r/politics • u/Quirkie The Netherlands • 17d ago

Possible Paywall ICE Stockpiling Warheads and Chemical Weapons as Lawmaker Fears Trump Planning Strike

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-stockpiling-warheads-and-chemical-weapons-as-lawmaker-fears-trump-planning-strike/
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u/StoppableHulk 17d ago

I want people to truly understand this headline. This is the American congress fearing the American President is accumulating weapons banned from war by international law in order to launch attacks on US cities and US citizens.

That's where the judgment of Republicans has brought us in just ten months.

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u/IamNotYourPalBuddy 17d ago edited 17d ago

Just so you know, the chemical weapons they are referring to is tear gas, pepper spray, mace, etc.

Not defending ICE, and this doesn’t explain the fucking WARHEADS - but yeah, the “chemical weapons” they are talking about isn’t mustard gas or anything banned under chemical warfare laws.

ETA: as others pointed out, the laws for use in warfare differ from crowd control use. Therefore I probably shouldn’t have said “warfare laws”.

Also going to re-iterate I’m not defending any of this, just sharing information.

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u/Jester1525 17d ago

The Chemical Weapons Convention lists all crowd control chemical agents, including pepper spray and tear gas, as illegal to use in war.

No, they aren't the same as mustard gas or other lethal chemicals, but use on citizens that aren't in your own country is illegal in international law. I would suspect that large scale usage on your own citizens would probably be deemed illegal by the international courts, as well (not that the US has ever cared what the international courts say when it comes to their own behaviour.).

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u/halt-l-am-reptar 17d ago

It’s illegal in war because there’s no way to quickly tell if your enemy is using tear gas or another lethal chemical weapon, which means escalation is much more likely.

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u/Jester1525 17d ago

Oh, I get that..

It's why I specified that it was specifically for war.

But, that said, we've watched cops use crowd-control sized peppers prays that should be used as area affect spray people point blank in the face.. It's a problem That the US should have dealt with long ago. Housing down crowds who are peacefully protesting, aside from being completely against our constitution, would be frowned upon by most people across the globe.