Re: BW Controversy

[<DasHaas@aol.com>]

John 2

       I'm coming into this a bit late, but perhaps I can add a bit of perspective on the allegations that the US used BW during the Korean War.

       During my research for Apollo's Warriors (see below my sig block) I was on a government contract, cleared to research Korean War subjects in both DOD and CIA databases, up to the Top Secret level.  Which I did.  I mention this only because it is extremely rare for any author to have access to classified data for the purpose of having such data declassified for subsequent publication.  Which I also did.  

  While I would never claim to have read a fraction of the billions of classified documents relating to that war, I can tell you that my research focused on intelligence and special operations subjects, and never once did I come across so much as a hint that the US even considered the use of BW.  Nukes, yes (as we know); BW, no.

   What I did come across was a never-ending, predictably shrill, and crude communist propaganda campaign to persuade the world that the US was in fact using BW.  In March 51, MacArthur sent BrigGen/Dr. Crawford Sams behind enemy lines to check out these propaganda claims, as the communists for once were being specific about a locale.  Escorted by CIA guerrillas, the Dr. examined many sick North Koreans (this was near Wonsan), learning that they were suffering from hemorrhagic smallpox; the kind of epidemic one would expect to see following the breakdown of North Korea's already primitive public health system.  Sams presented his finding to the UN, which put a temporary--and only temporary--halt to the communist bullshit re: BW.

  There must still be some juicy secrets left to tell about that war, but US-use of BW isn't going to be one of them.  Regards.

       


Col. Mike Haas, USAF, ret., author
Apollo's Warriors:  US Air Force Special Operations during the Cold War
In the Devil's Shadow:  UN Special Operations during the Korean War