It Really Can Get Worse

Just when you thought that things in Syria could not get any worse, they have. Multiple sources are now reporting that the satellite photos of the storage sites for Syrian chemical weapons are showing the sort of activity that indicates the weapons are being readied for use. It seems that the Assad regime has decided to try to cling to power by the mass slaughter of its own people.

Let's be clear about Syrian capabilities. Syria has stockpiles of weapons that could deliver mustard gas, sarin nerve gas and VX nerve gas. It also has all manner of missiles like old SCUDs and North Korean SS-21s that could deliver the weapons. The problem with these missiles, of course, is that they are extremely inaccurate. Indeed, the concern over inaccurate strikes by missiles against rebel areas has led Turkey to request deployment of NATO patriot missile batteries to that country in order to shoot down errant missiles that otherwise might deliver mass death to local Turkish population in the border region. The Dutch parliament is voting this week on whether or not to relocate its batteries to Turkey.

So Assad may be about to kill tens or hundreds of thousands in an attempt to bludgeon the Syrian people back into line. The West has supposedly warned Assad that use of the chemical weapons will force a response from western military forces, but it is unclear that Assad would give much credit to that threat. After all, he has already killed just about 50,000 of his own people without any real response from the USA or other members of NATO. On the other hand, Israel has made clear that it will not tolerate the possibility of chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. If Assad starts to remove chemical weapons from their storage locations, it seems likely that Israel will strike with its air forces and destroy those depots. One can only assume that the world community will then condemn Israel for "aggression" and "war crimes". Indeed, Iran may use such a strike by Israel as the excuse to unleash the Hezbollah missiles or to start Hamas firing again.

It is just getting worse in Syria by the day. Of course, had president Obama shown some leadership on this front a year ago, all this could have been prevented. But that is a story that you will never see in the newspapers or on the web. It just happens, however, to be the truth.