Chemical WarfareEver since its employment in the First World War, chemical warfare has always aroused controversy. Governments have responded by pursuing the policies of disarmament and deterrence in the hope of avoiding its recurrence. However, despite the signing of the Geneva Protocol in 1925 which banned the use of poison gas, chemical weapons have been used in subsequent conflicts and most recently in the Gulf War between Iraq and Iran. In this work the policies of disarmament and deterrence will be reassessed within a broad historical and strategic context. It will be argued that poison gas could still be used in a modern European conflict; that the Soviet forces are the best equipped to operate in a contaminated environment; and that weaknesses persist in NATO's anti-chemical defences and in her deterrent. It will be emphasised, too, that the Geneva disarmament talks, which have made some progress in recent years, still face formidable difficulties over the issues of verification and compliance. Above all, it will be claimed that the onset of nuclear parity between the superpowers has eroded the credibility of a deterrent to chemical attack based upon the threat of nuclear release. Accordingly, this book will contend that the United States should modernize her stockpile of chemical weapons to bolster the Western deterrent and to provide more leverage for the negotiations in Geneva. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
CHEMICAL WARFARE 191418 | 18 |
THE FAILURE OF DISARMAMENT | 34 |
Copyright | |
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97th Congress Air Force Allies American anti-gas Appropriations for 1984 Appropriations for Fiscal April Arms Control Army artillery Authorization for Appropriations Binary Chemical Weapons Biological Warfare Britain British casualties cent chemical agents Chemical and Biological chemical attack chemical defence chemical munitions Chemical Warfare Chemical Warfare Capabilities Churchill commanders Committee on Armed contaminated convention decontamination Defense Appropriations Defense Authorization Department of Defense deterrent Disarmament effective enemy equipment February Fiscal Year 1983 gas attacks gas masks gas warfare gases Geneva Protocol German Ibid issue Japanese July League of Nations lethal lewisite London Lt-Col Maj-Gen March Meselson military mustard gas mycotoxins NATO NATO's nerve agents November nuclear offensive Office operations Perry Robinson persistent phosgene poison gas production programme Report respirators second session September Soviet Union spray stockpile stocks T. S. Gold tactical targets threat tion tons toxic treaty trichothecenes United Nations verification Yellow Rain