US military set to destroy last of huge chemical weapons arsenal
The US military is close to eliminating the last of its vast arsenal of chemical weapons – a milestone in the history of warfare dating back to the first world war.
Workers at the Blue Grass army depot at a sprawling military installation in the middle of the rolling green hills of eastern Kentucky are close to destroying rockets filled with GB nerve agent – also known as sarin – that are the last of the United States’ declared chemical weapons.
The move would complete a decades-long campaign to clear a stockpile that by the end of the cold war totaled more than 30,000 tons.
It is a significant watershed for Richmond, Kentucky, as well as the area around Pueblo, Colorado, where an army depot destroyed the last of its chemical agents last month. It is also a defining moment for arms control efforts worldwide.
The US faces a 30 September deadline to eliminate its remaining chemical weapons under the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which took effect in 1997 and was joined by 193 countries.
The munitions being destroyed in Kentucky are the last of 51,000 M55 rockets with GB nerve agent, AKA sarin, that have been stored at the depot since the 1940s.
By destroying the munitions, the US is officially underscoring that these types of weapons are no longer acceptable on the battlefield and sending a message to the handful of countries that have not joined the agreement, military experts say.
“One thing that we’re really proud of is how we’re finishing the mission. We’re finishing it for good for the United States of America,” said Kim Jackson, manager of the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.
Chemical weapons were first used in modern warfare in the second world war, where they were estimated to have killed at least 100,000 people. Despite their use being subsequently banned under the Geneva Conventions, countries continued to stockpile the weapons until the treaty calling for their destruction.
The Colorado and Kentucky sites were the last among several, including Utah and the Johnston Atoll, where the nation’s chemical weapons had been stockpiled and destroyed. Other locations included facilities in Alabama, Arkansas and Oregon.
Kingston Reif, an assistant US secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control, said the destruction of the last US chemical weapon “will close an important chapter in military history, but one that we’re very much looking forward to closing”.
Officials say the elimination of the US stockpile is a major step forward for the Chemical Weapons Convention. Only three countries – Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan – have not signed the treaty. A fourth, Israel, has signed but not ratified the treaty.
Reif noted that there remains concern that some parties to the convention, particularly Russia and Syria, possess undeclared chemical weapons stockpiles.
Still, arms control advocates hope this final step by the US could nudge the remaining countries to join. But they also hope it could be used as a model for eliminating other types of weapons.
“It shows that countries can really ban a weapon of mass destruction,” said Paul F Walker, vice-chairman of the Arms Control Association and coordinator of the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition. “If they want to do it, it just takes the political will and it takes a good verification system.”