2013 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 09:57:28 -0800 (PST)
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: Re: [CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, GLOBAL: "West Faces Challenge in Moving Syrian Chemical Arms Through Battlefields"
 
The conundrum described in this article was entirely predictable. In fact, several of us predicted it. People don't like having chemical warfare materiel shipping through or to their communities, and parties who wish to seize such materiel love it.

Fortunately, the official disclosure of Syrian chemical weapons shows that they do not have any loaded chemical munitions. The stockpile can be left in place and destroyed with transportable treatment systems

The people making the decisions needs to consult with the experts who know how to get this done.

Lenny


On Nov 18, 2013, at 9:33 AM, Lenny Siegel wrote:

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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--

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

_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org

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