US eliminates stockpiles of Chemical weapons
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – President Joe Biden declared Friday that the US has successfully eliminated its stockpiles of chemical weapons, which had been in existence for several decades. This accomplishment fulfills a pledge made under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which is over thirty years old.
Biden said, in a statement, “Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the final munition in that stockpile— bringing us one step closer to a world free from the horrors of chemical weapons.”
All signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention, except for the US, had already completed the process of disposing of their declared stockpiles of chemical weapons. However, there are suspicions that some countries may still possess undisclosed reserves of such weapons.
“It marks the first time an international body has verified destruction of an entire category of declared weapons of mass destruction,” Biden added.
The declaration was made following the completion of a four-year project at the Blue Grass Army Depot, a US military installation in Kentucky. The project involved the elimination of approximately 500 tons of deadly chemical agents, which constituted the final batch of such agents held by the US military.
The US had held for decades stores of artillery projectiles and rockets that contained mustard gases, VX and sarin nerve agents, and blister agents.
Such weapons were condemned widely after their use with horrendous results on the battlefields of World War I.
But many countries retained and further developed them in the years afterward.
The Chemical Weapons Convention, agreed in 1993 and coming into effect in 1997, gave the United States until September 30 this year to destroy all of its chemical agents and munitions.
President Biden emphasized the need for ongoing diligence to ensure that all chemical weapons across the globe are eliminated. He also urged the small number of countries that have yet to join the Chemical Weapons Convention to do so without delay.
The president urged Russia and Syria to return to compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and admit their undeclared programs, which have been used to commit “brazen atrocities and attacks”.