Seminars Series: Abstract

3.30pm
October 09 2009
Seminar Room 1.03, Ground Floor, Hedley Bull Centre, Bldg # 130, Garran Road

A Farewell to 'WMD': The Language amd Science of Mass Destruction
Dr Christian Enemark, Senior Lecturer, Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney (and Director, National Centre for Biosecurity, University of Sydney)

Before invading Iraq in 2003, the US and its allies accused that country of illegally possessing ‘weapons of mass destruction’ (WMD). The case for war featured constant repetition of the WMD threat; language which conflated the high likelihood that Iraq possessed chemical weapons, which constitute a minor threat, with the lack of evidence that it possessed nuclear weapons, which are vastly more damaging.

This paper presentation advocates abandoning the term WMD in official and academic discourse. The term is misleading technically and dangerously vulnerable to political manipulation. Lumping nuclear, biological and chemical weapons together as WMD downplays important scientific, strategic and ethical differences. In the interests of sound policymaking and academic analysis, it is important to avoid generating the impression that dissimilar types of weaponry present comparable challenges in the areas of deterrence, defence and non-proliferation.