Answers sought over nerve gas plan
Cameron Stewart & Nicola Berkovic; 7/7/08
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has asked for an “urgent and full briefing” from his department about US plans to drop deadly nerve gas bombs on Diggers in Queensland in the 1960s. The secret US plan to test the effectiveness of nerve gas agents, including sarin gas, in jungle warfare called for the Menzies government to lie to Australians about the nature of the tests to avoid a public backlash. The revelations, which were contained in recently declassified top secret documents held by the National Archives, shocked Mr Fitzgibbon, who asked for an urgent briefing, promising no such tests would be considered today. The documents from 1963 to 1966 show the extreme lengths to which Washington sought to use its close alliance with Australia to further its own military research at the height of the Cold War, even at the possible cost of Australian lives. Under the plan - which is not believed to have been acted upon - 200 Australian combat troops, presumably wearing 1960s-era chemical protection suits, were to be subjected to aerial bombardment in the Iron Range rainforest near Lockhart River in far north Queensland.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23979410-5013404,00.html
Tags: Australia, Guinea Pigs, USA