Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rice!uw-beaver!cornell!rochester!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!cbnews!punch@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
From: punch@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (William F. Punch)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Gas warfare, how bad really?
Message-ID: <3357@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 23 Jan 89 02:29:24 GMT
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Organization: Ohio State University Computer and Information Science
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This question arises because of the recent discussion vis-a-vi Iraq.
Also, I have been reading a book lately, "The Making of the Atomic
Bomb" by Richard Rhodes (Very good book if you are interested in the
politics of the thing) where a number of the scientists
defended their roles in gas warfare. James Bryant Conant, a president
of Harvard has this to say about his role

"I did not see in 1917, and do not see in 1968, why tearing a man's
guts out by a high-explosive shell is to be preferred to maiming him
by attacking his lungs or skin."

Rhodes claimed that in WW1, only 5% of the 21 million casualties were
from gas attacks, 30,00 deaths from gas vs. 9 million overall,
supporting the claim that when most widely used, it was a small
thought significant part of warfare.

So the question is, is the view taken by Mr. Conant true or is there
more to the story. That is, is there REALLY any difference to gas
warfare versus regular bombardment in terms of destructive capability?
I mean, assuming regular "rules-of-the-road" tactics, does gas warfare
represent a significant escalation in destruction? Even assuming
terrorist activities, is it worse than a bomb

It seems to me (wholly ignorant on the subject so strictly uninformed
opinion) that it would be no worse. The only two differences would
seem to be the novelty (and horror) of gas (though dismemberment seems
just as bad) and the potential for more civilian casualties if it were
used as a civilian weapon, since more tech. might be needed to fend it
off than bombs. As a terrorist weapon it is perhaps "more deadly", but
I wonder beyond that.

Bottom line, is the fuss being put up all that realistic given the
normal weapons these kinds of countries have?

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