Are Syria’s Chemical Weapons Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction?

Obama Says U.S. Seeks to Confirm Syria Chemical Arms Use

April 26, 2013

Bloomberg - President Barack Obama said the U.S. is seeking corroboration of intelligence that Bashar al- Assad’s regime in Syria used chemical weapons in that country’s civil war, reiterating that confirmation would be a “game- changer” for the U.S. response.

Speaking before a private White House meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Obama repeated the language the administration used yesterday that intelligence agencies have “varying degrees of confidence” in evidence that chemical munitions were used against Assad’s opponents.

“There are a range of questions around how, when, where these weapons may have been used,” Obama said today. “We have to make these assessments deliberately, but I think all of us -- not just in the United States, but around the world -- recognize how we cannot stand by and permit the systematic use of weapons like chemical weapons on civilian populations.”

In his first public remarks since the U.S. disclosed it has evidence that chemical weapons were used in Syria, Obama didn’t specify how the U.S. might respond.

The president is under pressure from from American lawmakers to take stronger action in Syria following U.S. intelligence assessments that sarin nerve gas may have been used in the conflict. The administration has resisted providing arms to the rebels or taking direct military action.

‘Varying’ Confidence 

The White House informed lawmakers yesterday that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded “with varying degrees of confidence” that Assad’s regime has used small amounts of sarin nerve gas. That marked a change from previous administration statements that questioned whether evidence have been found to support allegations of chemical attacks.

“The president wants the facts,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said earlier today at a White House briefing. “We have some evidence, and we need to build on that.”

While the U.S. intelligence community has differing levels of confidence that Assad’s regime has used poison gas, the new assessment draws Obama closer to his previously declared “red line” over such use and fueled calls for action by lawmakers already advocating deeper involvement.

“The Syrians crossed the line the president had said would be a game changer,” Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona told reporters yesterday.

Classified Briefing 

At a classified briefing today for members of the U.S. House, Secretary of State John Kerry gave no indication about when or if the U.S. will act, said Representative John Mica, a Florida Republican.
Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, said Kerry described a range of potential steps.

“It’s everything from diplomatic opposition to Assad, to supporting refugees, to cash for groups, to weapons for groups, to a no-fly zone,” Sherman said. “All of those are on the table. The secretary laid out what some of those actions would be.”

Lawmakers were told that “all of the military options are being presented to the president, along with the risks,” Illinois Democratic Representative Jan Schakowsky said.

The risks include Syria’s anti-missile and anti-aircraft defenses, which are more sophisticated than those allied forces confronted in Iraq and Libya, Sherman said.

“A no-fly zone is not a no-casualty option,” he said.

Ground Troops 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said a response shouldn’t include intervention by U.S. ground troops in Syria.

“We have to take it to the next step -- that does not mean troops on the ground,” Pelosi said. “It should be very clear to President Assad that his behavior, killing his own people, is outside the circle of civilized human behavior -- that this has to stop.”

While he has repeatedly used the words “red line” and “game changer,” Obama hasn’t defined what would trigger more muscular U.S. action or how his administration might respond to conclusive evidence that Assad has used chemical or biological weapons.

In the Syrian government’s first response to the U.S. findings, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said that “the fabricated and false” allegations “do not have any credibility,” according to the official Sana news agency. The regime has said that chemical weapons have been used by terrorists, its blanket description for the opposition.

U.S. Aid 

Kerry announced last week that the U.S. is providing an additional $123 million to the Syrian opposition, doubling so- called nonlethal aid, while some Persian Gulf nations send arms and money. As the administration has pressed at the United Nations for diplomatic efforts to remove Assad, Obama has discouraged talk of U.S. military intervention.

In a letter to lawmakers yesterday, the Obama administration said that there’s evidence of use of sarin nerve gas that needs to be corroborated. The current intelligence shows there’s “not sufficient” evidence to take action, it said.

Speaking with reporters in Brussels today, Michael Mann, the spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said that while “any use of chemical weapons in any circumstances is completely unacceptable,” the U.S. intelligence assessment “wasn’t completely definitive.”

Faulty Intelligence 

Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington policy research group, said “two small uses, if we can’t tie it to Assad and to the regime, isn’t really a red line.” Kerry told reporters yesterday there was evidence of “two instances” of chemical weapons use.

Particularly after the George W. Bush administration’s embrace of faulty intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it’s important not to overreact, Cordesman said.

“You need to wait long enough to have a clear context for action,” he said. “Then the American political debate has to suddenly realize: If you’re telling the president it’s a red line and it’s been crossed, you’d better be in the position to agree to the use of force.”

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who described the “limited but growing evidence” as “extremely serious,” said today that Britain and its allies are being careful not to repeat the mistakes over Iraq. Support for the Syrian opposition should be stepped up, Cameron said, though he said British troops are unlikely to be sent to Syria.

Insufficient Intelligence 

The Obama administration already is under pressure -- from U.S. lawmakers, Israel, France, the U.K., the Syrian opposition and Persian Gulf nations seeking Assad’s removal -- to start providing weapons to the rebels. Some, such as McCain, are urging creation of a no-fly zone or sending troops to seize Assad’s chemical and biological weapons before they fall into terrorists’ hands.

The administration remains reluctant to get involved militarily in part because it has insufficient intelligence on the Syrian regime and opposition groups, which include Islamic extremists allied with al-Qaeda, two U.S. officials said yesterday. Both spoke on the condition of not being identified because they have access to classified information on Syria.

The officials said there is no consensus in the U.S. intelligence community about whether Syria has used small amounts of nerve gas, with different agencies expressing widely varied confidence in the assessment. Some agencies had only low to moderate confidence in the intelligence.

Mass Casualties 

One of the officials said there is no evidence of mass casualties, which suggests that if the Assad regime did use such weapons, it did so only in small quantities that are very difficult to trace.

It’s possible, that official said, that a local military commander may have used small amounts of the odorless nerve gas to terrorize people, rather than as a weapon of mass destruction, and it isn’t clear whether any use might have been authorized by Assad or other top regime officials.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has designated a team of specialists to look into reports of chemical-weapons use if the Syrian government grants it “full and unfettered” access, according to a statement from a spokesman.

Are Syria’s Chemical Weapons Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction?

December 8, 2012

News Pakistan - Talks about an unnamed US official saying that America has knowledge and evidence of chemical weapons being loaded by Syria’s regime in order to take out rebels across the country are going around nowadays and have gained a lot of attention in international communities.

Whether that statement is true or not is yet to be found out, but pondering on what that unidentified US official said really brings back memories of when former US President George W. Bush took military action against Iraq due to ‘evidence’ of Saddam Hussain developing and harnessing weapons of mass destruction.

Those claims never turned out to be true and it all played out wonderfully just the way America wanted it to without the international community and the all mighty ‘United Nations’ burying the topic in history forever. Iraq was a complete mess and the US operation there has turned out to be an even bigger failure. With over 10 years gone now, Saddam Hussain is no more and Iraq continues to struggle at the hands of external powers that just do not seem to want to let it go.

When such claims are made, it is the responsibility of the United Nations to foresee that they are true and whatever evidence anyone claims to have should be made public for all to see. Even though the Syrian regime has definitely crossed many limits, they should be allowed to handle their own affairs internally, because even though some might not want to believe it, Syria’s President Basah al-Assad still does have support from the people, just like Qadafi of Libya did; but that side of the story is never highlighted, anywhere.

The Americans are getting personal now in their threats to the incumbent Syrian government as US secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it quite clear that they would get involved if that ‘red line’ was to be crossed. Of course, if Syria actually does use those so called chemical weapon against their own people, international intervention would be the need of the moment, but using it as a reason just to invade and start a new era of pointless fighting would eventually bring the US to its knees like in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The chemical weapon, which America claims to have substantial evidence of, is well known and has been used in the past in various terrorist activities like the ones in Japan back in the 1990s. It acts as a nerve agent, causing convulsions, respiratory failure and ultimately death. Even though Syrian officials have claimed many a times that they would never think of using such inhumane methods to gain ground in the war torn country, but the West insists that they have some of the biggest stocks in the Middle East, and that coming from defense analysts that so staunchly supported Iraq’s stockpile of weapons which could potentially lead to widespread Armageddon.

Supporting rebels to go against their own country has been an old American tactic that continues to separate and divide the Middle East, but unfortunately, it is still a picture that is blurry to many superpowers around the globe. America did not see the cruelty taking place in Gaza as Israel bombarded hospitals and homes in the strip, killing scores of innocent people while continuing to take over territory before calling a ceremonial ceasefire.  

America is dying from within when it comes to its financial situation and preparing to go deeper into war, now against Syria and also Iran on the other end, it seems like the United States is nailing its own coffin shut.

America forgets to take notice of the situation in Kashmir as India pounds away by using military force to silence the voices of those wanting to either separate or become part of Pakistan. It fails to see that they only suffered once back on September 11^th, 2001, while other nations pay for their war crimes and get told to ‘do more’.

The United States has to stop playing this double faced game as it has gotten to the point of no return and going any further will eventually result in its own destruction and maybe another major world war, but this time, there will be no happy ending for the ‘most powerful nation on Earth’.