U.S. confirms it supplied non-lethal gas to South Vietnamese forces
The State Department acknowledges that the United States had supplied the South Vietnamese armed forces with a non-lethal gas which disables temporarily for use in tactical situations in which the Viet Cong intermingle with or take refuge among non-combatants rather than use artillery or aerial bombardment.This announcement triggered a storm of criticism worldwide.The North Vietnamese and the Soviets loudly protested the introduction of poison gas into the war.
Secretary of State Dean Rusk insisted at a news conference on March 24 that the United States was not embarking upon gas warfare but was merely employing a gas which has been commonly adopted by the police forces of the world as riot-control agents.
