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| Title | Houstonian, 1989 |
| Contributor (LCNAF) |
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| Date | 1989 |
| Description | This edition of the Houstonian, published by the students of the university in 1989, is the official yearbook of the University of Houston. |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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| Subject.Name (LCNAF) |
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| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
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| Genre (AAT) |
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| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
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| Original Item Location | LD2281.H745 H6 v. 55 1989 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b1158762~S11 |
| Digital Collection | Houstonian Yearbook Collection |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/yearb |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/special-collections |
| Use and Reproduction | In Copyright |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | Issues |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | yearb_1989_232.jpg |
| Transcript | The Poor Nation's A-Bomb Hundreds of men, women and children lay were they had fallen. The painfulness of their sudden deaths reflected in the twisted grimaces of faces not burned beyond recognition. This is the Iran-Iraq border; Kurdish villages in northern Iraq, and numerous other places around our dying world, where man's "silent death" has raged unchecked. Chemical weapons were first introduced to the world by Germany during the first world war. The agent of choice MUSTARD GAS, a chemical agent which burns the eyes, ears nose and lungs of the victim, killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Where as hundreds died on the fields of battle, many others lingered for years suffering painfully till death. Chemical weapons were banned-all production was not stopped but the use was suppose to be stopped. The recent resurgence of chemical warfare by and in third world countries sent 149 nations to Paris for a summit on Chemical Warfare. Finger-pointing by the United States and con- uliatroy gestures by the Soviet Union filled the neetings, but accords were reached. Yet as many coming from the summit were quick to point out the table talk produced little more than a promise to stop producing chem/war weapons. Any resolutions trying to stop production and use all together was and is unenforcible by the league of nations. Chemical weapons have long been called the "Third Worlds' Nuclear Weapon," much to leaving the conference latter claimed that 30 nations who attended the conference are known to posses the weapons. Iraq used nerve gas to turn the tide of their war with Iran. They also used gas to stim problems with Kurdish minority in their northern states. America late in 1988 revealed to the world that Libya had begun construction on a chem- the chagrin of Superpowers and their allies. The super-powers no longer have enough controlling interest in these upstart nations to curtail their interest in such weapons. At the conference the only nations to admit to having chemical weapons were the United States and the Soviet Union. Yet, officials ical plant that would produce nerve gas in large quantities. The plant was almost completed when the Paris summit convened. Several West German companies came under fire from the U.S. for aiding in the construction of the plant. Yet Libya denied having the capability to produce chemical weapons. U. S. government reports show that by mid- 1988 Libya had produced and sold poison gas to the government of Somalia. At the same time the summit was concluding in Paris, nerve gas was in the process of being smuggled out of the U. S. A Korean born American businessman was arrested when he was attempting to close a deal on the purchase of 500-quarter ton bombs containing Sarin, an odorless, colorless poison which can enter the body by inhalatiion, absorption or injection. The arrest brought to light the extent that third world countries will go in order to obtain chemical weapons. Arms dealers in France, Brittain, Korea and the U. S. along with several export-import companies were implicated in the conspiracy to ship the chemical weapons to Iran. The problem is chemical weapons. The solution is their eradiction . . . that is easier said than done. As one delegate to the Paris summit stated, "It was a night of compromises producing a declaration with no mention of sanctions, export controls or verification, bluntly it has no teeth!" ► I.B.Young Chemical Warfare ■ 281 |