "non-lethal" c & b programs, Weird Harold. Click on the links and see.

In any event, the point is America does have chemical programs, and has speculated on using chemical weapons against Iraq, including in congressional testimony by Sec of Defense Rumsfeld.

Meanwhile, the same people are telling us the only reason Iraq could have chemical masks is because they're planning on using them themselves.

That the US is conducting an invasion on a foreign country for supposedly failing to comply with UN mandates on chemical weapons, while skirting international bans on c & b weapons itself, is a secondary issue.

By the way, they still haven't found any chemical weapons yet.

 

[70/30]

Interesting way to look at it. There's no telling the thought progression in Arab-land, especially with weekend cowboys on the other side.
_______________________
My own answer to something of note:

GWB defenders claim "access to cheap oil couldn't possibly be a motive, look how much money we're spending on the war!!!"

I'm taking 15+years into consideration. Even so, it's not like I think the PAX AMERICANs are rational voices, muchless rational thriftmeisters.

 

[bad kitty]

Y'all just haven't been exposed to Dad after black bean taco night. I swear it's lethal.

My dad is always lethal. Why do ya think I left home when I was 16?

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: Re: American Chemical Weapons Programs

Many people are concerned about America's "non-lethal" c & b programs, Weird Harold. Click on the links and see

Not anyone with any brains.

 

[Spinaroonie]

Re: Same old misrepresentations......

Go to the link, and see how many the USA has agreed to.

http://www.una-uk.org/Disarmament/newsviews/treaty table.html

Of course, you won't believe this either.

I believe we've agreed to it. It just seems to me we have a very bad habit of living up to these things.

Our weapons-grade anthrax had been illegal since the Nixon administration, but funny how we yelled 'terrism' and nothing came of it.

Funny... weren't you calling for us to get out of the UN recently?