On Thursday, April 6, 2000, Professor Whiting’s ChE 102 class had the privilege of listening to Ambassador Richard Butler speak on the topic of Terrorism and Monitoring for Secretly Produced Weapons of Mass Destruction, specifically the science and technology aspect of these weapons. The lecture was sponsored by the College of Arts and Science Advisory Board and The Nichols Consulting Engineers Fund for Excellence Lecture Series.

Ambassador Butler is the former United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector, and was the leader of UNSCOM from July 1, 1997 to June 1999. He was also a major player in the fight against Sudaam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Butler has been a political scientist for more than 25 years, with an arms degree in Nuclear Weaponry. He voiced the fact that his entire career has been dedicated to the prevention of the spread of nuclear arms and to control missile technology, as well as biological and chemical weapons.

Then the Ambassador gave the group a brief history lesson on weapons of mass destruction up to this point. Among the points mentioned were the first chemical weapons, mustard and chlorine gases, which were used initially in World War I, and extensively by Hitler in his concentration camps. He pointed out that the first step toward international weapons control started soon thereafter in the Geneva Protocol against chemical weapons in 1925, and since then, with the exception of the Nazi Party and Hitler, those gases have basically not been used again for war purposes. Butler then gave a very brief timeline of weapons of mass destruction.

The first on this list was the innovation on nuclear warfare in Alamo Gordo, NM in 1945, followed by the Beirut Plan of 1946. Then he began to tell of agencies or organizations that were set up to prevent or control these weapons. His first note was of President Eisehower’s "Atoms For Peace" speech on Dec. 8, 1953, in which the president called for and endorsed the international control of nuclear weapons. Next was adoption of the International Atom Control Agency in 1954, followed by President Kennedy’s Nuclear Weapons Proliferation Concern speech in ‘62. He then mentioned the 1963 Partial Nuclear Testban Treaty that prohibited atmospheric testing of any nuclear weapons.

However, Mr. Butler spoke more about the importance of science and technology, and the importance of each to his profession. He congratulated the world on the fact that in a little more than 50 years, we have developed, used, and now are beginning to control the use of weapons of mass destruction. He believes that this short of times span in which we are already beginning to control the usage of the weapons shows a significant commitment against them. Ambassador Butler also mentioned a reason for these controls to come into effect having taken as long as they have, that being the system of root and branch treaties. These treaties are a maze of political agreements, signed documents, and given words between countries, while there are few international laws that the majority agrees upon and abide by.

Mr. Butler then told the audience of what he believes are the three most important points in the last half of the 20th century. These were the UN Charter of Rule of Law, Trials of Nuremberg, and the development of treaties against weapons of mass destruction. He then noted that since his talk was supposed to be centered on weapons, that he would elaborate there, and continued to make strong points for the treaties. Butler mentioned the three sides of a battle that must be won in order to have international agreement on any issue; personal, political, and enforcement. He believes that the personal aspect of the weapons of mass destruction is clear. People simply do not agree with their use. He also mentioned that the political aspect is well on its way to completion, with countries working together more and more everyday. And that, he says, brings us to the problem. Enforcement. This is the hardest portion of the battle to win, based upon the difficulty level of verification that the world is playing by the rules. He mentioned that any member of the room could make beer in a home brew kit in the morning, and have a batch of anthrax in the afternoon, making for complete safety impossible. Butler stated that this is a major problem in getting international cooperation, but stressed the point that 90% verification and protection is much better than having no controls or regulations against these weapons, and that it is imperative that we as a society continue to struggle to gain the last 10%. He also mentioned that it is the will of the states and their desire to keep international respect that will give the world the complete trust in those countries.

Ambassador Butler ended the session with what has become one of my favorite quotes, "Just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be." He was referring to Hussein and his lack of morals, and the fact that these weapons can be produced, and can go unnoticed to the world for a period, if one has the lack of conscience to lie to world.

Submitted by:

Sage Hiibel
Class of 2003