Rumsfeld Wants to Use Riot Control Agents in Combat
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said February 5 that he is
trying to write rules of engagement that would allow the U.S. military
to use “nonlethal riot agents” in some situations—and
perhaps in Iraq—without breaking the law. It is a difficult
task, he said, citing “a treaty that the United States signed”
and “existing requirements.”
In his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Rumsfeld
was most likely referring to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)
and an executive order that then-President Gerald Ford issued on
April 8, 1975.
The United States signed the CWC in January 1993, and it entered
into force in April 1997. The treaty bans the possession and use
of chemical weapons but allows the use of “toxic chemicals
and their precursors” in “law enforcement including domestic
riot control purposes,” provided that “the types and quantities
are consistent with such purposes.” In addition, the CWC allows
states-parties to possess “riot control agents,” defined
as chemicals that “can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation
or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time
following termination of exposure.”
The CWC, however, bans the use of riot control agents “as
a method of warfare.” (See
ACT, December 2002.) The gray area between using riot
control agents for domestic law enforcement and for warfare remains
undefined. Some proponents of using riot control agents overseas
argue that law enforcement allows for military missions such as
peacekeeping and counterterrorism. Some opponents argue that using
riot control agents beyond domestic law enforcement would certainly
undermine the CWC and might also violate U.S. obligations under
the treaty.
In addition to restrictions under the CWC, the U.S. military is
also limited by Executive Order 11850. The order states that “the
United States renounces…first use of riot control agents in
war” with four exceptions. The military may use riot control
agents “in areas under direct and distinct U.S. military control”—for
example, to control prisoners of war. Second, the military may use
such agents when “civilians are used to mask or screen attacks
and civilian casualties can be reduced or avoided,” which might
include a situation in which civilians are used as human shields—a
concern some military experts have raised regarding a potential
conflict in Iraq. Third, riot control agents may be used in certain
rescue missions. Fourth, the military may use such agents “in
rear echelon areas outside the zone of immediate combat” to
defend convoys against rioting civilians, terrorists, and paramilitary
groups. Some analysts debate whether certain of these exceptions
would violate the CWC.
The executive order requires the secretary of defense to enforce
the prohibition against the use of riot control agents by the military
“unless such use has Presidential approval, in advance.”
In his February 5 testimony, Rumsfeld said, “Absent a presidential
waiver, in many instances our forces are allowed to shoot somebody
and kill them, but they’re not allowed to use a nonlethal riot
control agent under the law.”
Rumsfeld, however, stated his intention to try to find ways around
the restrictions when Representative Marty Meehan (D-MA) asked him
if there is any way to “untangle” the restrictions against
riot control agents “within the next month or so.”
Rumsfeld stated: “We are doing our best to live within the
straitjacket that has been imposed on us on this subject and trying
to find ways that people can—that we can write things in a
way that people can understand them and function and not break the
law and still, in certain instances, be able to use nonlethal riot
agents.”
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