Bombshells of The Past

Aishwarya Jayachandran, from United Nations General Assembly- Disarmament and Security (UNGA- DISEC), reports on the elephant in the room, biochemical warfare.

World War I, or as some ironically used called it back then, “The war to end all wars” was revolutionized by militants conquering the skies. Bullets rained down from the sky, while hopes, dreams of millions of bodies fell with them to the ground. Humanity as a whole had taken a hit, and were thought to have learnt a harsh lesson- they could either live in peace or rest in pieces.

Something worse was yet to come. World War II happened shortly after; the coastal town of Nagasaki in Japan was almost vaporized when the United States of America (USA) dropped the nuclear weapon, “The Fat Boy”.

The Vietnamese war saw the US resort to the usage of Napalm and Agent Orange as part of their “Operation Ranch Hand”. Napalm, or as it was called in ancient times- “Greek Fire”, is a combination of a gelling substance and one of petroleum and gasoline. Napalm, unlike other flammable liquids has the ability to adhere to the surfaces it comes into contact with. For the soldiers in Vietnam this meant that it would stick to their skin with an iron grip and they would feel as though flames were clawing out through the surface along with their determination to live. The carbon monoxide produced meant they were smoldered to death.

During the course of ten years from 1963 to 1973, the US sprayed 388,000 tons of US napalm bombs in the region causing casualties of cataclysmic[DSN1] [DSN2] scales. The US generals distinctly liked napalm not only because of its excellent burning capabilities but also due to of the psychological effect it had on the enemy. It was one thing to face a quick death by a bullet but a whole another to scorch someone to death by making them face something described as “liquid fire”.

What brings a lot of questions to mind is that the United States, in doing so, had not gone against the protocol under the United Nations Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). The protocol, to this day, states that only usage of biochemical weapons against “concentrations of civilians” has been banned- which in simpler terms translates that fact while direct usage on civilians is banned, the weapons could be unleashed when disguised as use on military personnel.

With the threat of World War III playing peek-a-boo every now and then, one can sense the urgency in the air- a need to set the boundaries to what humanity can forgo in order to obtain futile victories; because in after all, in war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners.

(Edited by Drishya Sobhana Narayanan)