University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Law Faculty Publications School of Law 1993 Poison Gas Proliferation: Paradox, Politics, and Law John Paul Jones University of Richmond,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/law-faculty-publications Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation John Paul Jones & Eileen N. Wagner, Poison Gas Proliferation: Paradox, Politics, and Law, 15 Loy. L. A. Int’l & Comp. L.J. 521 (1993) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. LOYOLA OF LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW JOURNAL VOLUME 15 APRIL 1993 NUMBER 3 Poison Gas Proliferation: Paradox, Politics, and Law JOHN PAUL JONES* and EILEEN N. WAGNER** I. INTRODUCTION "If I am remembered for anything," declared then candidate George Bush in a 1988 campaign speech, "it would be this, a com plete and total ban on chemical weapons." 1 One year later, on the eve of a war in which Iraq was expected to use chemical weapons against United States troops, President Bush vetoed a bill giving him the sanctioning power to stem the global proliferation of chemical weapons. 2 After the war's outbreak, Israeli civilians within the range of Iraqi SCUD missiles and allied troops in Operation Desert Storm braced themselves for a chemical weapons attack. Despite experts' as sessments that Iraq possessed enough chemical weapons to mount a devastating attack, and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's threats to use those weapons, 3 the fighting ended without a chemical attack.