John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN (AND SURPRISINGLY LEFT UP)
"Why are chemical weapons worse than other weapons of mass destruction?"
No, of course they are not, on an intellectual level.
But the horror of chemical weapons comes from that vast blunder called the Great War where they first made a significant appearance.
Everyone was so appalled by the results of that huge bloodbath, which indeed served no purpose, that they looked for bits and pieces to try fixing. Chemical weapons were one of them.
Anyway, humanity often gets these inexplicable fixations, but goes right on with the killing and even developing new ways to kill.
I do think it important for people to understand, since the topic of poison gas has been much in the news recently, that the United States, despite the OPCW and chemical-weapons treaty, still maintains its large arsenal. Russia, by contrast, destroyed theirs under supervision.
Readers should note, too, that America's big, new drive to develop flexible and more "usable" nuclear weapons - a vast trillion-dollar project - is likely the most disturbing and dangerous weapons program on the planet.
It wants to develop, in effect, nuclear warheads which can be dialed down for "minor" uses or dialed back up to full power.
The temptation to use such weapons will be overwhelming. After all, the United States seriously planned the use of conventional nuclear weapons several times. Against China and the USSR in the 1950s and again in the 1960s. Also, in Vietnam and in Korea.
Of course, the United States remains the only state to have actually used nuclear weapons, twice, both times against civilians.
