Armes chimiques : un poison occidental ?

On August 21, in the suburbs of Damascus, civilians were gassed with chemical weapons. The attack left between 400 and 1,400 dead and the images of asphyxiated children revolted Western heads of state. From a moral point of view, a "red line" had been crossed, because since the mustard gas massacres of the First World War, chemical weapons have been taboo, unbearable for democracies. In the chorus of protests, France was among the most vehement nations. François Hollande even said he wanted to "punish those who dared to gas innocent people".
But behind these cries of outrage, do not Western countries also have a share of responsibility for these massacres?
In Syria, the regime used chemicals purchased in England, Germany and - this investigation reveals - perhaps in France. In Iraq, French companies, some of them very well-known, are today being singled out for the massacre of civilians perpetrated by Saddam Hussein in 1988 in Halabja. Forty years earlier, other companies in the chemical industry had secretly supplied Nazi Germany with Zyklon B 100% made in France.
It took the work of a historian to discover it, but in Villiers-Saint-Sépulcre in Oise, a factory produced tons of the insecticide that became sadly famous for its use in gas chambers. For six months, aided by documents that were previously confidential, Jean-Baptiste Renaud investigated.
And became interested in these French people who helped dictators manufacture chemical weapons. He also found survivors of the chemical attack of August 21 in Damascus and met the Iraqi victims of the Halabja massacre who, twenty-six years after the tragedy, are still suffering from the horrible after-effects caused by chemical weapons.
From Syria to Bahrain, via Iraq, an investigation into a great hypocrisy. That of Western countries. Who on the one hand are outraged by the use of chemical weapons, but who on the other hand provide all the equipment of the perfect little chemist to the most brutal regimes in the world.

Director: Jean-Baptiste Renaud