Armi Chimiche e Biologiche - CNR Area della Ricerca di Bologna
Armi Chimiche e Biologiche - CNR Area della Ricerca di Bologna
Armi Chimiche e Biologiche - CNR Area della Ricerca di Bologna
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APPENDICE-2<br />
da Associated Press (US) del 2 Marzo 2003<br />
U.S. tear gas use in Iraq may violate weapons treaties 74<br />
<strong>di</strong> Paul Elias<br />
Army Maj. Gen. David Grange is proud to have ordered his troops to use tear gas on hostile Serb<br />
crowds in Bosnia six years ago.<br />
"We <strong>di</strong>dn't kill anyone," said the now-retired Grange. "It saved lives."<br />
His only complaint was that red tape prevented him from using tear gas more often.<br />
The Pentagon is drafting guidelines under which American solders could use riot control agents<br />
such as tear gas and pepper spray in Iraq to control unruly prisoners and separate enemy sol<strong>di</strong>ers from<br />
civilians, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress earlier this month.<br />
Problem is, sol<strong>di</strong>ers who use so-called "nonlethal agents" in combat outside their own countries<br />
are violating the very chemical weapons treaties the United States accuses Saddam Hussein of flouting.<br />
"We are doing our best to live within the straitjacket that has been imposed on us on this<br />
subject," Rumsfeld said on Feb. 5. "We are trying to find ways that nonlethal agents could be used within<br />
the law."<br />
Legal issues notwithstan<strong>di</strong>ng, the Pentagon has also explored developing other, far more exotic<br />
and powerful chemical agents that could be used in conflicts.<br />
While countries may use nonlethal chemicals domestically for law enforcement and crowd<br />
control, the Chemical Weapons Convention that took force in 1997 and has been ratified by 149 countries<br />
inclu<strong>di</strong>ng The United States, specifies: "Each state party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a<br />
method of warfare."<br />
That provision was hotly contested during the 15 years it took to craft the treaty. It arose as an<br />
objection to the United States' reliance on tear gas to flush out Viet Cong fighters and kill them during the<br />
Vietnam War.<br />
The convention does allow, however, for riot control agents to be used for "law enforcement."<br />
Whether "law enforcement" extends beyond a nation's borders is a matter of fierce international debate.<br />
The concept will be <strong>di</strong>scussed in April when the treaty comes up for international review in The Hague,<br />
Netherlands.<br />
Weapons-control activists cite myriad reasons for banning nonlethal chemical weapons in war.<br />
The agents can actually kill, they argue, when used in war environments. They could also put militaries<br />
on a slippery slope to using nastier, deadlier chemicals.<br />
Irritants such as tear gas and pepper spray are tame in comparison to other agents under<br />
development.<br />
The U.S. military has explored mind-altering drugs such as opiates, along with genetically<br />
engineered microorganisms that can destroy objects like runways, vehicles and buil<strong>di</strong>ngs.<br />
The research is spearheaded by the U.S. Marine Corps' Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate,<br />
which was created in 1997 to equip sol<strong>di</strong>ers on overseas peacekeeping and other non-combat duties.<br />
The <strong>di</strong>rectorate's mission is to help troops deal with panic-stricken or hostile crowds, like those<br />
faced in a failed peacekeeping mission in Somalia.<br />
In one 1993 street battle in Moga<strong>di</strong>shu, 19 U.S. sol<strong>di</strong>ers and more than 1,000 Somalis were<br />
killed. Some military experts say the death toll would have been far lower had sol<strong>di</strong>ers fired nonlethal<br />
chemical weapons.<br />
A Pennsylvania State University institute prepared a 50-page report with Pentagon fun<strong>di</strong>ng in<br />
October 2000 that explored a range of drugs - inclu<strong>di</strong>ng Prozac, Valium and Zoloft - for use as<br />
"calmatives" for crowds.<br />
The researchers found "use of non-lethal calmative techniques is achievable and desirable."<br />
Despite the endorsement, Marine Capt. Shawn Turner of the nonlethal weapons <strong>di</strong>rectorate said<br />
the military stopped "calmative" research because such drug-weapons may violate international law.<br />
Turner said much of the <strong>di</strong>rectorate's $25 million annual budget is spent developing "<strong>di</strong>rected<br />
energy" weapons such as laser or microwave guns that stun rather than kill.<br />
74 http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5300556.htm<br />
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