Word: meselson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...would alter the very nature of war and peace, change the face of battle and of civilian life," says Matthew S. Meselson, Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences and an expert in chemical weaponry. Yet last week Congress agreed to renew chemical weapon production for the first time in ten years while providing the Army with the funds necessary to clear a site for a munitions plant in Arkansas...
Like most discussions of defense policies these days, Congressional debate centered on estimations of American security and Soviet intentions. The Senate clearly decided (52-38) that America was unable to protect itself. But along with Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, who offered testimony to the Senate, Meselson agrees that the United States retains a credible deterrent. "Contrary to popular misconception, our strength is not deteriorating," Meselson says. "We have more than enough nerve gas to force the Warsaw pact countries into putting on masks and suits on the battlefield and that is enough...
Although NATO is now training forces to function on contaminated battlefields, "The U.S. has never practiced extended field exercises," says Meselson. "Only thorough training and discipline will provide adequate protection," he adds...
...chemical weapons win a war? Meselson says, "The last year of World War I saw the use of mustard gas by the Central Axis powers. The Germans used it massively and unilaterally against relatively undefended troops. Official historians say that it was not a decisive weapon...
...Meselson puts it slightly differently: "War has always been a formalized conflict that was compartmentalized. There were war zones and there were peace zones. With chemical weapons, one could imagine combat not easily separable from peace...