Chemical and Biological Weapons
57 Articles
Chemical Weapons Use Returns to Syria
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
The International Criminal Court, the Islamic State, and Chemical Weapons
Ralf Trapp recently wrote here about an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Northern Iraq…
The Investigation Into the Islamic State and Chemical Weapons
Reports of the presumed use of chemical weapons — chlorine and more recently mustard gas — by Daesh (also know as the Islamic State) in Northern Iraq and Syria have appeared…
Chemical Weapons and Secrecy: a Terrible Combination
Last week’s New York Times article detailing the fact that, between 2004 and 2011, American troops in Iraq “secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells…
Draft UN Security Council Referral of Syria to the ICC—and US Exemptions
Colum Lynch reported yesterday at Foreign Policy that the Obama administration now supports France’s draft resolution to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal…
Seymour Hersh’s Second Bite at the Apple: The Syrian chemical weapons conspiracy 2.0
In December 2013, Seymour Hersh published a potential bombshell story entitled, “Whose sarin?” The story purported to show that the White House knew it had insufficient evidence…
UK Government Issues Major Statement on Legality of Humanitarian Intervention
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has submitted an official response to questions posed by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on the legality of humanitarian…
Dissecting Seymour Hersh’s Account of the Sarin Attacks on Ghouta
I greatly admire Seymour Hersh’s investigative journalism, especially his revelations of the My Lai massacre and Abu Ghraib. If he were judged by those works alone, we should…
Excerpts of Interview with Seymour Hersh
In a video interview with Amy Goodman (no relation) aired today on Democracy Now!, Sy Hersh elaborates on his story published in the London Review of Book (LRB). Below are some…
“Tweet Roll”: Twitter Reacts to Seymour Hersh Article on Sarin Attack in Syria
As Ruchi Parekh reported in this morning’s Daily News Roundup, Seymour Hersh has published a provocative and important piece in the London Review of Books, in which he…
Bond v. United States and a Plain Statement Rule
The old adage, “bad facts make bad law,” threatens to reassert itself in an especially damaging fashion in Bond v. United States, a case now before the Supreme Court in which…
Observations on the Oral Argument in Bond
In light of the current efforts of the United States to ensure that even Syria, a nonparty to the treaty, strictly complies with the prohibitions of the Chemical Weapons Convention–and…