Watchdog Agency Concludes Chlorine Used as Weapon in Syria

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29. Chlorine as a Warfare GAS???? Who went to a Swimming pool and tried to steal the cylinders?

If you understand the history of Chlorine as a Warfare Gas (described below) you quickly come to the conclusion any Chlorine was probably produced when someone tried to steal some cylinders and accidentally punched a hole in one in an enclosed space. That is where Chlorine is at its best as a gas, something rare in the combat in Syria.

Chlorine was suggested as a weapon during the US Civil War, but the North decided against using it. The main problem was chlorine, while it does seep into trenches, requires a solid concentration to be effective. It is hard to achieve that level of Concentration except by using tubes to provide the gas i.e. Chlorine is pumped from a cylinder then flows into the trenches of your opponent.

Unlike Mustard and the WWII era Nerve gases, Chlorine is a difficult gas to use effectively in combat. Thus after WWI rarely used (and even during WWI, dropped out of favor within a year of being used).

The main problem is the level of Chlorine needed to kill, about "Chlorine required a concentration of 1,000 parts per million.

Compare to Cyinde which is fatal at 226 parts per million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanide

But Nerve gas (Sarin) is 26 times as deadly as Cyanide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin

i.e. Sarin is deadly at 10 parts per Million, 100 times more deadly then Chlorine.

A Second problem, related to the first, is how do you get the concentrated needed? During WWI, that was done with tubes. The Germans built tubes right up to the British Lines and unleashed the Chlorine gas that then rolled to the British lines. It took 168 TONS of chlorine to achieve the effect, but it was an effect that was NOT long lasting.

The third problem is Chlorine gas can be removed by breathing throw a wet rag. The Chlorine reacts to the water, staying in the wet rag held over your month while you breath in Oxygen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine#Use_as_a_weapon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_weapons_in_World_War_I

For these reasons no one used Chlorine after WWI, The use of Chlorine after WWII has tend to be home ground terrorists NOT anyone doing actual fighting (Who tend to have access to better weapons, such as a rifle and in the minds of some experts on Gas Warfare, using a shovel would be more effective then using Chlorine Gas).

In 1915 the Shock value of Chlorine Gas was tremendous, but that was over within days once the limitations of Chlorine were known.

Thus I can NOT see Syria using Chlorine Gas. It is most effective against dug in positions with people who have no access to water or any form of first aid kit. Worse you can see it coming, it is NOT a colorless gas like other gases, it has its own distinct color thus easy to spot and stay out of.

Could someone being using Chlorine Gas? Yes, but I just can NOT believe anyone with any knowledge of Gas Warfare using it given its limitations.