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Iraqi flag 1991-2003
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/index.html
The first
time that the Iraqis used chemical weapons is during the war between
Iraq and Iran that took place 1980-1988. According to the Federation
of American Scientists (http://www.fas.org/)
Iraq used chemical arms three specific times.
It began
as a defense mechanism against the Iranians 1983-1986. "In
1984 Iraq became the first nation to use a nerve agent on the
battlefield when it deployed tabun-filled aerial bombs ...Tabun
kills in minutes." Iraq also used mustard gas later on in
the same war. In 1986 Iraq adjusted its strategy to work against
the chemical weapons use of Iran. Iraq continued this use until
early 1988. From this time until the war was over, later in 1988,
Iraq used large nerve agent strikes a main offensive tactic.
Iran
is not the only enemy that Saddam Hussein has attacked with chemical
weapons. He used poison gas against Iraqi Kurds on the Iranian
border in 1988. The United States originally accused Iran of this
attack. To find out more about specific types of Iraqi chemical
weapons visit http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/cw/program.htm
Environmental
Effects
Mustard
Gas: When mustard gas enters the environment, how it reacts
depends on the type of environment. Once released it gets into
the air, water, and soil but will not move from soil to ground
water. Mustard gas can give off a garlic like smell when mixed
with other chemicals. When alone it is colorless and odorless.
If humans come in contact with mustard gas it will cause long-lasting
blisters that cover the entire body. Immediate symptoms are itchy
skin, watery eyes and burning in the lungs. There are also long
term effects that include permanent lung damage, chest pain, and
a variety of cancers.
Tabun
(GA) and VX: Neither are naturally found in the environment
but are very deadly. They might be used to poison water because
they can move through water very easily. They may also be used
to poison air because it would take a few days for them to break
down. If these chemicals get into the soil they would be broken
down quickly but have the possibility of entering the groundwater;
however, they do not contaminate the food chain. When VX makes
contact with oxygen it turns to a colorless and odorless liquid.
One drop can kill a human. Some symptoms are an increase in salvation,
coughing, runny nose, headache, and nausea.
For more detailed information: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfactsd4.html
How
did Iraq get chemical weapons?
http://www.cryan.com/war/
In the
1980s the United States was on friendly terms with Iraq, during
the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior. In 1983,
while Reagan was in office, Peter Beinart suggests in his article
that appeared in the February 24th, 2003 edition of New Republic,
that the United States knew that Saddam was using chemical weapons
almost daily but did not seem to care. Instead, Reagan sent Donald
Rumsfeld to the Middle East with the task of restoring diplomatic
relations. By 1984, the same year Iraq deployed the nerve gas
tabin, the United States and Iraq had successfully restored diplomatic
relations.
According
to Beinart, "...the United States sold Iraq anthrax, bubonic
plague, and botulinum toxin all for medical research." Under
the Reagan administration United States foreign policy was opposed
to Iran's Islamic fundamentalist government.
There
was action taken to try and prevent this aid to Iraq. Claiborne
Pell at the time was a Senator from Rhode Island successfully
sponsored a Senate bill that would have stopped all aid from the
United States to Baghdad. President Reagan and his Administration
took efforts to make sure it did not pass the House of Representatives.
In 1991
the United States led Allied forces in order to free Kuwait, after
it was invaded by Iraq.
The Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States was accused of
covering up and not telling the American public about chemical
weapons accidents in the first Gulf War. According to an article
that was published in Newsweek on November 11th, 1996 written
by John Barry and Russell Watson, "After years of denial
, the Pentagon conceded last summer that thousands of U.S. troops
may have been exposed to nerve gas when Iraqi depots were blown
up after the war." The United States government and the effect
of chemical weapons after the first Gulf War is a touchy subject.
They have admitted that soldiers may have been exposed but in
small doses and only because the exposure would have been after
the war when they were destroying chemical weapons facilities
of Iraq. No use of chemical weapons has been reported in the second
Gulf War. Barry and Watson state that alarms went off during the
first Gulf War meaning that poison gas was in the air but many
of these alarms were false.