Colin J. McAtee
Mrs. Harkins
Composition
15 May 2014
Thesis
The United States should limit the weapons of mass destruction in other countries because they are a threat not only to us and our allies, but to the world at large.
What is a Weapon of Mass Destruction?
According the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s webpage, Weapons of Mass Destruction are defined under the United States of America Law as:
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) are defined in US law (18 USC §2332a) as:
“(A) any destructive device as defined in section 921 of this title (i.e. explosive device);
(B) any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors;
(C) any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector (as those terms are defined in section 178 of this title)
(D) any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life.”
What is means is that any weapons that are explosive in nature (i.e. grenade, rocket propelled grenade, bomb, rocket, mine), any weapons other than a shotgun or shotgun shell approved by the attorney general to be suitable for sporting purposes that have a bore of greater than 0.5” are considered Weapons of Mass Destruction under United States Law. It also refers to weapons that use chemicals to cause serious bodily harm or even death (i.e. sarin, VX, mustard gas), any weapon that use a living virus or bacteria to cause bodily harm or death (i.e. Anthrax), and finally nuclear weapons that emit and/or release radiation or radioactive levels dangerous to human life (“What Are Weapons of Mass Destruction”), are all considered weapons of mass destruction. Although, w...
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Works Cited
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The term weapon of mass destruction has been in existence since the 1930’s. Weapons of mass destruction can be better identified as nuclear weapons, biological weapons, chemical weapons, or radiological weapons. A true definition of weapons of mass destruction is “any destructive device; any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors; any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector; any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life”. Weapons of mass destruction, also known as WMD’s, can be described as nuclear bombs, missiles, toxic chemicals, or hand grenades, artillery shells, and even ammunition often used in cannons. . These weapons of mass destruction are used in some countries on a daily basis. The sole purpose for using WMD’s should be for protection, however, if used by persons other than the military they can be used for nefarious reasons. This paper will identify reasons why the UK has joined forces with other organizations to stop the use of weapons of mass destruction, and their reasoning behind it. It will also illustrate why I believe that weapons of mass destruction are necessary for the protection of our people, our country. The United Kingdom has taken a stand and plans to stop the widespread use of weapons of mass destruction. The United Kingdom will need to use its weapons of mass destruction to save the lives of soldier’s during war. While the UK government has weapons of mass destruction, they do not believe in using them because they believe weapons of mass destruction raises serious humanitarian and security...
The images are haunting: men in gas masks rapid firing through dusky vapors, people contorted with a pain that comes from within. It is a common held belief that chemical warfare is a form of modern warfare and the First World War is recognised for introducing this type of combat. Recent archaeological finds show that this may not be the case.
During the past century, more than 500 million people have died due to infectious diseases. Several tens of thousands of these deaths were due to the deliberate release of pathogens or toxins. Two international treaties outlawed biological weapons in 1925 and 1972. Unfortunately, these treaties have failed to stop countries from conducting offensive weapons research and large-scale production of biological weapons. As our knowledge increases on these disease-causing agents, so does our fear of future threats of biological warfare (Frischknecht, 2003).
HQ, Department of the Army. (2014). Army Techniques Publication 3-11.24: TECHNICAL CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NUCLEAR, AND EXPLOSIVES FORCE EMPLOYMENT. Washington, DC: HQ, Department of the Army.
Seth Schonwald M.D. A.B.M.T. (1992, July). Mustard Gas. The PSR Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 2
Organphosphorus compounds such as Soman, Sarin, VX, and Tabun are referred to as nerve agents and are among the most lethal chemical weapons that were developed. These chemicals were used to cause catastrophic results in wars and also in terrorist attacks (Albuquerque, E, Pereira, E, Aracava, Y, Fawcett, W, Oliveria, M, Randall, W, Hamilton, T, Kan, R, Romano, J, Adler, M, 2006) . A major attack that involved the use of Sarin was in Matsumoto in 1994.The following timeline describes the events leading up to the tragic incident.
At the beginning of time, mundane spears and bows were used to carry out attacks and wars. As time progressed, these weapons were being complemented or phased out by high tech equivalents. Although chemical and biological weapons may seem rather new, the reality is that they have been used in ancient times, with chemical weapons dating back to 600 B.C. (Science History Institute) and biological ones dating back to 400 B.C. (emedicinehealth.com). It is extremely important for all countries to be aware of chemical and biological weapons because they sometimes can only be caught when it is too late, which makes it extremely difficult to save lives and protect societies. Although the U.N. has done a lot to make sure that these weapons are properly
"'War of Nerves': A History of Chemical Weapons." Talk of the Nation 8 May 2006.Opposing
Riedel, Stefan. “Biological Warfare and Bioterrorism: A Historical Review.” NCBI. Baylor University Medical Center, 17 Oct. 2004. Web. 19 May 2014.