(WMR)—In 1979, during the CIA’s covert war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the CIA’s propaganda operatives placed stories in U.S. newspapers and wire services that the Soviets were using poison gas in their war with the U.S.-supported mujaheddin guerrillas. The CIA charged that the Soviets used soman, a nerve gas possessed but never used by Nazi Germany in World War II, against rebels near Faizabad and Jalalabad, as well as in the provinces of Bamiyan and Takhar.
Just as with propaganda about the Syrian army’s use of chemical weapons in Syria today, the “anonymously-sourced” intelligence used to pillory the Soviets in Afghanistan was said to have come from “defecting Afghan army officers and other refugees.” Today, the sources of the stories about Syrian army use of chemical weapons in Syria are primarily emanating from the Free Syrian Army. Syrian government “defectors,” and refugees.
U.S. leaders have likened Syria’s alleged use of sarin gas as rivaling the atrocities of Nazi Germany with allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “another Hitler.” During the Soviet-Afghan mujaheddin war, the CIA propaganda claimed that Soviet forces used nerve gas that even Hitler refused to use.
However, the Carter administration never could produce the level of proof it required to bring the Soviet nerve gas use charges before the United Nations Security Council. The Carter administration also had its own “neocon” advocate for raising the specter of Soviet use of lethal chemical weapons in Afghanistan. He was Undersecretary of State for Security Assistance, Science, and Technology Matthew Nimetz.
Nimetz today is a UN special envoy for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a close associate of George Soros.
On June 6, 1980, a herbicide gas was released in a girls’ school in Kabul by suspected rebel forces. The gas attack put several unconscious students in the hospital for a number of hours.
Gas canisters marked “CDS 517, Made in USA” were captured from rebel forces and displayed by the Afghan government. Afghan security forces also recovered other canisters from rebel caches in Ghazni marked “M112” with the warning: “Beware. Poison. Do not heat. Releases poison gases.” Afghan forces also recovered from the rebels anti-tank rocket launchers designed to release poison gas on impact. The rocket launchers were marked “RKT 83mm heat blindicide M12.”
Some of the canisters identified the source of the chemical weapons, Made in USA. Federal Laboratories, PA.” Federal Laboratories, Inc., of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, was a subsidiary of Breeze Corporation of Union City, New Jersey. The firm is now known as Federal Laboratories Chemical Corporation.
The CIA has had long experience in the use of chemical weapons in civil wars and in the art of using them in false flag attacks designed to create sympathy for U.S.-backed rebel forces.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
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Chemical weapons propaganda: an old CIA trick
Posted on September 18, 2013 by Wayne Madsen
(WMR)—In 1979, during the CIA’s covert war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the CIA’s propaganda operatives placed stories in U.S. newspapers and wire services that the Soviets were using poison gas in their war with the U.S.-supported mujaheddin guerrillas. The CIA charged that the Soviets used soman, a nerve gas possessed but never used by Nazi Germany in World War II, against rebels near Faizabad and Jalalabad, as well as in the provinces of Bamiyan and Takhar.
Just as with propaganda about the Syrian army’s use of chemical weapons in Syria today, the “anonymously-sourced” intelligence used to pillory the Soviets in Afghanistan was said to have come from “defecting Afghan army officers and other refugees.” Today, the sources of the stories about Syrian army use of chemical weapons in Syria are primarily emanating from the Free Syrian Army. Syrian government “defectors,” and refugees.
U.S. leaders have likened Syria’s alleged use of sarin gas as rivaling the atrocities of Nazi Germany with allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “another Hitler.” During the Soviet-Afghan mujaheddin war, the CIA propaganda claimed that Soviet forces used nerve gas that even Hitler refused to use.
However, the Carter administration never could produce the level of proof it required to bring the Soviet nerve gas use charges before the United Nations Security Council. The Carter administration also had its own “neocon” advocate for raising the specter of Soviet use of lethal chemical weapons in Afghanistan. He was Undersecretary of State for Security Assistance, Science, and Technology Matthew Nimetz.
Nimetz today is a UN special envoy for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a close associate of George Soros.
On June 6, 1980, a herbicide gas was released in a girls’ school in Kabul by suspected rebel forces. The gas attack put several unconscious students in the hospital for a number of hours.
Gas canisters marked “CDS 517, Made in USA” were captured from rebel forces and displayed by the Afghan government. Afghan security forces also recovered other canisters from rebel caches in Ghazni marked “M112” with the warning: “Beware. Poison. Do not heat. Releases poison gases.” Afghan forces also recovered from the rebels anti-tank rocket launchers designed to release poison gas on impact. The rocket launchers were marked “RKT 83mm heat blindicide M12.”
Some of the canisters identified the source of the chemical weapons, Made in USA. Federal Laboratories, PA.” Federal Laboratories, Inc., of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, was a subsidiary of Breeze Corporation of Union City, New Jersey. The firm is now known as Federal Laboratories Chemical Corporation.
The CIA has had long experience in the use of chemical weapons in civil wars and in the art of using them in false flag attacks designed to create sympathy for U.S.-backed rebel forces.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2013 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).