The following article appeared as part of Paul Johnson's ‘London Diary' on December 16th.
"The chances of an intesfication of the Vietnam war in 1967 seem to me very considerable. In Saigon Dean Rusk held out little hope that the Christmas truce would be extended: on the contrary the US will concentrate on persuading its allies (includ ing Britain) to participete in the struggle, The very heavy losses US aircraft now suifer over the North may lead LBJ to authorise the use of missiles against the targets in the Hanoi- Haiphong area: this would be a very definite escalation. What I fear even more is an increase in ths use of toxic gases and chemicals in the South. For some time the use of non-lethal gases has been left to the discretion of US area commanders in he South: these include nausea gas (DM). Tear gas, sprayed from helicopters, can be used at the discretion of commanders in the field. A working party cf the Medical Association for the Prevention of War expresses the growing concern of scientists that more and more nations are now making and stockpiling killer gases and biological weapons. Its chairman, Professor Penrose, has sent me an article in the 'New England Journal of Medicine’ which surveys the whole range of these weapons, and in particular the nerve gases, described as 'the newest, the most effective and the most likely to be used',
What makes these gases so attractive to generals is their sheer efficiency. Bcing odourless and colourless, they Bive no warning. They are rapid and effective even in low concentrations. They are 1 times more deadly than mustard gas, 30 times more deadly than phosgene. “At the concentrations attainable under field conditions, even a single inhalation can kill", These gases were first invented by the Nazis under the names of Tabun, Sarin and Soman. The Americans call them G agents (GA, GB and GC); they have also produced less volatile gases called V agents, particularly a liquid called VX. G agents have been produced and stockpiled in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver and at a plant in Newport, Indiana. Already in 1964 the ‘Washington Post' disclosed that the Indiana plant with 300 civilian employees, had been operating for 24 hours a day for three years. The gas is put into rockets, land-mines and shells, which are then shipped to operational units through normal channels. The US Army Field Manual FM3-10 gives detailed instructions to field commanders for their tactical use. The temptation of frustrated US commanders to use them against the 'Vietcong' is great and growing and there is no legal restriction on the US government to give them authority to do so. A 1959 House resolution to ban them was defeated, and US Army Field Manual FM 27-10, 'The Law of Land Warfare', states flatly:
"The United States is not a party to any treaty, now
in forde, that prohibits or restricts the use in
warfare of toxic or non toxic gases, of smoke or
incendiary materials, or of bacteriological warfare".
One New Year resolution we might all make is to campaign for the international banning of all these hateful weapons".