Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare (2008) - The Black Vault

Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfarecriminal organizations, pirates, psychotics, disgruntledemployees, and covert state operations. Title 22 of theUS Code also identifies these key terms:• terrorism: premeditated, politically motivatedviolence perpetrated against noncombatanttargets by subnational groups or clandestineagents;• international terrorism: terrorism involvingcitizens or the territory of more than onecountry; and• terrorist group: any group practicing, or whichhas significant subgroups which practice,international terrorism. 37In addition, domestic terrorism includes activitiesthat “involve acts dangerous to human life that are aviolation of the criminal laws of the United States or ofany State” that “appear to be intended to intimidate orcoerce a civilian population; to influence the policy ofa government by intimidation or coercion; or to affectthe conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination,or kidnapping; and occur primarily withinthe territorial jurisdiction of the United States.” 37 Whilemost discussions of domestic terrorism focus on theattempts by terrorist organizations to attack civiliansand to influence governments along political, religious,or ideological lines, the potential also exists for loneindividuals to attack symbols of the government or thecivilian populace (eg, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombingincident and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics pipe bombincident). Whether they work alone or in groups, thegoal of terrorists is to intimidate.State intimidation through terrorism, or fascism,wherein a village may be exterminated by anoppressive occupier as an example to others, wasdemonstrated in the 1988 indiscriminate gassing ofcivilians in Halabja, Birjinni, and other towns in theKurdish region of Iraq. Over 5,000 citizens lost theirlives in these attacks, which were later confirmed bythe United Nations (UN) to have been poisoning bysulfur mustard and nerve agent. 38 According to CaptainKifah Ali Hassan, director of the Intelligence Center ofKalar, “During the month of March 1988, our aircraftbombed the headquarters of the sabotage bands in thevillages of Saywan . . . and Balakajar . . . in a chemicalstrike. This resulted in the death of 50 saboteurs andthe wounding of 20 other saboteurs.” 39Despite the deaths of more than 200 Marines inthe Beirut bombing in 1983, the military did not havea clear approach to addressing terrorism until theKhobar towers bombing incident in 1996. This eventcaused the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff toappoint a deputy director for antiterrorism and forceprotection to lead the development of joint doctrine,training, and tactics for antiterrorism efforts. Theseefforts to protect individuals on military installationsand in DoD-owned or leased facilities has been termed“installation preparedness.” Traditionally, installationpreparedness has focused on conventional formsof terrorism, such as the use of small, conventionalexplosives, handguns, knives, and threats of violenceor kidnappings. In 2002 the Office of the Secretary ofDefense directed an effort to improve the protectionof US military installations and facilities against thepotential effects of chemical, biological, radiological,and nuclear incidents caused by terrorists. Althougheach service and combatant command is responsiblefor addressing and executing antiterrorism effortswithin its respective area of responsibility, the DoDfocus directed the addition of chemical, biological, radiological,and nuclear defense equipment to installationsand facilities. Following a pilot project initiated inthe fall of 2002, military installations began to acquirethe equipment in the fall of 2004. 40Incidents of Chemical TerrorismCompared to chemical agents, biological agents aredecidedly more subtle, and conventional explosivesare considerably cheaper and more readily available.Biological agents offer a much wider impact thanchemical ones because they can be quietly deliveredand it can take days for infection to manifest. Chemicalagents, however, are appealing to terrorists becausecompared to biologicals, chemicals are ubiquitous,inexpensive, and more stable. 41 Chlorine and cyanideare extremely common, and the technology requiredto produce a nerve agent like sarin is readily accessibleto any moderately experienced chemist. Additionally,chemical agents used as weapons, especially nerveagents, are more dramatic than biological weapons. Ashistory has shown, chemical agents can wreak havoc inurban settings; onlookers bear witness to the convulsivesequelae of an insidious chemical poisoning thatneeds no heralding of an exploding shell.The general tendency of many terrorism experts isto declare “it’s not a question of if, but when” terroristswill use chemical agents against noncombatants.This view is focused primarily on the vulnerability ofunprotected civilians, increased access to educationsources, and increased availability of technology withhazardous materials in a global economy. Additionally,pound for pound, chemicals are much more potentthan conventional explosives, causing many expertsto speculate that terrorists would naturally be interestedin weapons that could cause the most casualties.However, despite documented examples of terrorist126