US destroys its remaining chemical weapons stockpiles

The United States announced on Monday that it had completed a years-long effort to destroy its remaining stockpiles of chemical weapons with the elimination of a rocket armed with the nerve agent sarin.

"We are proud to announce that the final two chemical munitions destruction sites, Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Army’s Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, completed their operations," Army Assistant Secretary Douglas Bush confirmed to reporters.

At the end of the Cold War, the U.S. stockpiles totaled more than 30,000 tons, The Hill reported. 

The Geneva Convention bans use of chemical weapons and the Chemical Weapons Convention demanded the the destruction of existing stockpiles. The agreement secured the signatures of 193 nations and took effect in 1997.

Chemical weapons were used to deadly effect in World War 1 on both sides. They were generally absent in the Second World War and gradually became an extreme rarity in subsequent conflicts. Their use is internationally regarded as a war crime.

The announcement comes as the U.S. prepares to provide Ukraine with another controversial weapon in the form of cluster bombs. Essentially the missile version of a shotgun, the weapon deploys dozens of explosive submissions to indiscriminately target hostiles over a wide area. The high failure rate of the submunitions has contributed to civilian casualties, as noncombatants often discover unexploded shells years later, which may still detonate upon being disturbed.

Neither the U.S., Russia, nor Ukraine has signed an international agreement banning the use of such weapons, though the Biden administration last year contended that Russian use of cluster munitions may constitute a war crime. 

The decision to provide them to Kyiv has prompted international scrutiny of the administration, including domestic attacks on the apparent reversal on their use. The White House has justified their provision to Ukraine on the basis of Russian deployment of their own cluster munitions.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.