Our blogs about
America's Wars
War on Iraq
War on Drugs
War on Afghanistan
War on Columbia
War on Philippines
War on Venezuela

MORE
Matrix Masters
Blogs
World Events
Katrina's Aftermath
US News
Bush Crime Family News
Science & Health
Earth News
Free Speech
News from Africa
News from Palestine
Bill of Rights Under Attack

Support Bloggers' Rights!

Lorenzo's
Random Musings
. . . about Chaos,
Reason, and Hope

Al Jazeera (English)
    Baghdad Burning Blog (by Riverbend, an Iraqi civilian girl)
            Dahr Jamail's Blog from Baghdad
                Imad Khadduri's blog "Free Iraq" (scroll down for English version)

Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

US Preparing To Wage Chemical War In Iraq.
By Michael Gaddy - Sierra Times
While constantly warning the world of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons possibly being used by Iraq against the U.S. and/or its neighbors, the United States Military is deploying chemical weapons for use in the proposed war with Iraq. According to the Independent News Agency of the United Kingdom, the United States Marine Corps confirmed last week that both CS gas and Pepper Spray gas have been sent to the Gulf. The use of these gases would be in direct contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention of which the United States is a signatory. The convention bans the use of these toxic agents in battle, not least because they risk causing an escalation to full chemical warfare. British officials fear that using even pepper spray and CS gas would destroy the credibility of the Chemical Weapons Convention, provoke Iraqi chemical retaliation and set a disastrous legal precedent. Internal Pentagon documents also show that the US is developing a range of calmative gases, also banned for battlefield use. These gases are not unlike the ones used by the Russians in the Moscow Theater that killed 120 hostages last year. Senior US defense sources predict these could be used in Iraq by elite Special Forces units to take out command and control bunkers deep underground. Rear Admiral Stephen Baker, a Navy commander in the last Gulf War who is now senior adviser to the Center for Defense Information in Washington, told The Independent on Sunday that US special forces had knockout gases that can "neutralize" people. He added: "I would think that if they get a chance to use them, they will." The Pentagon said last week that the decision to use riot control agents "is made by the commander in the field". Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld became the first senior figure on either side of the impending conflict to announce his wish to use chemical agents in a little-noticed comment to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on 5 February – the same day as Colin Powell's presentation of intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to the UN. The revelations leave the Bush administration open to charges of double standards at a time when it is making Iraq's suspected arsenal of chemical and biological weapons the centerpiece of their necessity for war on Iraq. Professor Julian Perry Robinson, one of the world's foremost authorities on the convention, said: "Legally speaking, Iraq would be totally justified in releasing chemical weapons over the UK if the alliance uses them in Baghdad. Would this mean we might experience the same in the United States? This projected use of chemical weapons by U.S. forces could lead to serious problems with our English allies. It is British policy not to allow troops to take part in operations where riot control agents are employed. But the US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has asked President Bush to authorize their use.

posted by An Old Curmudgeon 4:44 AM