Ballistic Missiles and Chemical Weapons

Iraq’s acquisition of chemical weapons and ballistic missiles represents an effort to counter this fundamental imbalance by posing the threat of extinction to Iran with advanced weapons. Beginning in April 1988, in counterattacks against Iranian forces occupying Iraqi territory, Iraq’s forces reportedly used chemical weapons successfully to create panic among Iranian soldiers. Iraq’s missiles had rained down on Tehran, Iraqi soldiers had recaptured strategic territory, and US naval vessels had sniped at Iranian speedboats and frigates. It seems clear that killing civilians with chemicals is more emotionally revolting than killing them with high explosives, or for that matter with any number of other techniques. If concern for the Kurds were the only motivation for Kurdish fears or congressional concern, then it could have been expressed in the early 1970s, when Iraq conducted major conventional military operations against the Kurds, or even earlier in the Iran-Iraq war.