Battlefield Contamination

Battlefield Contamination Jane Marianne Brillantes

Jon Maynard P. Pastoril

What is it?

• It is the pollution of an area of conflict after warfare

"In war, truth is the first casualty" -Aeschylus

What is it?

• The Information Age has recreated warfare.

• History has continuously reinvented power struggles

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." -John F. Kennedy

A Short History

• 400 B.C. – Spartan Greeks used sulfur fumes against opponents

• 9th Century – the discovery of gunpowder

"So long as there are men, there will be wars." -Albert Einstein

A Short History

• 1763 – Pontiac’s Rebellion involved smallpox-infected blankets and catapulting corpses

• 1860 – Alfred Nobel discovers the best method to manufacture nitroglycerine

"War is delightful to those who have not yet experienced it." -Erasmus

A Short History

• 1893 – The First Matabele War used the Maxim Gun

• 1914 – World War I characterized with the usage of poison gas

"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

A Short History

• 1939 – World War II begins. Nerve gases are invented.

• 1945 – The destruction of Hiroshima with the “Little Boy”

"Cost of a single B-2 Bomber: $2.2 Billion"

Modern Warfare

• With recent technological advances, what will the next war be like?

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -Albert Einstein

Modern Warfare

• 1961 – using Agent Orange as an ecocide in the Vietnam War

• 1995 – Tokyo subway attack with sarin gas by Japanese cult

• 2001 – Anthrax attack in the United States• 2006 – Cluster bombing of Lebanon in Israel-

Lebanon Conflict

"Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die." -Herbert Hoover

Nuclear Warfare

• Nuclear Weapons – the “Little Boy” was a joke.

• The ICBM – the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile can cause severe damage in multiple areas

• Aside from total destruction, it leaves behind nuclear fallout

"They'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. Make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations." -Robert McNamara

Minuteman III

"In war, you win or lose, live or die - and the difference is just an eyelash." -General Douglas MacArthur

Efforts Against Nuclear Warfare

• US: the President and the Secretary of Defense is required before a nuclear missile can be used

• 1996: Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty• Nuclear Weapon Free Zones• SALT and START treaties for US and

Soviet Union

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -Thomas Jefferson

Cluster Bombing

• Subdividing bombs with varying functions• Primarily used to destroy larger areas or

make them unusable• Infamous when used during the Cluster

Bombing of Nis, 1999.

"A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." -John F. Kennedy

Cluster Bombing

"Cluster bombing from B-52s are very, very, accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground." -USAF Ammo Troop

Cluster Bombing

• Show the video.

Efforts Against Cluster Bombing

• Norway has imposed a ban against it

• The recent May 2008 discussions led various countries to prohibit cluster bomb usage

• US and Germany have ongoing discussions in cluster bomb usage

"The world will not accept dictatorship or domination." -Mikhail Gorbachev

Biological and Chemical Weapons• Popularized in World Wars

• Examples are Tabun, Mustard Gas, and Chlorine Gas

• More dangerous because some necessary materials are available to civilian market

"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just brave five minutes longer." -Ronald Reagan

Biological and Chemical Weapons: Events Used• 1946: Jewish group released poison in

a prison facility for captured German soldiers

• 1991: Iraq possessed concentrated botulinum toxin, with more than enough load to kill every single human being by inhalation

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us." -George Orwell

Biological and Chemical Weapons: Events Used

• 1995: Sarin gas attack in Tokyo Subway Station

• 2001: US anthrax attack

"The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war." -Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Efforts Against Biological and Chemical Warfare• Various international laws: the Geneva

Protocol, Washington Arms Conference Treaty, Hague Conference, etc.

• Still questionable

"We're in a world in which the possiblity of terrorism, married up with technology, could make us very, very sorry we didn't act." -Condoleeza Rice

Depleted Uranium

"All warfare is based on deception." -Sun Tzu

Battlefield Contamination

• Show the Iraq-Lebanon Post War Video

References

• http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DB6D6oKY4BCg

• http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/documents/biowpns.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org/• http://www.ratical.org/radiation/dhap/• Call of Duty 4 © Modern Warfare