9 U.S. Chemical Weapons Attacks We’re Not Allowed to Talk About

Wesley Messamore of Policy Mic has compiled a list of chemical weapons attacks conducted by the U.S. government against innocent civilians, the accumulation of which has caused far more death than the accusations Assad is currently facing from Western nations.

1. 20 Million Gallons of Chemicals Dumped on Vietnam

Known as Operation Ranch Hand, the U.S. military sprayed various chemicals over Vietnam and neighboring countries, including Agent Orange, from 1961 to 1971. With the purpose of deliberately destroying food supplies and jungle ecologies, forests and farmlands were targeted, and it’s estimated that as a result of these attacks, “400,000 people were killed or maimed, 500,000 babies have been born with birth defects, and 2 million have suffered from cancer or other illnesses.” It’s estimated by the Red Cross that some one million Vietnamese currently have disabilities and or health problems related to Agent Orange.

2. The U.S. Did Nothing as Israel Attacked Palestinian Civilians with White Phosphorus

White phosphorus is a horrific incendiary chemical weapon that melts human flesh right down to the bone.

In January of 2009, Israel conducted Operation Cast Lead in which Palestinian civilians were assaulted with chemical weapons, including white phosphorus. Multiple human rights groups, including Amnesty International, reported that the Israeli government was using these chemicals to attack citizens, which the Israeli military initially denied, despite all of the video and photographic proof. On January 22, 2009, they finally confirmed that they had used at least 20 white phosphorus bombs in civilian areas. As the Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, observed, “Such [incendiary] weapons may only be used against military objects. When the military object is located within a civilian area, the use of phosphorus is absolutely prohibited.”

Despite Israel’s admission, no action was taken against Israel by the U.S., and Global Security to this day claims that Israel’s use of white phosphorus violated no international laws or conventions as it’s supposedly used for signaling, screening, and incendiary purposes (pictured above). This is not what we see in the video provided below.

(Warning: Graphic content)

3. The U.S. Attacked Iraqi Civilians with White Phosphorus

It was reported in 2004 that the U.S. military was using white phosphorus in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon. Like Israel, the U.S. initially lied, claiming they were only using the chemical to create smokescreens or illuminate targets, however Lt.-Col. Barry Venable eventually admitted its true use. In a statement to the BBC:

“White phosphorus is a conventional munition. It is not a chemical weapon. They are not outlawed or illegal.” So long as they aren’t used as a chemical weapon they are legal, however in the Fallujah battle Venable states, “it was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants.”

Despite admitting that white phosphorus was used as a “versatile munition” for “lethal missions,” Global Security also claims the U.S. was within its rights as “white phosphorus is not banned by any treaty to which the United States is a signatory.” Furthermore, the U.S. claims it is not restricted or prohibited by protocols or regulations of weapons that are used to “set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons…”

The U.S. has basically given itself permission to use this horrific chemical weapon in any way it chooses. Let us not forget, the war in Iraq was illegal in the first place.

4. With Help from the CIA, Saddam Hussein Used Chemical Weapons on Iranians and Kurds

Declassified CIA documents and interviews with former intelligence officials confirm the U.S. had firm evidence that Iraq used chemical attacks beginning in 1983, and even aided by providing intelligence to the Iraqi military. The U.S. had long denied these allegations, claiming Hussein never announced he would be using the weapons. However, in a statement made to Foreign Policy by retired Air Force Col. Rick Francona:

“The Iraqis never told us that they intended to use nerve gas. They didn’t have to. We already knew.”

After the U.S. warned Hussein of an impending attack that would have destroyed his forces in 1988, he struck a Kurdish village that was occupied by Iranian troops, killing as many as 5,000 people, and injuring an additional 10,000. Thousands have since died over the years from complications, diseases, and birth defects caused by the chemical agents.

5. The U.S. Army Tested Chemicals on Poor African-American Neighborhoods in St. Louis

In a research study undertaken by sociology professor, Lisa Martino-Taylor, Ph.D., it was found that as part of a Manhattan Project spin-off, an “obscure aerosol study in St. Louis, Missouri, conducted under contract by the U.S. military from 1953-1954, and 1963-1965” targeted a segregated and highly dense area mostly inhabited by African-Americans with the intentions of understanding the effects of weaponized radiation. The army accomplished this by setting up motorized blowers on top of residential high-rises in low-income regions. Residents were led to believe the government was experimenting with a smokescreen intended to protect them from Russian attacks (yeah, in Missouri, a state nearly located in the middle of the country).

6. Police used Tear Gas on Occupy Protesters

In 2011, the world watched as U.S. police used tear gas on its own citizens, a substance that is prohibited for use against enemy soldiers in battle by the Chemical Weapons Convention. Apparently the U.S. government holds its enemies in higher esteem than its citizens, and considering how they treat their enemies, this is a disturbing conclusion.

7. The FBI Used Tear Gas on Men, Women, and Children in Waco

In 1993, the Federal Bureau of Investigation pumped tear gas into buildings at the infamous Waco Siege where a community of Branch Davidians lived, knowing that women, children, and infants were inside. The tear gas, which is a flammable agent, ignited, catching the buildings on fire and killing 76 people, including children. Official reports blame David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader, and claim the fires were set by the residents themselves in an attempted mass suicide. Survivors claim otherwise, and it’s reported that numerous crimes committed by government agents during the siege have never been investigated. According to the Cato Institute:

As pointed out in Policy Mic’s report, “Remember, attacking an armed enemy soldier on a battlefield with tear gas is a war crime. What kind of crime is attacking a baby with tear gas?”

8. The U.S. Military Covered Iraq with Toxic Depleted Uranium

After the Pentagon had deliberately suppressed the media for years, it was finally revealed that the U.S. littered the Iraqi environment with thousands of tons of depleted uranium. According to a 2012 report by The Independent, the World Health Organization claims that from 2007-2010, more than half of babies born in Fallujah had birth defects.

In another report by Dr. Sauad N. Al-Azzawi that was published on Harvard University’s website:

Depleted Uranium (DU) weaponry has been used against Iraq for the first time in the history of recent wars. The magnitude of the complications and damage related to the use of such radioactive and toxic weapons on the environment and the human population mostly results from the intended concealment, denial and misleading information released by the Pentagon about the quantities, characteristics and the area’s in Iraq, in which these weapons have been used.

9. The U.S. Military Used Napalm on Thousands of Japanese Civilians

Napalm is a sticky and highly flammable gel which has been used as a weapon of terror by the U.S. military.

Known as Operation Meetinghouse, the U.S. dropped 1,665 tons of bombs on Tokyo, most of which were 500-pound E-46 cluster bombs which each released 38 napalm-carrying M-69 incendiary bomblets in what has been described as the deadliest air attack of World War II. 334 B-29s in total carried and dropped the bombs over Tokyo, with the first upon arrival dropping the bombs in a large X pattern directly in the center of Tokyo’s working class district, a densely populated area of the city. The resulting fires joined to create a conflagration, and approximately 15.8 square miles of the city was destroyed, claiming an estimated 100,000 innocent civilians.

In 1980, it was declared by the UN that the use of napalm on civilian populations is a war crime.

This Article (9 U.S. Chemical Weapons Attacks we’re Not to Talk About) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.

Sources:

Crane, Conrad C. (2007). Firebombing (Germany & Japan). PBS. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm

Gottesdiener, Laura. AlterNet. Oct 4, 2012. (http://www.alternet.org/investigations/sick-government-sprayed-radioactive-chemicals-poor-people-science-experiment-study)

Messamore, Wesley. Policy Mic. Sep 4, 2013. (http://mic.com/articles/62023/10-chemical-weapons-attacks-washington-doesn-t-want-you-to-talk-about#.FXVd10VR2)