Iraqi chemical weapons program
In violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the Iraqi Army initiated two failed (1970–1974, 1974–1978) and one successful (1978–1991) offensive chemical weapons (CW) programs.
[2][3] Although efforts to acquire chemical weapons dated back to the early 1960s (pre-dating Hussein's regime), the Iraqis did not have stockpiles at the outbreak of the war with Iran in 1980.
[5] On September 22, 1980, Iraq staged an all-out war on Iran from ground, air, and sea and came to occupy a vast part of Iranian territory.
[10][11][12][13] The Iraqi army, trained and influenced by Soviet advisors, had organic chemical warfare units and a wide variety of delivery systems.
After Iran sent chemical casualties to several Western nations for treatment, the UN dispatched a team of specialists to the area in 1984, and again in 1986 and 1987, to verify the claims.
In our view, only concerted efforts at the political level can be effective in ensuring that all the signatories of the Geneva Protocol of 1925 abide by their obligations.
Otherwise, if the Protocol is irreparably weakened after 60 years of general international respect, this may lead, in the future, to the world facing the specter of the threat of biological weapons.
[20][21] Another analyst insisted that "In a sense, a taboo has been broken, thus making it easier for future combatants to find justification for chemical warfare, this aspect of the Iran–Iraq War should cause Western military planners the gravest concern.
[25] During the Persian Gulf War of 1991, under orders by Saddam Hussein, large numbers of missiles were fired on Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Shortly after the fighting between Iraq and Coalition Forces in the Gulf War came to a cease-fire in February 1991, reports circulated that Saddam Hussein was using chemical agents against Kurds and Shiite Muslims, near UN troops.
By that time, according to the Iraq Survey Group Final Report,[28] seven UN specialist missions had documented repeated use of chemicals in the war.
[29] according to CIA reports, the Reagan administration continued to aid Saddam despite knowing that he was carrying out the worst chemical attacks in history against Iran.
Most of the victims were Kurdish Iraqi civilians who died within minutes after the bombing and those who survived and tried to leave the city the following day were injured when they passed contaminated roads.
In the meanwhile, an Iraqi high-ranking authority officially confessed in a meeting with Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the utilization of chemical weapons by Iraq.
Exposure to sarin causes permanent damage to humans, resulting in the mass illness known as Gulf War syndrome.
