The term “weapons of mass destruction” refers to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons capable of causing widespread destruction. It was first used after World War II and revived during the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. There is controversy over which weapons should be considered WMDs. Numerous international treaties prohibit or restrict their use.
“Weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) is a vague term often used by politicians to refer to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons capable of causing widespread destruction. This is in contrast to conventional bombs and shells, which only cause localized damage. The term “weapons of mass destruction” first came into use just after World War II, where it was coined to refer to the atomic bomb.
Soon after the early days of the Cold War, the reference to weapons of mass destruction fell out of fashion, as the United States was massively stockpiling nuclear weapons and preferred to call them “strategic weapons” for public relations purposes. The term lay dormant for decades, until it was revived in 1990 by members of the Clinton administration during the Gulf War. Here, the term has been used to refer to chemical weapons produced by Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Weapons of mass destruction as a term acquired a more controversial flavor in 2003 when members of the Bush administration argued that the weapons of mass destruction were likely to be manufactured by Iraq and could be used to threaten the world community. This was used as justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction were found. Because of its constant use, the American Dialect Society voted WMD its word of the year in 2002, and in 2003, Lake Superior State University added WMD to its list of banned terms for “misuse, overuse and general uselessness”.
There is much controversy about which weapons should be considered weapons of mass destruction and which shouldn’t. The US FBI has defined a weapon of mass destruction as “A weapon crosses the WMD threshold when the aftermath of its release overwhelms local responders,” a very broad definition, which can refer to anything , from mortars to enough guns. Some weapons experts have argued that only nuclear weapons are true weapons of mass destruction, being substantially more devastating than chemical, biological and radiological weapons to date.
Numerous international treaties prohibit or restrict the use of certain weapons of mass destruction, including the Partial Test Ban Treaty, the Outer Space Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Arms Control Treaty on seabed, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BWC), and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
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