[A-List] US imperialism: Iraq, WMD & double standards

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Thanks to John Cox for this:



US weapons secrets exposed

Julian Borger in Washington
Tuesday October 29, 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."