Here are the first three sentences of a Reuters report issued earlier today on chemical weapons in Syria:

Syria's huge array of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militants if President Bashar Assad was toppled, with "catastrophic" consequences, according to a report by senior British lawmakers published on Wednesday.  Britain's foreign intelligence services had no doubt Syria owned "vast stockpiles" of such weapons, including mustard gas, sarin, ricin and VX, the deadliest nerve agent, parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said in its report.  "There has to be a significant risk that some of the country's chemical weapons stockpile could fall into the hands of those with links to terrorism, in Syria or elsewhere in the region - if this happens, the consequences could be catastrophic," the committee said.

So, if Assad goes, there could be major chemical weapons attacks around the globe.  Well guess what!  If Assad stays, there could be major chemical weapons attacks around the globe.  The only difference would be the names of those carrying out the attacks.  If Assad falls, the attacks would likely be by al Qaeda or Hamas.  If Assad stays, the attacks would likely be by Iranian agents or Hezbollah.  Either way, the danger to the USA and our allies is extreme.

Of course, there is a solution to this problem.  We need to destroy the chemical weapons now.  This could be done in strikes across Syria by the American air forces.  If there are particular locations that need closer inspection, we could even land forces on the ground for the temporary assignment of destroying the chemical weapons stockpiles.  Nothing but the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons will end the threat.  In addition, actually destroying Syria's chemical weapons would improve the credibility of the USA when it tells Iran that it will not tolerate nukes in that country.