[Peace-discuss] Fwd: US Developing New Generation of Biological & Chemical Weapons

Wed Oct 30 11:24:22 CST 2002

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>Subject: Fwd: US Developing New Generation of Biological & Chemical Weapons
>Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 17:10:34 +0000
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>----Original Message Follows----
>From: Pan-African News Wire <ac6123 at wayne.edu>
>Subject: US Developing New Generation of Biological & Chemical Weapons
>Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 10:07:58 -0500
>
>The Pan-African News Wire spotted this on the Guardian
>Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
>
>To see this story with its related links on the Guardian
>Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk
>
>US weapons secrets exposed
>Julian Borger in Washington
>Monday October 28 2002
>The Guardian
>
>Respected scientists on both sides of the Atlantic warned
>yesterday that the US is developing a new generation of
>weapons that undermine and possibly violate international
>treaties on biological and chemical warfare.
>
>The scientists, specialists in bio-warfare and chemical
>weapons, say the Pentagon, with the help of the British
>military, is also working on "non-lethal" weapons similar to
>the narcotic gas used by Russian forces to end last week's
>siege in Moscow.
>
>They also point to the paradox of the US developing such
>weapons at a time when it is proposing military action
>against Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein is breaking
>international treaties.
>
>Malcolm Dando, professor of international security at the
>University of Bradford, and Mark Wheelis, a lecturer in
>microbiology at the University of California, say that the US
>is encouraging a breakdown in arms control by its research
>into biological cluster bombs, anthrax and non-lethal weapons
>for use against hostile crowds, and by the secrecy under
>which these programmes are being conducted.
>
>"There can be disagreement over whether what the United
>States is doing represents violations of treaties," Mr
>Wheelis told the Guardian. "But what is happening is at least
>so close to the borderline as to be destabilising."
>
>In a paper to be published soon in the scientific journal
>Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the two academics focus on
>recent US actions that have served to undermine the 1972
>Biological Weapons Convention. In a move that stunned the
>international community last July, the US blocked an attempt
>to give the convention some teeth with inspections, so that
>member countries could check if others were keeping the
>agreement.
>
>Mr Dando believes Washington's motive for torpedoing the
>deal, which had the support of its allies, was to maintain
>secrecy over US research work on biological weapons. He said
>that work includes:
>
>· CIA efforts to copy a Soviet cluster bomb designed to
>disperse biological weapons
>
>· A project by the Pentagon to build a bio-weapon plant from
>commercially available materials to prove that terrorists
>could do the same thing
>
>· Research by the Defence Intelligence Agency into the
>possibility of genetically engineering a new strain of
>antibiotic-resistant anthrax
>
>· A programme to produce dried and weaponised anthrax spores,
>officially for testing US bio-defences, but far more spores
>were allegedly produced than necessary for such purposes and
>it is unclear whether they have been destroyed or simply
>stored.
>
>In each case, the US argued the research work was being done
>for defensive purposes, but their legality under the BWC is
>questionable, the scientists argue.
>
>For example, a clause in the biological weapons treaty
>forbids signatories from producing or developing "weapons,
>equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or
>toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict".
>
>Furthermore, signatories agreed to make annual declarations
>about their biodefence programmes, but the US never mentioned
>any of those programmes in its reports. Instead, they emerged
>from leaks and press reporting.
>
>The focus on Washington's biological and chemical weapons
>programme comes at an awkward time for the Bush
>administration, which is locked in negotiations at the UN for
>a tough resolution on arms inspections of Iraq. According to
>Mr Dando, British and US research into hallucinogenic weapons
>such as the gas BZ encouraged Iraq to look into similar
>agents. "We showed them the way," he said.
>
>Mr Dando added that the US was currently working on "non-
>lethal" weapons similar to the gas Russian forces used to
>break the Moscow theatre siege. Those include "calmative"
>agent which are designed to knock people out without killing
>them.
>
>"What happened in Moscow is a harbinger of what is to come,"
>Mr Dando said. "There is a revolution in life sciences which
>could be applied in a major way to warfare. It's an early
>example of the mess we may be creating."
>
>He added that Britain "is implicated as well", as the
>Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate has worked
>with British officers on its research.
>
>Jonathan Tucker, a chemical weapons expert at the US
>Institute for Peace in Washington, said much of the work on
>non-lethal weapons was being carried out by an institute
>under the US justice department but was funded by the
>Pentagon.
>
>"They are trying to keep it at arms length, but it is
>problematic especially for military purposes. The chemical
>weapons convention makes a very clear distinction between
>riot control and incapacitants," he said.
>
>While Mr Tucker believes that such knock-out gases are
>explicitly banned under the treaty, Mr Dando and Mr Wheelis
>believe the Pentagon has exploited a loophole that allows for
>such weapons for "law enforcement purposes".
>
>But by blurring the edges of the treaty, they argue the US is
>inviting other countries to do the same. The US, Mr Dando
>said, "runs the very real danger of leading the world down a
>pathway that will greatly reduce the security of all."
>
>Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
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