U.S. Ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Authors

Jonathan B. Tucker

Files

Description

On October 1, 1990, two months after Iraq’s surprise invasion and annexation of Kuwait had put the United States and other members of the international community on a collision course with the Saddam Hussein regime, President George H.W. Bush spoke to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York. He described Iraq’s brutal aggression against its neighbor as “a throwback to another era, a dark relic from a dark time.” Noting that Saddam Hussein had waged a “genocidal poison gas war” against Iraq’s restive Kurdish minority during the 1980s, President Bush hinted that if it ultimately proved necessary to liberate Kuwait by force, the United States and its allies could face Iraqi attacks with chemical weapons—highly toxic chemicals designed to incapacitate or kill.

Document Type

Book

Publication Date

12-2011

Publisher

National Defense University Press

City

Washington, DC

Recommended Citation

Tucker, Jonathan B., "U.S. Ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention" (2011). WMD Case Studies. 4.
https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/wmd-case-studies/4