US Government Use of Biological and Chemical Warfare and Presidents' Roles
* What: The development, creation, and use of biological and chemical weapons under direct orders from Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson. Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. enabled the use of biological and chemical weapons by Iraq. (See Section Two.) Reagan, Bush Sr., and GW Bush blocked efforts to end or limit bio-chemical weapons.
* The Body Count:
* Hundreds of thousands killed by napalm in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Napalm killed at least 80,000 in Tokyo alone. Napalm is a chemical weapon today banned internationally for use against civilians, legal but widely condemned even when used against soldiers. In Japan during World War II, the US Air Force mostly used it against civilians in cities. In Korea, the US and UN military widely used it against both Chinese and North Korean soldiers, and civilians in cities. In the US-Vietnam War its use became notorious, especially the infamous photo of a young girl running, burned and screaming.
* An unknown number infected or killed by 239 US military mock attacks on US cities from New York to San Francisco from 1947 to 1969.
* An unknown number of Blacks in Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia infected by fungus in 1951. Military researchers were looking at attacks that Blacks were more susceptible to.
* An unknown number of Seventh Day Adventists exposed to germs in Operation Whitecoat from 1955 to 1973. 2,200 volunteers gave informed consent. How many became ill or suffered is unknown since less than half were questioned after the testing.
* 400,000 Vietnamese deaths and maimings, 500,000 children with birth defects, and 2 million with cancer or other illnesses due to Agent Orange. How many died due to starvation due to Agent Orange is unknown and difficult to estimate. An unknown number of US troops were affected. How many is difficult to determine because of restrictions on filing for claims with the US government.
* An unknown number of possible Colombian and Ecuadoran deaths or injuries due to US spraying glyphosate, an herbicide designed to destroy coca. How many deaths due to starvation or increased poverty due to crops and animal deaths in the region is unknown and difficult to estimate. The spraying program began in the early 1980s under Reagan, was greatly expanded under GW Bush, and then quickly came to an end under Obama.
* Who Else Gets the Blame:
* The US military carried out most of these attacks, and often lobbied for their use and against their use coming to an end. In the US-Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson considered ending the use of Agent Orange, but backed off because of military opposition.
* Scientists and researchers developed all of these weapons. In some cases, notably biological weapons researchers, they lobbied against the weapons they themselves developed.
* US intelligence, especially the CIA, carried out some of these attacks, especially on Cuba.
* Three presidents deserve the most blame for the US acquiring and then using nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons: Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Truman. Wilson ordered the stockpiling of chemical weapons during World War I. US troops used mustard gas and phosgene against German troops, though these were chemical weapons from the French, not US supplies. Roosevelt ordered not only the development of the A-bomb. He also ordered chemical weapons stockpiles expanded and began the US biological weapons program in 1941. Roosevelt's use of chemical weapons was napalm against Japanese civilians. (See Section Three.)
* Truman, of course, used the A-bomb against Japanese civilians though almost all military leaders opposed this. (See Section Three.) Truman also ordered the development and stockpiling of nerve gas, first researched by the Third Reich. He also ordered a crash program in 1950 to develop the H-bomb, thousands of times more powerful than the A-bomb, in spite of opposition from scientists who argued it had no military use and could only be a weapon of genocide against civilians. Truman also ordered extensive nuclear testing, with both civilians and soldiers used as test subjects, often without their consent or even knowledge. Among the victims were many Pacific Island peoples. (See Section Six.) But Truman's biggest use of chemical weapons was using napalm against Chinese and North Korean troops and North Korean civilians.
* All three of these presidents justified these WMDs by pointing to either the enemy possessing them or possibly developing them. Chemical weapons so horrified many during World War I that none of the Allied or Axis nations seriously considered using them during World War II, not even Hitler. When a nation's military uses chemical weapons, as the US did against Vietnamese civilians during the US-Vietnam War and Iraq did against Iran and its own Kurdish people, the world almost universally condemns them. That condemnation has not stopped most American presidents from developing, stockpiling, and sometimes using such weapons, and from making certain they could use them and blocking efforts to end chemical weapons.
* Both Eisenhower and Kennedy continued US programs of bio-chemical weapons. Kennedy's administration, as the dedicated anti-Communist he was, more than quadrupled chemical warfare spending to a third of a billion dollars.
* Both Lyndon Johnson and Nixon ordered the widespread use of both napalm and Agent Orange in the US-Vietnam War. Johnson considered ending Agent Orange use, but backed off under pressure from military leaders. Nixon never had any such qualms about napalm. Though he did publicly declare the US was ending its chemical weapons program, napalm was not included.
* Gerald Ford as a congressman had successfully pushed to give the military first strike authority on chemical weapons, meaning that generals could use them without having to wait for the enemy to use them first. But as president he followed through with the bio-chemical ban begun by Nixon. Ford and Carter were the only US presidents until Obama to not expand or use bio-chemical weapons.
* In 1984, Reagan had hundreds of thousands of rockets refashioned to use nerve gas. He also had the military begin testing biological weapons in the open air. Three years later he pushed Congress to allow building chemical weapons again. The Senate vote was tied three times. Each time Vice President Bush used his vote to break the tie, and the chemical weapons program went forward. Very shortly, of course, the Berlin Wall fell, followed by the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. As noted before, Reagan was perhaps the most ideologically blind of all presidents. But under Bush Sr., the US and USSR both reduced their bio-chemical weapons with a series of pledges and treaties. Under both presidents, the US was following the lead from Gorbachev. Both presidents had greatly helped Saddam Hussein acquire bio-chemical weapons and blocked the UN from condemning him. (See Section Two.)
* Under Clinton, several sites in Iraq claimed to have bio-chemical weapons were bombed. He also ordered a missile attack on the Sudan on a supposed chemical weapons factory. It turned out to be a pharmaceutical factory, and its bombing harmed efforts to stop genocide in Darfur. (See Section Eleven.) In 2001, GW Bush had the US leave an international convention to end biological weapons. In 2003, Syria proposed the Mideast be a zone free of both bio-chemical and nuclear weapons. Bush had the US government reject the zone, likely to protect Israel's nuclear arsenal. *
Post Cold War Invasions, Bush Sr. in the Gulf War and Clinton in Somalia
* What: The invasions of Kuwait and Somalia, claimed to be for humanitarian reasons, to punish dictators, or stop aggression.
* The Body Count: 2,500 to 205,000 deaths for the Gulf War. The US government and military both explicitly refused to gather data on Iraqi deaths. Estimates of deaths vary wildly, often based on the partisan views of the one estimating. Most estimates are around 50,000.
* 1,500 to 3,000 deaths in the Somalia invasion. Again, the US military did not gather data on enemy or civilian casualties. Most casualties were teenaged militia members.*
* Who Else Gets the Blame:
* Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party are sometimes blamed by pro war supporters.
* The Republican Party supported the Gulf War overwhelmingly. Many were quite skeptical and critical of US troops in Somalia, especially since it was under the UN.
* CNN presented the Gulf War as almost like a video game, even selling videotapes of the war packaged like entertainment. Its coverage played a central part in building support for the war.
* Mohammed Adid and his militia fought US troops in Somalia. From their point of view, they were fighting outside invaders.
* The United Nations passed resolutions supporting both these wars, though in both cases they were first proposed by the Bush administration. In Somalia, all troops except the American force were under UN peacekeeping command.
* The Cold War did not bring an end to American invasions. These two wars were begun by presidents still trying to figure out American roles after the fall of Communism, and put the lie to that claim that American actions were purely defensive. Both wars to an extent claimed to be humanitarian invasions, that most bizarre and contradictory phrase. Essentially, the claim is that, “We are invading your country to help you.” Try making that claim to anyone not American, and see their reaction be one of either ridicule or anger.
* Bush had earlier invaded Panama to overthrow a dictator who had become an embarrassment because of his ties to drug cartels while being on the US payroll. (See Section Five.) Ironically, Bush was often mocked during the 1988 election by commentators claiming he could not be elected because of “the wimp factor.” This was a strange claim to make, since Bush was a highly decorated combat pilot during World War II. Some speculated his willingness to order two invasions was an attempt to overcome the wimp image, but there is little evidence for that.
* Saddam Hussein had a long series of ties to the US, was on the CIA payroll since the 1950s, and his atrocities did not trouble any US president. (See Sections Three and Four.) In 1989, he met with US Ambassador April Glass. Hussein complained that Kuwait had overproduced oil, harming Iraq's economy. He also pointed out, correctly, that Kuwait was never a nation. It was a province of Iraq separated from Iraq by the British empire.
* Hussein threatened to take over Kuwait. Essentially he was asking for US permission for his planned invasion. Glass spoke without making a US commitment. But Hussein interpreted Glass's lack of objections as meaning he had US permission. Hussein was surprised that Bush went to war over Kuwait. Even Bush's own cabinet and advisers were surprised. They had proposed only sanctions and diplomatic condemnation.
* Fully half of all Americans opposed the Gulf War before it began. Even to gain the support of that half, Bush had to use enormous government propaganda. The US, and the Kuwait government in exile, used over 70 public relations firms, spending over $20 million to build US public support. Notably, they used some memorable lies to win over doubters, fabricating claims that babies ripped out of hospital incubators and left to die. A member of the Kuwaiti royal family, posing as a nurse, told the tearful lie on the floor of the US Congress. The most ludicrous claim of all was that Hussein was the next Hitler, for Iraqi troops did not even last five days against US invasion.
* Exactly the opposite of his son, GW Bush, Bush Sr. succeeded in winning over most international opinion far more than US public opinion. The UN passed resolutions condemning Hussein's invasion and calling for “all necessary means” to remove him from Kuwait, including force. NATO and most Mideast nations sent troops allied to the US. Bush also “passed the tin cup” as he put it, getting Mideast nations to pay tens of billions for the cost of the invasion and to keep oil prices low. No matter how much one disagrees with the reasons given for the war, it was clear that Bush was quite skilled at managing a war, unlike his son.
* The Gulf War was incredibly one sided. Less than 500 coalition forces were killed, many of them by accident by their own air forces, compared to perhaps 50,000 Iraqis. Iraqi forces were already very weak from a long war with Iran, with morale so bad that many surrendered to foreign journalists. The air bombardment was over in slightly more than three months, the ground invasion slightly over four days. Hussein never used the bio-chemical weapons he developed with help from the US and European companies because he feared US nuclear weapons.
* Most Americans considered the war a failure since Hussein stayed in power. Bush was defeated for re election. A popular slogan during the 1992 campaign was, “Saddam still has a job. Do you?” Certainly the Kuwaiti royal family kept their jobs. Democracy never came to Kuwait as promised. It was not a free nation before Hussein invaded, and still is not, over 30 years later. The one good thing to come out of the war was destroying Hussein's bio-chemical weapons, though you could never convince supporters of the Second Iraq War of that.
* Alexander Downes in Targeting Civilians in War argued that, unlike World War II, neither the Bush administration nor the US military ordered targeting civilians in Iraq. Truthfully, to claim so makes no sense. The US military had such an overwhelming superiority there was no military motive for doing so. Just the opposite, targeting civilians would destroyed support for the war effort among Americans and US allies and strengthen Saddam Hussein. There certainly were many civilian deaths in the Gulf War. As stated earlier, precisely targeted bombing or smart bombs are a myth. Even with current technology and the best efforts of civilian and military planners, many civilians die from bombing military targets. If one says that this is unacceptable, then one is making an argument that war should never be fought. Ideally, one hopes so. Practically, mankind is not yet there.
* Shortly before Bush left office, he proposed a peacekeeping force in Somalia. The nation was divided among different warlords ever since the fall of its military dictatorship in 1986. There were at least two dozen factions, shifting alliances, no real ideology or substantial differences among the factions beyond ethnic and religious groupings, and hundreds of thousands of casualties.
* Bush proposed the peacekeeping force to prevent a further humanitarian disaster. One radical critic, anarchist Noam Chomsky, proposed that the invasion force was pure publicity for the military, trying to find them a purpose in a post Cold War world with few Communists to fight. The UN agreed to the peacekeepers, but Bush was out of office by that time.
* The UN force was known as UNOSOM and had over 30,000 troops from over two dozen nations. US troops were under 1,200, and were a separate force staying under US control and stationed off the coast. The UN proposed a coalition government for Somalia of all the factions. UNOSOM was to provide security for humanitarian relief while the warlords' forces disarmed.
* Clinton inherited a problem he had little understanding of. Protesters loyal to one warlord, Mohammed Adid, fought and killed Pakistani peacekeepers. US troops launched a series of attacks trying to capture Adid. Clinton sent 400 more US troops, elite Rangers and Delta Force.
* The commandos, looking for Adid, invaded a Somali neighborhood run by a mostly teenaged militia. Somali militia fought back, losing several thousand teens and even preteen boys. Yet rather bizarrely and in a downright racist manner, the news media and subsequent films like Black Hawk Down portrayed American soldiers as the true victims because less than two dozen invaders were killed.
* Somali anger over the several thousand deaths led one crowd to mutilate the bodies of dead commandos, in images broadcast worldwide. Clinton quickly pulled out of Somalia. His withdrawal had a ripple effect, with several other nations pulling out their troops. Several months later, the UN voted to pull out all troops. Adid was killed in battle two years later. His son took over, and he had himself been a Marine who took part in the US invasion. Somalia remains divided, under different factions' control, still fighting a civil war. The UN operation did have some success. It saved 100,000 lives, still quite praiseworthy. But the civil war since then killed several times that number.
* Clinton time and again showed himself incapable on foreign and military matters, in Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and above all, Rwanda. Virtually his only real success was on Northern Ireland, in getting all parties to talk and finally end terrorism on both sides. For Bosnia, he was slow and at first ineffective. Clinton showed himself incapable in law enforcement matters, in Waco and in dealing with right wing terrorists. (See Sections Four and Six.) He showed himself incapable of much of anything except getting elected and keeping relative popular support with a good economy. Even on that, he showed himself to be short sighted in deregulating, making him partly responsible for the Great Recession. Yet it is rare to find anyone who judges him on anything but how he fits with their own partisan beliefs.