Chemical weapons military utility

The use of poisons in warfare is recorded all through history in various cultural contexts.8 However, even by the late 19th century, when more and more chemicals were produced in quantity, including toxic chemicals, their military utilization was not immediately directed towards an exploitation of their toxicity for weapons purposes. Instead it was first ... 

The term chemical warfare agents ideally would comprise all toxic chemicals that have been developed, produced, or used in a military context with the intention of utilizing its toxicity to man, animals or plants as its primary weapons characteristic. This definition excludes a considerable number of toxic chemicals used in a military environment, which serve other purposes a case in point is rocket fuel, which is highly toxic, but whose primary purpose is the propulsion of a missile. On the other hand, this definition goes beyond that used in the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) according to the CWC s Article II, para. 2 only those chemicals which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals (emphasis added)1 count as chemical warfare agents. 

Last, but certainly not least, the recently renewed interest in so-called non-lethal CW threatens to undermine the current prohibition regime and calls into question the viability of any future CW control efforts. If there was the need for a wake-up call to raise awareness of this problem, this was most certainly provided by the use of a fen-tanyl-derivative - as it was called by the Russian authorities - that was used to end the Moscow theatre hostage-taking in fall of 2002.52 However, this incident represents just the tip of the iceberg, as more states than just Russia are interested in utilizing so-called non-lethal chemical weapons in a number of police and military scenarios other than war. Certainly the US military shows a strong interest in developing this kind of capability.53... 

Persian Gulf and similar equipment has been used to Nations in peacekeeping or intervention roles where support the United Nations Special Commission the threat of chemical weapons use exists. Table 3 during the destruction of Iraqi chemical weapons, lists examples of chemical detection equipment by Equipment of this type has been used by the OPCW country and indicates the principle of detection and and could potentially be utilized again by the United capabilities of each system. Table 3 Selected military chemical warfare agent detection devices ... 

France, and later head of the anti-gas organisation within the Directorate of Gas Services)7 Readers wishing for a full account of the use of gas in the First World War should consult these studies. My purpose is to consider what the experience of the First World War reveals about the military uses and utility of chemical weapons, and how that experience has shaped subsequent perceptions of chemical warfare. 

Many of the issues relating to CW are not open to conclusive solutions there are too many contradictions and uncertainties. Chemical weapons have some military utility as weapons of attrition and denial, and because of their psychological effect, but they are not unreservedly advantageous to the user. Chemical warfare can be indiscriminate and inhumane, but it is not automatically more so than... 

Chemical warfare nerve agents were designed to kill or incapacitate enemy forces, disrupt military operations, and deny terrain to the adversary (3, 4, 5). However, in terrorist s hands the nerve agent sarin was utilized as an effective weapon against a civilian population (6). 

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