A Brief History
On June 28, 1987, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Air Force became the first military force in history to purposely target civilians with chemical weapons when they attacked the town of Sardasht, Iran with “mustard” gas.
Digging Deeper
Iraq was at war with Iran at the time, a particularly nasty affair. Additionally, the people of Sardasht (perhaps 20,000) were Kurds, an ethnic group that also lives in Iraq and Turkey and has been clamoring for an independent country of their own. Thus, the ruthless regime of Saddam Hussein could kill 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak, by attacking the Kurds.
When the bombs fell on 4 residential neighborhoods, they did not explode like normal bombs, at first making the people think they were duds. Then the mustard gas issued forth upon the unprepared and unsuspecting population. About 8000 people were exposed, and about 4500 of those needed treatment for chemical burns and injured lungs.
The so called mustard gas is what is called a blistering agent, leaving large blisters on the skin and terribly irritating body openings such as ear, nose, throat and eyes, but especially lungs. A victim that gets heavy exposure to the agent may drown in his own bodily fluids as his lungs blister. Additionally, although only about 5% or can be expected to die, the rest of the people may well become ill enough to be disabled temporarily or their health may be impaired for the rest of their lives.
The gas is a compound of disulfer dichloride or sulfer dichloride or other chemicals, and was first developed and used by Germany during World War I. The advantage of mustard gas is that a gas mask will protect the lungs, but any exposed skin may be injured. The name comes from the liquid form of the “mustard” mixture of chemicals, it is a yellowish brown and it smells like mustard or horseradish.
The use of poison gas and other chemicals, including mustard, was outlawed by the Geneva Protocol of 1925, and the production and stockpiling, as well as use was again outlawed by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. Apparently Mr. Hussein did not care for the international law.
Mustard is also a “persistent” weapon, one that does not rapidly breakdown and remains toxic for decades. The US, The UK, Germany and other countries have over the years disposed of excess mustard weapons and stockpiles in environmentally unsafe ways, by burying without proper documentation and protection or by dumping in the ocean. Farmers in Europe have plowed up ground contaminated by mustard from World War I and been injured, and fishermen and other people have encountered it accidentally while fishing or excavating. The US has disposed of it and other chemical weapons in recent years by incineration.
At Sardasht, at least 130 people died from the gas attack, and it is unknown how many others suffer from long term or permanent health problems, but it is likely to be hundreds. Of course, there are likely to be traces of the toxin in the area attacked, just waiting to hurt someone. Aside from the burning and blistering, mustard also causes cancer and genetic mutation.
Chemical weapons are a diabolical way of attacking an enemy, let alone civilians and deserve to be banned. With Syria and other rogue nations maintaining stockpiles, it is probably a matter of time before the chemical weapons are used again.
Question for students (and subscribers): Is there any scenario in which the use of chemical weapons could be justifiable? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Ashton, Nigel and Bryan Gibson. The Iran-Iraq War: New International Perspectives (Cold War History). Routledge, 2012.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2769 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2769">30 Comments
Even though the mustard gas is not an actual explosive bomb it still sounds absolutely terrible and horrific. I would never want to be anywhere near such an awful weapon. As far as how the countries are disposing of it are scary and irresponsible.
Mustard gas sounds like a horrible poison! I would hate to be near that when it detonated.
Unfortunately, terrorists do not abide by laws and regulations! — DAVID WARDLE
Terrorists have their own plans and don’t care who is in the way
I think it’s sad that innocent civilians have to suffer at the hands of others. I agree with the other comments; Terrorists do not listen to laws.
This type of gas had to be very horrific for those people who contained it.
Chemical warfare is a scary tactic that could affect anyone at anytime. Such a shame that civilians are even a target
Chemical and biological warfare are very scary….as Heather said, civilians being targeted is a shame. I would say Immoral but I don’t think Hussein’s morals were anywhere near being in tact.
I really think using chemical weapons in any situation is completely immoral
Soldiers are made from civilians, and equipment is manufactured by civilians; this is the rationale that makes them, in the minds of some, legitimate targets in war.
Not saying I agree or disagree, but there it is.
That is horrible that innocent civilians had to suffer.
I think a great idea to use in war but not to just try it out against people that never did anything to the people launching the gas bombs. But its scary to handle because if they go off while working on them your done for.
The use of chemical warfare is banned but is there anything being done to enforce this? It seems like many countries aren’t afraid to use these weapons!
It’s horrible how they intentionally used the gas against civilians.
It is likely only a matter of time before this happens in more countries. If terrorists will kill themselves to kill others, they will certainly use chemical warfare.
It’s only typical that however far science can go to benefit society, it also goes to hurt society. As more and more dangerous weapons are developed, its only common that people seek to exploit the achievements made on how to kill others.
Awful to hear what these weapons can dp to a person
its terrible how they used it against civilians.
Chemical warfare is so easy to do. Scientist have so many chemicals in there everyday use it scares me what they can do with just simple cleaning supplies,
It’s so nasty to see them killing innocent people. I don’t even like the thought of war but just doing it to civilians is even worse.
Thats so crucial and un thoughtful im glad we got that under control he was out of hand.
Chemical warfare is nasty and always will be. But hopefully it never gets used.
Any man who can do this to is own people is a horrible human being and deserves to be exposed to it himself.
This is absolutely disgusting, thinking about what those people went through!
The pictures at the beginning are so disturbing. Chemical warfare is so wrong
Those pictures are not pleasant at all. They’re sickening!
Those pictures are disgusting!
After reading this article that was the one thing this article reminded me of was Syria, the recent incident over there with the killing of their women and children.
Sometimes I wonder why someone would want to do that to innocent people. It sickens me that it’s being used in Syria today.
It is horrible that civilians were attacked. What purpose does that serve?