Are today's terrorists more likely to use chemical and biological weapons?

March/April 1998 Vol. 54, No. 2 Terrorism's New Breed Are today's terrorists more likely to use chemical and biological weapons? by Jose Vegar It could be any American city: New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Washington, D.C. A sunny spring day is suddenly punctured by the blare of sirens, as police and firefighters race to a shopping mall, or a government building, or a train or bus station. Once on the scene, emergency personnel in protective suits hurry …

…Germany, which patented the nerve gas tabun. Between 1930 and 1945, the Japanese used a huge arsenal of chemical and biological weapons in Manchuria, China. Following World War II, a number of Western countries incinerated captured chemical stocks or dumped large quantities of chemical weapons into the world's oceans, although large arsenals still remain. The most recent use of chemical weapons was in the 1980s, when the Iraqi army devastated Kurdish villages with chemical attacks.--J. V.