U.S. Violates Chemical Weapons Convention In Iraq

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http://wikileaks.org/wiki/US_violates_chemical_weapons_convention
US violates chemical weapons convention

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2007-11-08 (Thursday)





The M33A1 bulk CS chemical dispenser, 21 of which appear together with their M254 high pressure loading kits in the leaked U.S weapons list for Iraq

Wikileaks exclusive investigative report by
JULIAN ASSANGE (ja@iq.org)

The United States has been caught with at least 2,386 chemical weapons deployed in Iraq. The items appear in a spectacular 2,000 page leak of nearly one million items of US military equipment deployed in Iraq given to the government transparency group Wikileaks. The items are labeled under the military's own NATO supply classification Chemical weapons and equipment.

In the weeks prior to the March 19, 2003 commencement of the Iraq war, the United States received a widely reported rebuke from its primary coalition partner, the United Kingdom, over statements by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that the US military might use CS gas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Subsequently Washington has been quiet about whether it has deployed CS gas and other chemical weapons or not, except to deny, then admit, to using white phosphorus, as "an incendiary" during a gruesome 2004 assault on Fallujah — a use not covered by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The use of chemical weapons such as CS gas for military operations is illegal. The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997, drafted by the United Kingdom and ratified by the United States, declares “Each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare”. Permissible uses are restricted to "law enforcement including domestic riot control."

Riot control agents, according to former Clinton Administration National Security Council analyst Elisa D. Harris, speaking to the New York Times, are cited explicitly because they have a history of escalating misuse leading into uncontrolled chemical warfare. They given special treatment under the convention in a number of ways. They are uniquely and explicitly:

defined (Art. II.7),
prohibited for use as a method of warfare (Art. I.5),
required to be declared (Art. III.1(e)),
cited in Art. X.8(b) on investigation and assistance if used against a State Party, and
permitted for a purpose not prohibited by the Convention, namely, “law enforcement including domestic riot control purposes” (Art. II.9(d))

Most items on the Chemical weapons and equipment list were registered via the US Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, 5183 Blackhawk Rd, Gunpowder, Maryland.

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Do we even have any friends left?

Just ask AWOL or anyone in the Rapture Ready Administration.

these are war crimes

of Fallujuh. It was known then.

They've not only poisoned Iraq but also the bodies of our troops. There will be hell to pay.

Either we rein this rogue administration in, or the World Court does. What's it going to be?

Our government needs a serious cleaning out and the Dems aren't up to it. Likely because any number of them are up to their eyeballs in muck themselves.