Yellow rain revisited: Lessons learned for the investigation of chemical and biological weapons allegations
Author(s):
Katz, Rebecca Lynn
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : Princeton University, 2005.
Pages:
350
Language:
English
Abstract:
This dissertation evaluates Yellow Rain as a case study for the lessons learned in the investigation of chemical and biological weapons allegations. I use a new body of evidence on the Yellow Rain investigation to examine methodologies of weighing evidence, evaluate protocols for chemical and biological weapons investigations, and retell the story of Yellow Rain and its impact on alleged victims, international law and proliferation of chemical and biological weapons. Yellow Rain is the name commonly given to alleged chemical and toxin weapons attacks in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Allegedly, the Soviets provided Trichothecene Mycotoxin to communist Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces for use against the Hmong (an ethnic minority group) in Laos and the Khmer Rouge coalition resistance groups in Cambodia. It was also allegedly used by the Soviets themselves against the Mujahidin in Afghanistan. To evaluate the Yellow Rain investigation, I used a new body of United States government documents not previously released to the public, open source data and interviews conducted with people associated with the investigation. I analyze these data through a methodology I developed and present in Chapter Four for weighing evidence in a chemical and biological weapons investigation. Through this analysis I find that there appears to be sufficient information from a variety of sources to make a confident assessment that a chemical or toxin agent was used against the Hmong, Khmer Rouge and Mujahidin. Yellow Rain exemplifies not only how difficult it is to prove or disprove the use of chemical or biological weapons, but also the problems inherent in the domestic and international system for entering into an investigation to verify allegations of use. This case study illuminates the shortcomings intrinsic to investigations of CBW use, and demonstrates the need for the creation of standards for verification.