[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, GLOBAL: "West Faces Challenge in Moving Syrian Chemical Arms Through Battlefields"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

West Faces Challenge in Moving Syrian Chemical Arms Through Battlefields

By DAVID E. SANGER, THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
New York Times
November 17, 2013

WASHINGTON - A plan announced over the weekend for getting the bulk  
of Syria’s chemical weapons out of the country in coming weeks has  
raised major concerns in Washington, because it involves transporting  
the weapons over roads that are battlegrounds in the country’s civil  
war and loading them onto a ship that has no place to go.

Security for the shipments is being provided entirely by Syrian  
military units loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, who has surprised  
American officials with how speedily he has complied with an  
agreement brokered by Russia to identify and turn over his chemical  
weapon stockpiles. Intelligence analysts and Pentagon officials say  
the shipments will be vulnerable to attack as they travel past the  
ruins of a war that has raged for two and a half years.

Asked over the weekend what the backup plan would be if the chemical  
weapons components were attacked by opposition forces linked to Al  
Qaeda, or even elements of Mr. Assad’s own forces, a senior American  
official said: "That's the problem - no one has attempted this before  
in a civil war, and no one is willing to put troops on the ground to  
protect this stuff, including us."

Another official noted that the choice now facing the United States  
and other nations was to "either leave the stuff in place and hope  
for the best, or account for it, get it out of there, and hope for  
the best. That's the ‘least worst’ option."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/world/middleeast/west-faces- 
challenge-in-moving-syrian-chemical-arms-through-battlefields.html


...



For the entire article, see




--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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