When America Quits: What is Yellow Rain? Why Does it Matter?

This Article was written by Four Inch Heels.

The affidavit filed by the undercover agent in support of the criminal complaint in the alleged plot to stage an armed coup against the current Communist government in Laos, mentions the use of “yellow rain” against the Hmong people by the government of Laos.

"...[Harrison] JACK told me the Laotian government was engaging in genocide against the Hmong people living in Laos, and that the Hmong community was very sensitive about protecting their people. . .”

"[Harrison] JACK telephoned me on the afternoon of March 7, 2007. JACK called the cellular telephone I use for undercover operations, and I recorded this call. JACK told me he had spent the day with the Hmong leadership at the CHP [California Highway Patrol] Academy and that there had been some developments. JACK told me he had been in touch with Amnesty International and that they were interested in helping end the spraying. ...”

The affidavit was filed in conjunction with Complaint Charge. filed, June 4, United States District Court, Eastern District of California.

The charges are only allegations and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

”Ring Around the Rosie”

An incident reported by Anthony LoBaido illustrates the sad history of the Hmong with so-called Yellow Rain. While [Karen] LaSalle [a missionary] speaks with the village's women, the Hmong children gather and form a circle. Soon they are moving about in clockwise fashion and singing a familiar song in the French language.

"Ring around the rosie 
/ Pocket full of posies /
Ashes, ashes /
We all fall down."

While most Westerners might think of this ditty as a simple children's rhyme, it is anything but that to the Hmong.

"I learned earlier this year that another French missionary had taught the Hmong children this song. It is a very old song which dates back to the Black Plague in Europe. Nostrodamus helped to cure the plague by giving the sick rose petals to eat," said LaSalle.

"Everyone knows that the government of Laos used biochemical weapons sent by the Russians for use against the Hmong. And the missionaries have taught the Hmong children this rhyme as a part of an oral tradition aimed at remembering the biochemical genocide enacted against them," she said.”

That article was written in l999. Yet the in the affadavit, the defendants are reported to have expressed concern about Yellow Rain being used now.

The Department of State, Fact Sheet issued on October 1, 2005, posted a case study on Yellow Rain:

"Overview

Reports in the 1970s of Yellow Rain, alleged chemical/toxin weapons attacks in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan, sparked the first large-scale investigation conducted by the United States into allegations of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) use. While the United States officially found that toxin weapons had been used in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan, questions regarding use, agent composition and responsibility still remain. The Yellow Rain case study focuses attention on some of the difficulties that can arise during an investigation, including problems in obtaining good data, the challenges in confirming use and reaching an attribution determination in the absence of such data, and the consequences that flow from these difficulties.

Background

Starting in 1976 in Laos, 1978 in Cambodia (Kampuchea) and 1979 in Afghanistan, there were reports of chemical or toxin weapons use against the Hmong, Khmer and Afghans. The alleged attacks were often described as a helicopter or plane flying over a village and releasing a colored cloud that would fall in a manner that looked, felt and sounded like rain. The most commonly reported color was yellow. Thus the reported attacks in the three nations became known as ‘Yellow Rain’.

The similarities in the descriptions of attacks and subsequent symptoms in Laos, Cambodia and Afghanistan raised suspicions that the same agent was being used. All three locations were linked in some manner to the Soviet Union. In Afghanistan, the Soviets were directly involved in the war, and in Laos and Cambodia, they supported Pathet Lao and Communist Vietnamese forces.

Beginning in 1979, investigations by multiple countries and the United Nations were conducted into the allegations of chemical/toxin weapons use in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan. In 1981, the United States Secretary of State announced that physical evidence had been found, proving that mycotoxins (poisonous substances produced by fungi) supplied by the Soviet Union were being used as a weapon against civilians and insurgents in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan.

The United States determination that toxin weapons were being used was based on an investigation by U.S. government employees, who, with the assistance of volunteers and refugees from the affected countries, collected biomedical and environmental samples for laboratory analysis, acquired medical data on alleged victims, administered questionnaires regarding alleged attacks, and searched for other information that could confirm or refute aspects of the refugee reports. The United States continued its investigation through the mid-1980’s, collecting and analyzing pertinent information on the alleged attacks.

Not everyone concurred with the finding that Yellow Rain was CBW attacks involving mycotoxins. Some nations were unsuccessful in finding mycotoxins in their sample analysis, the United Nations found the evidence to be inconclusive, and an alternative hypothesis emerged, suggesting that the ‘yellow rain’ reported by the Hmong, Khmer and Afghans was actually just a naturally occurring phenomenon of a swarm of Asian honeybees defecating in flight.

Discussion of Obligations

Several international legal agreements and obligations under customary international law are applicable to the Yellow Rain case study.

The 1925 Geneva Protocol outlaws the use in war of any poison, and is deemed to cover any use of chemical, biological or toxin weapons. Under the terms of the Protocol, however, the parties agreed to be bound "as between themselves," and thus the Protocol applies only where belligerents to a conflict are also parties to the Protocol. While the Soviet Union was a party to the Protocol at the time, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos were not, and therefore the Protocol would not apply to the conflicts in those countries. However, based on developments since 1925, the U.S. took the view (shared by a large majority of states) that by the time of the Yellow Rain allegations, the prohibition on first use of chemical, biological and toxin weapons embodied in the Protocol had been recognized as part of customary international law and hence binding on all states regardless of adherence to the Protocol. Thus, even if the Protocol did not apply, first use of chemical or toxin weapons in any way by any state would constitute a violation of customary international law.

The 1972 Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BWC) specifically forbids the stockpiling, acquisition, development or transfer of biological or toxin agents for hostile purposes. The Soviet Union was a party to the BWC at the time of the Yellow Rain allegations. The Chemical Weapons Convention was not concluded until 1993.

Under this legal structure, if the agent in question were a chemical, it would fall under the prohibition in customary international law on first use of chemical weapons. On the other hand, if the agent were biological or a toxin, it would be subject to both the customary international law prohibition on first use of such weapons and the BWC prohibitions. Additionally, any use of a chemical, biological or toxin weapon against civilians resulting in larige scale morbidity and mortality is a human rights violation and a war crime.. . ."

For those interested in more reading on “Yellow Rain”— See this article by Robert W. Wannemacher, Jr. Ph.D. and Stanley L. Weiner, MD on Trichothecene Mycotxins, which includes a significant bibliography.