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

Medical Aspects of Chemical WarfareKuwait, allegedly in support of Kuwaiti revolutionarieswho had overthrown the emirate. On August 8 Iraqannounced that Kuwait had been annexed and wasnow a part of its country. In response, President GeorgeBush ordered US forces to be sent to Saudi Arabia atthe request of the Saudi government as part of whatbecame Operation Desert Shield, the buildup phase ofthe Persian Gulf War.The US response to Iraq’s invasion put the Army’schemical warfare experience, training, productionprogram, and lessons learned in the limelight. Notsince World War I had US troops been sent to face anenemy that had used chemical weapons extensivelywithin the last few years and had publicly announcedits intentions to use them against the United States.William H Webster, director of the Central IntelligenceAgency, estimated that Iraq had 1,000 tons of chemicalweapons loaded in bombs, artillery rounds, rockets,and missiles. Much of Iraq’s biological weapons programremained unknown until after the war. 200–202By 1991 Iraq’s production facility at al-Hakam hadproduced about 125,000 gallons of agents that causebotulism, anthrax, and other illnesses. After stating foryears that the plant was used to produce animal feed,in 1995 the Iraqis admitted it was a biological warfareproduction facility. In addition to producing biologicalwarfare agents, the Iraqis also conducted live-agenttests on animals. The Iraqis later admitted they hadprepared about 200 biological missiles and bombs. 203–206To prepare for the military phase of the Persian GulfWar, the United States had to consider all the chemicaland biological threats. Troops were given the MarkI (Meridian Medical Technologies Inc, Bristol, Tenn)nerve agent antidote kit, consisting of an atropineautoinjector and a pralidoxime chloride autoinjectorto treat nerve agent poisoning. Atropine blocks theeffects of nerve agent poisoning on the muscles, andpralidoxime chloride reactivates acetylcholinesterase.Pyridostigmine bromide tablets were also provided asa nerve agent pretreatment. 207 US troops moving intothe area were given vaccines for anthrax and botulinumtoxin. 208 All military units were fully equippedwith the latest chemical and biological defensiveequipment, and training was continuous.The actual attack on Iraq on January 16, 1991, as partof the UN-mandated effort to free Kuwait, was designatedOperation Desert Storm by the United States.The attack escalated fears of a new chemical war tolevels not seen since World War I. The initial air attackconcentrated on Iraqi chemical production facilities,bunkers, and lines of supply. While the air attacks wereongoing, daily news accounts addressed the potential forchemical and biological warfare. On January 28 SaddamHussein told Peter Arnett of CNN News that Iraqi Scudmissiles, which were already hitting Israel and SaudiArabia, could be armed with chemical, biological, ornuclear munitions. While visiting the United Kingdom,Vice President Dan Quayle reportedly told the primeminister that the United States had not ruled out theuse of chemical or nuclear weapons. 209 Likewise, theUnited States reportedly threatened to target Husseinpersonally if he used chemical weapons against UNcoalition forces. 209,210 In turn, Iraq reportedly threatenedto use chemical weapons against coalition forces if theycontinued the high-level bombings against Iraqi troops. 209When coalition forces began the ground war on February23, 1991, chemical and biological defense specialistsanticipated the worst. Chemical alarms frequentlywent off across the battlefield, but all were dismissed asfalse alarms. On February 27 coalition forces liberatedKuwait City and finished destroying the Iraqi divisionsoriginally in Kuwait. No known chemical or biologicalattacks were made by the Iraqis.A number of reasons surfaced after the war forwhy the Iraqis had not initiated large-scale chemicalwarfare. Vice Admiral Stanley Arthur, commander ofUS naval forces, thought that because the wind suddenlychanged at the start of the land battle, the Iraqisrealized that chemical weapons could harm their owntroops. Some thought the speed of the campaign wasthe critical reason. Others reported that the combinationof coalition bombing and the resulting Iraqi logisticalchaos prevented the chemical weapons from everreaching the front lines. General H Norman Schwarzkopf,commander of coalition forces, mentioned thatIraq might have feared nuclear retaliation. 202,209,211After the war, allegations of chemical exposuresbegan to surface. The Department of Defense initiallydenied that any chemical exposures had taken place,but veterans of the war claimed the opposite and theirailments collectively became known as “Gulf War” syndrome.By 1996 newspapers reported that almost 60,000veterans of the Persian Gulf War claimed some sort ofmedical problem directly related to their war activities.Extensive research by the Department of Defensefailed to find any single cause for the problems. 212,213One controversial example of possible exposureoccurred on March 4, 1991, at the Kamisiyah arsenal,northwest of Basra, involving the US Army 37th EngineerBattalion. After capturing the site, the engineersblew up the Iraqi storage bunkers. According to newspaperaccounts, engineers claimed that their chemicalagent detectors went off during the explosions. Laterthe same year, a UN inspection team reportedly foundthe remains of chemical rockets and shells in one ofthe bunkers in addition to traces of sarin and mustardagent. In 1996 the Department of Defense acknowledgedthat one of the bunkers probably contained64