Word: sarin
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...June 7, CNN broadcast a story on NewsStand: CNN & TIME alleging that sarin nerve gas was used by U.S. forces in a secret operation in Laos, known as Tailwind, and that U.S. defectors were intentionally killed. TIME ran a companion story that week, "Did the U.S. Drop Nerve Gas?," written by the CNN journalists. After these stories provoked strong denials, CNN launched an investigation, overseen by the eminent attorney Floyd Abrams, and we promised that we would examine the issue and report back...
Another source was retired Admiral Thomas Moorer, who at the time was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Moorer, now 86, indicated that sarin was "available" and offered what CNN took to be a confirmation that the deadly gas was used. He now says that he never had any direct knowledge that sarin was used, never meant to confirm its use and only heard about it later through "rumors" or "verbal statements...
...June 7 CNN story that aired on NewsStand: CNN and TIME, and a companion piece in TIME written by the CNN journalists, which alleged the U.S. military used Sarin nerve gas and killed American defectors in Laos during the Vietnam War, was in error...
...protest the broadcast. Moorer issued a clarification to CNN saying that he had no documentary evidence of the use of gas and that he had not personally authorized its use. His statement said he had learned of the operation later in oral statements that indicated the use of sarin in the mission...
Last week former Green Beret officer John L. Plaster, who was present in Vietnam when the soldiers returned from the mission in Laos, said in an op-ed piece in the New York Times that sarin gas had not been used. He also disputed the allegation made by CNN's sources that the mission's purpose was to kill American defectors. CNN had quoted one officer on the mission saying he had seen and killed two defectors. Questions have subsequently been raised about his credibility. This officer and a sergeant said they were told by their Montagnard mercenaries there were...