Top 10 HORRIBLE and EVIL Weapons We are NOT
Supposed to Use 10. Poison Gas. Not to be confused with your baby nephew and
his highly toxic diaper, a variety of poisonous gases were used during World War I, notably
Chlorine, Phosgene, and Mustard (which is also a blistering agent that horribly burns
the skin and mucous membranes). Scientists have created a cornucopia of more
modern poison gases, such as VX, Nerve Gas (GA, GB, GD), Sarin and others. Most of these disperse with time, but Mustard
notably lingers for many years, creating an environmental nightmare. Some of these jewels of science gone mad also
blind the victim. Use of poison gas goes all the way back to
1000 BC when toxic substances such as Arsenic or irritating herbs such as Mustard were burned
to produce noxious clouds. Although first banned in 1899 and 1907 at
the Hague, the use of poisoned weapons and poison reached an all-time high during World
War I when the French became the first of the combatants to use poison gas. The 1925 Geneva Convention produced a protocol
which nations signed promising to never use poison or poison gas. (The US Senate did not ratify this treaty
until 1975!) Many countries used various forms of poison
and poison gas between the World Wars, but only Japan used these chemicals in any meaningful
way during World War II, but only against the Chinese. Since World War II, rogue states such as Iraq
have used poison gas and terrorists have employed chemical weapons. Despite enormous stockpiles of toxic chemicals,
the Soviet Bloc and Western Allies never did resort to using these weapons during the Cold
War. Non-lethal chemical agents such as tear gas,
vomiting agents, and malodorants may be used as long as they do not cause any permanent
damage. 9. Biological Toxins. These are naturally produced toxins that can
be deadly, and are treated like chemical weapons, both in use and in being legally banned. Examples include, Ricin, Saxitoxin, and Botulinum
toxin. 8. Biological Diseases. From ancient times warfare had included throwing
dead bodies infected with smallpox, plague or other diseases over the wall of fortifications
to attack the defenders. Europeans intentionally gave blankets infected
with smallpox to Native Americans, effectively wiping out enormous numbers of the Native
Americans. Weaponized Anthrax is a favorite of the 20th
and 21st Century mad military scientists. Disease could also be used to decimate an
enemy’s crops or livestock. Apocalyptic movies and television shows, novels,
and the like often depict a weaponized virus or germ (“Captain Tripps,” the “T Virus”
etc.) that becomes out of control and either kills everyone, almost everyone, or creates
zombies. Scientists claim such evil efforts at creating
a super disease can indeed cause millions or even billions of deaths. 7. Poison and Poisoned weapons. Another supposedly banned practice is using
some toxic coating on weapons to make them more lethal, such as coating bullets in cyanide
or some such poison. The past practice of poisoning water supplies
with either chemicals, diseases, or toxins is also frowned upon today. Booby traps containing sharp bamboo staves
(Pungi sticks) supposedly dipped in Water Buffalo urine or feces were used by the Viet
Cong against Americans in Viet Nam. 6. Nukes in Space. A treaty known best as The Outer Space Treaty
(the formal name is ridiculously long) bans the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction from
outer space, and bans the militarization of the Moon. This treaty, circa 1967, was meant mainly
to keep Nukes from being stationed in orbit above the Earth. An oversight in drafting the treaty failed
to include stationing conventional weapons in space, which includes some not so conventional
stuff, just not Nukes or chemicals and biologicals. What about lasers or other death-ray type
devices that can shoot down an enemy’s nuclear missiles? This is up for debate. 5. Napalm and Fire Weapons against Civilians. After the US and UK incinerated German and
Japanese cities during World War II, including their populations, it took until 1980 that
a treaty banning incendiary weapons such as Napalm as used against civilian targets. The United States refused to agree to this
International Law until 2009, and even then, with the reservation that we could use these
fire weapons on civilians if such use would save more civilian lives than such use cost! (Try to figure that equation!) 4. Neutron Bomb. A nuclear bomb with a small yield blast but
with enhanced radiation (ERW) in order to produce a brief but intense dose of radiation. This enhanced amount of radiation is meant
to kill mass quantities of people (soldiers?) while minimizing damage to buildings and infrastructure. Sound fiendish to you? It sounded fiendish to the Allies of the US
and these Allies refused to have such weapons based in their countries during the 1980’s,
and the ERW’s that were produced were quietly retired. Another use of the ERW’s was to use in warheads
of anti-ballistic missile, missiles, with the hope that the large release of radiation
would deactivate or cause partial fission of incoming nuclear warheads. International opinion and not an actual treaty
has banned these weapons. (“Dirty bombs” are highly radioactive
material blown up and scattered over a large area, without a nuclear explosion and are
kind of related to ERW’s. The idea of a “dirty bomb” fascinates
terrorists that cannot build an actual nuclear weapon.) 3. Dum-Dum bullets. The invention and use of smokeless gunpowder
resulted in bullets traveling so fast down the rifle bore that the lead would be wiped
off by the rifling grooves and the bore would foul and the bullets would not go straight. The solution was to encase the lead bullet
in a “jacket” of copper gilding metal. The result of such a “full metal jacket”
bullet was that the bullet would not flatten on impact with a person, and would often zip
right through a body leaving minimal damage to flesh and bone. The British Army came up with a solution at
the Dum Dum Arsenal in India, which was to remove the nose area of jacket (a soft point)
from the bullet, exposing a soft lead nose that would expand in a person, possibly even
fragmenting, leaving a massive, horrible wound. A similar technique quickly followed, that
of leaving a hollow cavity in the nose of the bullet (a hollow point) which gave a similar
performance to the soft point. Germany protested this development in 1898,
and in the Hague Convention of 1899 expanding bullets were outlawed for military use. Note: Exploding bullets were banned in 1868. 2. Blinding weapons. The 1980 Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons
outlawed the use of lasers or other such devices to cause permanent blindness to the enemy
soldiers. Unfortunately, the use of laser range finders
and laser guided weapons can still “incidentally” cause blindness without violating the law. 1. Non-detectable Fragments. Another fiendish weapon is the use of non-metallic
mines, bullets, or bomb casings (usually mines to avoid mine detection). These weapons may use various plastics or
glass that does not show up on X-rays or other medical detection devices and may cause undue
suffering and misery to the victim by preventing effective medical treatment. Bonus Hellish Weapon: Unmarked, scatterable anti-personnel mines
would include those cluster bomb delivered instant minefields that can easily be blundered
into by civilians. In fact, mines from past wars, even many decades
ago blow up and maim thousands of civilians every year, as millions and millions of mines
have been either hidden by shallow burying or scattered about the countryside in countless
wars. Anti-tank mines and command detonated mines
are still allowed, but for anti-personnel mines to be used they must be able to be deactivated
remotely when not needed and the mine field must be clearly marked. Kids are especially vulnerable to anti-personnel
mines as they often play with the little bombs when the mines are found.
