Genocide: The Implications Of A Military Strike Hitting Chemical Weapons Storage Facilities

Bhopal 1984

There are four chemical weapons storage facilities in Syria according to globalsecurity.org.

The storage facilities run in the shape of a walking stick from Latakia in the north to Damascus in the south. Just 214 miles separates them. Latakia, on the coast is just 107 miles from Cyprus. (map Latakia shown as Al Ladhiqiyah and Homs shown as Hims)

Syria has a population of around 20.8 million people according to the 2011 census, the last one I could find. Although the population may have increased since then, this is offset by the 2 million souls that have left the country and an estimated 150,000 dead from the conflict.

So why are all these details important?

Well, if a missile strike hits any of the storage facilities the casualties, the dead, would run into millions. Based on the demographic data available 7 million of the total population of Syria live with 5 miles of these facilities. Then of course there is the possibility of some madman/men in Syria setting it off themselves in order to blame the Americans. The United states would have a hard time proving otherwise as the area would be a no-go zone for a considerable time.

All of the chemicals in Syria can sicken and kill in three ways. Direct contact, inhalation and ingestion. A misplaced missile could result in a situation whereby watercourse and crops are contaminated as well as incomplete vapourisation leaving residues that in the case of VX would make an area uninhabitable for a long time.

Vapourisation would spread the gas over the surrounding area, and if there’s a wind, further still. With Cyrus only 107 miles away there is a distinct possibility of some effects being felt on the island. That of course is in addition to the possibility that the Syrian regime will bomb the shit out of the area as there are western bases located there.

The after effects of such a scenario would be horrific. There is no way that that amount of bodies could be dealt with. Disease would be rife, water courses would be contaminated, animals as well as humans would die or be sickened leading to food supply disruptions. Any crops in the fields would most likely have some level of contamination. Even if the contamination was  mild future generations will suffer. Nerve agents are teratogenetic, alterations in the parental genetic code and in the sperm and egg of the parents can lead to malformation and disability in future generations. For a brief outline of chemical weapons and indications of their release click here.

Cholera, typhoid and typhus would be endemic. It’s not above the realm of possibility for bubonic plague to take hold. An increase in rats, the vector for bubonic plague increases the possibility of an outbreak.

Everything from the common cold to MERS, measles to plague will spread faster and hit harder in a total breakdown of society regardless of what the cause of that breakdown is. The death toll from such an event would be staggering.

John Kerry said:

“We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and landed only in opposition-held areas,” he said. ”All of these things we know, the American intelligence community has high confidence.”

He stated previously that1,429 people had died in the attack including 426 children. (source)

Those deaths are a tragedy, but to avenge those deaths with the deaths of millions more is a crime, a crime that can and should be punished under international law.

Criminal convictions for war crimes have been sought and achieved before. Those who knowingly took part in the Holocaust, those who took part in Rwanda and those who took part in Bosnia have been brought to justice. If the Obama administration carries out a military intervention that results in mass death and casualty he should be treated no differently.

The United Nations definition of genocide is listed under Article two, human rights.

Article Two of the convention defines genocide as:

“any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such”:

• Killing members of the group
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (source)

The convention also imposes a general duty on states that are signatories to “prevent and to punish” genocide.

There’s no mention of what happens if one of those signatories is also the perpetrator.