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    		•  

      Mass Destructions & WMDs

      Location http://www.cs.mun.ca/~ulf/facts/wmd.html. Written 180503, 051204 by Ulf Schünemann.

    Little History of Mass Destructions (incomplete)

    A = atomic, B = biological, C = chemical, G = genocide, T = terrorist attack, I = industrial accident/negligence, N = natural
    1. B/N 542-600 AD: The Justinian plague descimates the population of the Roman Empire
    2. B 1346 AD: Tatarans threw Black-Death victims into the sieged city of Kaffa on the Crimean [Zeit 08/2003]. Consequently, Genovean & Ventian traders fleeing by ship spread the desease to Europe, where - from 1347 to 1352 - it kills a hard to estimate part of the population (1/4, 1/3??).
    3. 1366 AD India: Bukka I of the dominant South Indian empire of Vijayanagar conquered the muslem city of Mudkal and killed all inhabitants. Sultan Mohammad Shah of the central India Bahmani empire vowed to kill 100,000 Hindus in revenge - an estimated 500,000 Hindus were killed in the subsequent campaign [Lonely Planet: India]
    4. B/G 1763: The British of Fort Pitt give cloths and blankets from pox infirmery to rebellious Indian tribes [Zeit 08/2003]
    5. British concentration camps in South Africa
    6. C WWI: large scale use of poison gas ...
    7. B WWI: German saboteurs infect horses with [in German: "Rotz"] [Zeit 08/2003]
    8. B/N end of WWI: The Spanish flu spreads world-wide and kills (30 ??) millions.
    9. G 1915-23: Turkey and Armenians ...
    10. C 1925: Geneva protocol against poison gas [Zeit 21/2003]
    11. C: Spain used poison gas in Marocco [Zeit 21/2003]
    12. C/G 1928/30: Italian airforce dispersed poison gas in Libya: February 1928, Yperit against the Mogarba; July 1930, mustard gas in the oasis of Tazerbo (24 Yperit-bombs at 21kg) [Zeit 21/2003]
    13. G 1930: Italian forces in Libya forced 100,000 half nomads in the Cyrenaica onto a march, killing 10%, into concentration camps in the desert. 1933 only half of the deported remained. The entire Italian campain of conquering Libya 1911-31 is estimated to have killed 100,000 Libyan fighters and civilans (1/8th of the total population).
    14. (C)/G WWII: Germany killed millions of Jews in death camps, partly with poison gas
    15. B WWII: Japan spreaded pox-infested fleas over Chinese cities [Zeit 08/2003]
    16. A WWII: USA incinerated Yokohama and Naghasaki
    17. 1948: During the separation of British India into a Muslim part (Pakistan/Bangladesh) and a Hindu part (republic of India) more than 10 million people moved across the new to-be borders, and 250,000-500,000 people were killed. [Lonely Planet: India]
    18. 1968-72: US bombings of Cambodia killed 600,000 civilians, US bombings of Laos killed 350,000 civilans (supposedly conservative estimates [Ruckus])
    19. G 1975-78: In Cambodia, the re-settlement/re-education program of the Red Khmer lets 1.7 mio people (20% of the population) die from starvation and deseases (until Vietnam intervenes). [Zeit 31/2003]
    20. 1975 onwards: Indonesian's invasion and occupation of East Timor killed 200,000 East Timorese [Ruckus])
    21. B end of 1970s: White Rhodesian army used anthrax against liberation movement [Zeit 08/2003]
    22. C 1983-1988: Iraq used Mustard, Tabun, and nerve agents against Iran and own Kurdish population [CIA: Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs; October 2002]. The US knew of possession, use, and ongoing construction of new chemical weapons facility but «continued to support Iraq with loans and other forms of assistance». «Iran initiated a chemical warfare program "in response to Iraq's use of mustard gas against Iranian troops."» It «also encouraged other governments to believe they would not be censured if they initiated chemical weapons programs» [Hogendoorn: A Chemical Weapons Atlas; 1997]
    23. C/I(accident) 1984: Accident at Union Carbide's profit-optimized pesticide plant in Bhopal. 4000 killed the same day. Estimated 16,000-30,000 deaths in total. [FAZ, 26 Nov 2004]
    24. B(test) 1988-1991: open-air testing acknowledged by Iraq [CIA: Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs; October 2002]
    25. C/T 1995: Japanese Aum sect's Sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway (Aum had no success with anthrax, botulinus, q-feaver)
    26. G Bosnia: Serbs vs. Bosniacs
    27. G Ruanda: Hutu vs. Tutsi - 800,000 dead ??
    28. T 2000: Al Qaida kills 3,000+
    29. B 2001: Anthrax letters arrived in Florida, New York, Washington (sender still unknown as of 2003)
    30. Convention against (anti personal) land mines

    WMD programs & possession

    Nuclear weapons

    «128,000+: Estimated number of nuclear warheads built worldwide since 1945. All but 2 percent of these nuclear warheads have been built by the United States (55 percent or 70,000+) and Russia (43 percent or 55,000+)» [CDI, Feb 4, 2003]
    country development program (start/end) test/use operational/deliverable (total intact/stockpile)
    warheads and weapons
    ~30,000 intact nuclear warheads throughout the world. 17,500 of these are considered operational. [CDI, Feb 4, 2003]
    Japan1940/42-1945 (stopped) [FAS] today: a `virtual nuclear weapons state' - has everything (raw materials, technology, capital) needed to produce nuclear weapons within a year [FAS]
    German Reich194x-1945 (stopped)  
    USA 1940-1945
    ($3.5 trillion spent 1940-1995 to prepare to fight a nuclear war [CDI])     		1945 test in Arizona desert
    6th and 9th Aug 1945, Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan) incinerated, 160,000 + 70,000 people killed
    many more test ...
    1992 test stop
    2003 Bush II presses congress for new nuclear weapons program [Spiegel, 06 Aug 2003]
  • (10,729 intact warheads) (10,455 stockpile, 274 awaiting dismantlement)
  • ~7,000 op'l strategic nuclear weapons + ~800 op'l (1,600 total) tactical nuclear weapons
    [CDI]
  • 6,750 (12,000) warheads 1999 (2,000 on 500 ICBM + 3,456 on 432 SLBM + ~1,300 on 138 strategic bombers) [FAS]
    • Russia1944-49 (USSR)
  • 1949 (Kazakhstan?)
  • hydrogen: 1953
  • 8,400 op'l nuclear warheads
  • (~5,000 total) strategic nuclear weapons + ~3,400 (10,000+ total) tactical nuclear weapons
    [CDI]
  • 5,426 (21,000) warheads 1999 (3,590 on 756 ICBM + 1,036 on 260 SLBM + 800 on 69 strategic bombers) [FAS]
    • - Ukraine - (inherited from USSR) 0 (dismantled 199x)
    - Belarus - (inherited from USSR) 0 (returned to Russia 1992-96)
    - Kazakhstan- (inherited from USSR) 0 (returned to Russia 199x)
    UK 194x?, with US help 1952 (Australian desert?)
  • 200 warheads 1999 (~200 on 58 SLBM) [FAS]
    • France1956-60 [FAS]
  • 1960-65 Algerian desert (4 atmospheric + 10 underground) [FAS]
  • total of 192 tests up to 1992
  • 1995/96 last test on Mururoa
    [FAS]
  • 444 (500+) warheads 1999 (~384 on 64 SLBM + 60 on 60 theater bombers) [FAS]
  • 1992 stoped producing weapon-grade plutonium
  • 1996 started to dismantle enrichment plants
  • 1998 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
  • dismantled all test site facilities
    [FAS]
    • Israel 1949-67, with French help and US noninterference [FAS] 1979 joint test with South Africa in Indian ocean? [FAS]
  • 200 (200) warheads 1999 (100 on 100 IRBM/MRBM + 100 on theater bombers) [FAS]
    (1967:2, 1973: 13 [FAS])
    • Brazil 1950s?-88 abandoned
  • until 1975 civil nuclear cooperation with US, whose controls prevent military use
  • after 1975 civil nuclear cooperation with WGermany + military's parallel clandestine nuclear weapons program
  • 1988 exposed and abandoned before military's bomb designs realized [FAS]
    • Argentina covert program "for many years", abandoned 1990 1992 agreement with Brazil. 1993 ratified the Tlatelolco Treaty (Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America). 1995 NPT. [FAS]
    Egypt 1954-67 abandoned after defeat by Israel (nuclear reactor from USSR 1961)
  • 1974-90 initiatives for Middle East nuclear-weapons free zone, stalled by Israel
  • 1996 hosted conference for declaring Africa a nuclear-weapons free zone [FAS]
    • China
  • 1955-64/67 (initially with Soviet help)
  • series production of nuclear warheads since 1968, of thermonuclear warheads since 1974
    [FAS]
    		•
  • 1964: Uranium 235 bomb (Lop Nor)
  • 1967: hydrogen bomb
    [FAS]
  • ~325 (500+) warheads 1999 (20 on 20 ICBM + 130 on 130 IRBM/MRBM + 12 on 12 SLBM + 170 on 170 theater bombers) [FAS]
    • India
  • 1962/64 (spured by border clash with China / China's nuclear test) - 1974
  • thermonuclear: 1980-96
    [FAS]
  • 1974 "peaceful nuclear explosion"
  • thermonuclear: 1996 test canceled, 1998 no fully successful [FAS]
  • 50- (50+) warheads 1999 (50 by theater bombers) [FAS]
    • Taiwan Plutonium program 1964-88 stopped
  • initiated after Chinese test [FAS]
  • 1970s IAEA controls prompt stricter US policy
  • late 1980s: new plutonium separation capability program [ISIS]
    		• 1988 Plutonium enrichment program stopped by US [ISIS]
    South Africa1969-75, with Israeli cooperation [FAS] Kalahari Desert test canceled 1977, 1979 joint test with Isreal in Indian ocean? [FAS] 0 (produced 6 - dismantled before signing NPT 1991)
    Pakistan
  • 1972 Plutonium program (started after loss of East Pakistan 1971, spured by India's 1974 test)
  • 1975 switch to Uranium program (Chinese help from 1980 on)
  • 1986 new Plutonium program (witch Chinese help)
    (US noninterference in wake of Russian-occupied Afghanistan)
    [FAS]
    		• was Chinese test of 1983 a Pakistani bomb?
    1998 [FAS]
  • ~25 (25+) warheads 1999 (25 by theater bomberss) [FAS]
    • Romania Plutonium program under Ceausescu 1989 stopped [FAS]
    North Korea 1980s-now (ongoing) - 2 (possibly) [FAS]
    Iraq 1987-now (ongoing) ??? [FAS]
    Iran
  • 1987-now clandestine nuclear weapons program ??? (technology and production base inadequate to the task of producing nuclear weapons for many years; the economic situation has constrained the funding of military improvements generally)
  • IAEA inspections since 1992 revealed no NPT violations [FAS]
    • Libya1977, with Pakistan? Ghadaffi talks about it, abandoned in 1980s? [FAS]
    Syria 1979 alledged - but too strapped for cash to get far [FAS]
    Algeria 1982 never confirmed program, alledgedly to counter Libya, with Chinese and Argentinan help.
    1992 IAEA, 1995 NPT + IAEA inspections find nothing [FAS]
    Serbia1958 - 1984 plutonium production, but no indication of activities associated with weaponization [FAS]

    Chemical weapons

    Chile, China, Ethiopia, Egypt, France, India, I Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, UK, US [FAS]

    Biological weapons

    Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Laos, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Kirea, Syria, Taiwan, Vietnam, US [FAS]