How The Allies Might Retaliate

Although the U.S. has reserved the right to respond to chemical strikes in kind, it is unlikely to do so in the gulf war. Chemicals would achieve no military advantage that cannot be attained through conventional means, and their use by the allies would compromise long-term U.S. efforts to eliminate them from the planet. The U.S. has no chemical arms in its gulf arsenal, nor does it possess any biological weapons, having unilaterally forsworn them in 1969. Should Saddam Hussein fight dirty, however, the U.S. and its allies can retaliate by using other potent weapons against Iraqi troops. Among them:

FUEL-AIR EXPLOSIVES. The deadliest non-nuclear bombs in the allied arsenal, they disperse a highly volatile mist over a large area. When this cloud is ignited in a second explosion, the resulting blast packs nearly the wallop (but, of course, not the radiation) of a small nuclear device. The bombs also suck up oxygen, pulling the lungs and other organs of stricken troops partially out of their bodies. The mist from some fuel-air bombs can penetrate bunkers before detonating. Another advantage is that while the force of a conventional explosion decreases rapidly as one moves away from the center of the blast, the concussion of a fuel-air device is evenly distributed. The U.S. used fuel-air explosives to destroy mines in Kuwait last week and may use them against Saddam's troops to avenge a chemical strike. Some intelligence sources suspect Iraq has fuel-air bombs as well; the technology is not difficult to replicate.

NAPALM. Bombs containing this gooey gel, made from fatty acids mixed with gasoline, produce a hellish inferno when ignited, burning up everything in the target area or splattering it with the searing, sticky jelly. The naked, screaming girl in Nick Ut's famous photo from the Vietnam War was a napalm victim. British officials say that in light of its infamous reputation the allies do not intend to use it against Saddam's troops. But napalm, which is most effective against massed troops out in the open, is among allied weapons stockpiled in the gulf, and U.S. officials do not rule out its use.

GATOR BOMBS. A version of cluster bombs, they explode in midair, scattering small, hard-to-detect mines over a region as large as 90,000 sq. yds. Under normal conditions, a soldier might be able to sidestep these explosives, but in the heat of battle, there is a tendency to leap without looking. The gator bomb thus can create panic among the enemy.