MIM Notes 166        July 15, 1998

Report reveals: Amerika used banned nerve gas in Vietnam 
War

While the Amerikan government goes after Iraq for its 
supposed arsenal of chemical weapons, and piously 
criticizes India and Pakistan for developing nuclear 
weapons, unfolding history increasingly shows that the 
U.$. -- the only state ever to use nuclear weapons, and 
a country that still has chemical weapons -- also has an 
ugly history of using chemical weapons in war.

According to a Time Magazine and CNN report on June 14, 
the United Snakes used nerve gas in Laos in 1970, during 
the undeclared war against the people of Vietnam. The 
gas -- sarin -- was dropped as part of a mission kill 
U.$. military personnel who had defected to the 
righteous struggle of the Vietnamese people. The gas was 
dropped on the civilian village on the night before the 
assault, as well as after the assault on Vietnamese and 
Laotian troops. In 1970, the U.$ had not yet signed the 
Geneva Protocol banning the use of nerve gas, but stated 
policy at the time was that the U.$. would not be the 
first to use poison gas in combat.

Of course, the United States wasn't supposed to be in 
Laos, either. The participants in this mission, as well 
as pigs further up the chain of command, confirm that 
nerve gas was used in this assault as well as in over 20 
missions to recovered downed Amerikan airmen. 

The current Pentagon denies any knowledge or record of 
the use of nerve gas in the Vietnam War. However, the 
very nature of these operations required that very 
little written record be kept, so it is to be expected 
that the Pentagon won't find "proof" of this war crime.

One officer describes his orders for the mission as 
being much broader than killing the defectors: "My 
orders were, if it's alive, if it breathes oxygen, if it 
urinates, if it defecates, kill it." Retired admiral 
Thomas Moorer, who was chairperson of the Joint Chiefs 
of Staff in 1970, told Time that nerve gas was "by and 
large available" for "high-risk search and rescue 
missions."

Special Forces troops who engaged in so-called "black 
operations" say they were promised anything short of 
nuclear weapons. There "were no rules of engagement: 
anything was permissible as long as it was deniable." 
"Their motto, according to" Lieut. Van Buskirk, who took 
part in the mission, was "Kill them all, and let God 
sort it out."

In the assault on the village containing Amerikan 
defectors, the soldiers claim that "upwards of 100" 
people were killed, mostly civilians. This number 
included 12-20 defectors, although the records state 
that no defector bodies were identified or recovered.

To MIM, the significance of this revelation is several 
fold. This case shows that imperialism has no regard for 
humanity, morality or international law. What matters 
only is that it triumphs by any means necessary. And 
when the United Snakes threatens war against other 
societies who may or may not posses chemical weapons, it 
is being a hypocrite, as the U.$. has actually used 
these weapons many times.

Note: Time Magazine 15 June 1998, pp. 37-39.