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Article: U.S. Reports Disputed `Yellow Rain' Charges
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 30, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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On Sept. 13, 1981, in a major speech in West Berlin, Secretary of
State Alexander M. Haig Jr. announced to the world that the United
States had firm evidence that deadly chemical weapons were being used
in Asia.
Only 13 days before his declaration, U.S. analysts had warned the
State Department not to make such an announcement. The evidence,
they said, could not yet support such a charge.
With that dramatic discrepancy the U.S. government began its
campaign to show that "yellow rain," a terrible new poison weapon,
was being used by the Soviets and their allies in Southeast Asia.
It was called "yellow rain" because many of the reports of
"attacks" referred to droplets of a yellow substance ...