The self-righteousness of the United States about the
alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad is hypocritical. The United
States used napalm and employed massive amounts of chemical weapons in
the form of Agent Orange in Vietnam, which continues to affect countless
people over many generations. Recently declassified CIA documents
reveal U.S. complicity in Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons
during the Iran-Iraq war, according to Foreign Policy: “In
contrast to today’s wrenching debate over whether the United States
should intervene to stop alleged chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian
government, the United States applied a cold calculus three decades ago
to Hussein’s widespread use of chemical weapons against his enemies and
his own people. The Reagan administration decided that it was better to
let the attacks continue if they might turn the tide of the war. And
even if they were discovered, the CIA wagered that international outrage
and condemnation would be muted.” In Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States used cluster bombs,
depleted uranium, and white phosphorous gas. Cluster bomb cannisters
contain tiny bomblets, which can spread over a vast area. Unexploded
cluster bombs are frequently picked up by children and explode,
resulting in serious injury or death. Depleted uranium (DU) weapons
spread high levels of radiation over vast areas of land. In Iraq, there
has been a sharp increase in Leukemia and birth defects, probably due to
DU. White phosphorous gas melts the skin and burns to the bone. The
Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in time
of War (Geneva IV) classifies “willfully causing great suffering or
serious injury to body or health” as a grave breach, which constitutes a
war crime. The use of chemical weapons, regardless of the purpose, is atrocious,
no matter the feigned justification. A government’s use of such
weapons against its own people is particularly reprehensible. Secretary
of State John Kerry said that the purported attack by Assad’s forces
“defies any code of morality” and should “shock the conscience of the
world.” He went on to say that “there must be accountability for those
who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most
vulnerable people.” Yet the U.S. militarily occupied over 75% of the Puerto Rican island
of Vieques for 60 years, during which time the Navy routinely practiced
with, and used, Agent Orange, depleted uranium, napalm and other toxic
chemicals and metals such as TNT and mercury. This occurred within a
couple of miles of a civilian population that included thousands of U.S.
citizens. The people of Vieques have lived under the colonial rule of
the United States now for 115 years and suffer from terminal health
conditions such as elevated rates of cancer, hypertension, respiratory
and skin illnesses and kidney failure. While Secretary Kerry calls for
accountability by the Assad government, the U.S. Navy has yet to admit,
much less seek atonement, for decades of bombing and biochemical warfare
on Vieques.
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