Obama warns Syria against using chemical and biological weapons

The Syrian military is moving these as far away from the rebels as possible, as they should.

If Mr. Obama is concerned about chemical weapons he should ensure that no money or weapons end up in the hands of the Al Qaeda rebels in Syria who are obviously trying to obtain those weapons.

The current Syrian government has maintained those weapons responsibly. If the Al Qaeda Islamic rebels win, who knows what they will do with them.

The Syrian military is moving these as far away from the rebels as possible, as they should.

Ha! And you base that on what?

f Mr. Obama is concerned about chemical weapons he should ensure that no money or weapons end up in the hands of the Al Qaeda rebels in Syria who are obviously trying to obtain those weapons

But aren't you trying to maintain a position that there should be no foreign intervention in Syria? You changing your songsheet all of a sudden?

The current Syrian government has maintained those weapons responsibly.

The US clearly disagrees with you. But no doubt they don't quite have the same intimate knowledge of the situation as you do, right?

@Tamarama,

Syria has never used Chemical or Bio weapons ever

Do you have contrary information.

If the Al Qaeda rebels manage to overrun Damascus, the security of Syrian chemical weapons will clearly be in doubt.

Regarding foreign intervention in Syria, my position has always been constant. There should be absolutely no illegal intervention in Syria. Syria is a nation state and a legitimate and recognized seat holder at the UN.

The UN currently recognizes the present administration and elected parliament as the official representative of Syria. If countries wish to do business with or have diplomatic relations with Syria they can and should do so along with UN rules and policy.

But sending truckloads of machine guns and laser guided missiles to terror groups within Syria is clearly a violation of international rules and law.

This is misinformation designed to create a pretext for getting militarily involved. Once the Alawites are out Syria will descend into absolute chaos. Good ijntentions will (as in Iraq, Afghanistan etc) lead to disastrous results

Wonder if these are the same sources that claimed Iraq had WMD? Probably just another excuse for the US to butt it's nose in to another conflict.

The cut-and-paste crowd has spoken.

" weapons of mass destruction"

There you go, again. Groundhog Day.

If the Al Qaeda rebels manage to overrun Damascus, the security of Syrian chemical weapons will clearly be in doubt.

Still waiting for all that credible evidence you claim there is saying all the rebels are foreign and all the rebels are al-Qaeda. Whew, it certainly is becoming a long wait. Anyway, as to the safety of Syrian's chemical weapons, according to a Syrian general who defected, the Syrian government has not only talked about using them, as a last resort, it has also discussed giving them to Hezbollah, which I know you say you are against.

I think Syria's weapons would have been a lot more secure had Assad's government not killed protesters and jailed critics of his government.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/syria-crisis-idUSL5E8KJ8NR20120919?type=marketsNews

The risks of greater violence were underlined by a general who defected from Assad's army and reached Turkey three months ago: "We were in a serious discussion about the use of chemical weapons, including how we would use them and in what areas," Major-General Adnan Sillu told Britain's Times newspaper.

"We discussed this as a last resort - such as if the regime lost control of an important area such as Aleppo."

Sillu said that when he was there Syria also spoke of giving chemical weapons to the Lebanese group Hezbollah - a move that could draw in the Shi'ite movement's sworn enemy, Israel.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9552147/Syrian-regime-will-deploy-chemical-weapons-as-last-resort.html

In his first interview since his defection, General Sillu said the Syrian regime had also considered supplying chemical weapons to the Lebanon-based militant group Hizbollah.

"They wanted to place warheads with the chemical weapons on missiles – to transfer them this way to Hizbollah. It was for use against Israel, of course," he said.

He suggested that the regime now had "nothing to lose" in sharing the weapons and added: "If a war starts between Hizbollah and Israel it will be only good for Syria."

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard also attended numerous meetings to discuss the use of chemical weapons, he said.

"They were always coming to visit and to advise. They were always sending us scientists and bringing our scientists to them. They were also involved on the political side of how to use the chemical weapons."

The German magazine Der Spiegel, citing "witnesses, reported Monday that the Syrian army has tested a chemical weapons delivery system, firing shells at a research centre in its northwestern desert region.

There you go, again. Groundhog Day.

Syria does not deny having them. In fact, they say they do. Sorry, no Groundhog Day in this case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/world/middleeast/chemical-weapons-wont-be-used-in-rebellion-syria-says.html?_r=0

Syrian officials warned Monday that they would deploy chemical weapons against any foreign intervention, a threat that appeared intended to ward off an attack by Western nations while also offering what officials in Washington called the most “direct confirmation” ever that Syria possesses a stockpile of unconventional armaments.

Slumdog, the groundhog day referred is the one with a US-led incursion, like Iraq, Afghanistan and drone attacks. Just more warring.

Bush's 'WMD game' played in Iraq ten years ago....is nowplaying back to stage again, now playing by the Nobel peace prize winner 2009!

SuperLib

The cut-and-paste crowd has spoken.

Spot on, the US "intelligence" report probably merely had the word Iraq crossed out in crayon and Syria written in....,

Same old story same, same old excuses for getting involved again..... When will people learn

Obama makes the same old tricks as Dubya did ten years ago. Cheap American swindler, nothing more.

And yet, it's the Syrian rebels who are asking the West to get involved................

The West doesn't need any excuse - they're invited.

Suddenly everyone is interested in Syria...? heh And the cut-and-paste adds up.....

"weighing military options to secure Syria's chemical and biological weapons"

What, bombing from the air? That ain't gonna do it. Boots on the ground might do it, but ain't no way Barack Obama is going to put U.S. boots on the ground in Syria. Or would he? Nah...

@slumdog; Thanks for the links but they're not facts, they're simply the opinion of one single retired general. Why should we listen to him, what's his angle? What's his agenda?

The U.S. and Jordan share the same concern about Syria’s chemical and biological weapons — that they could fall into the wrong hands should the regime in Syria collapse and lose control of them.

This underlines everything. The worst case scenario for the West is for the Al Qaeda rebels to win and the best case scenario is for all the Al Qaeda rebels to be arrested and interrogated so the world can learn more about their command structure and tactics.

Most certainly, the FSA rebels who ordered and carried out all the civilian car bombings and massacres in Homs should be held to account in a war crimes trial.

Thanks for the links but they're not facts, they're simply the opinion of one single retired general. Why should we listen to him, what's his angle? What's his agenda?

One could ask the same of you. He is a general. I think his opinions and observations are important. Why shouldn't we listen to him?

This underlines everything.

Yes, as the general said:

Sillu said that when he was there Syria also spoke of giving chemical weapons to the Lebanese group Hezbollah - a move that could draw in the Shi'ite movement's sworn enemy, Israel.

the groundhog day referred is the one with a US-led incursion

Sorry, I misunderstood what you meant. I don't think the US is going into this one so soon after Libya, though. Do you?

" I don't think the US is going into this one so soon after Libya, though. Do you?"

slumdog, in a word, yes. There may some false flag event first, to give the "We've been attacked!" mantra, but yes, as an avenue to get Iran and to get the lemmings' eyes off the situation at home.

Here we go again. Out of Iraq, into Afghanistan. Out of Afghanistan, into Syria. Endless!

Here we go again. Out of Iraq, into Afghanistan. Out of Afghanistan, into Syria. Endless!

Well put.

Unfortunately there's always a subset of the population that is easily duped by the mainstream media and foolishly cheer on the next war.

There may some false flag event first, to give the "We've been attacked!" mantra, but yes, as an avenue to get Iran and to get the lemmings' eyes off the situation at home.

I don't really understand. What kind of 'false flag' (you should consider refraining from using this word as my eyes started to glaze over when I saw it) are you talking about? Which side are you claiming would claim they've been attacked? Syria to Iran? How are you connecting them? Finally, what situation at home? Where are things so bad that someone would need to get the 'lemmings'' (another word you might want to refrain from using) eyes away from? Honestly, I can't really follow what you want to say.

Unfortunately there's always a subset of the population that is easily duped by the mainstream media and foolishly cheer on the next war.

Then there are those who claim 100% of the rebels are al-Qaeda and 100% of the rebels are foreign and yet seems to have the darnedest time actually coming up with any credible evidence to back up their claims, oh sorry, I mean your claims.

slumdog: I don't really understand. What kind of 'false flag' (you should consider refraining from using this word as my eyes started to glaze over when I saw it) are you talking about? Which side are you claiming would claim they've been attacked? Syria to Iran? How are you connecting them? Finally, what situation at home? Where are things so bad that someone would need to get the 'lemmings'' (another word you might want to refrain from using) eyes away from? Honestly, I can't really follow what you want to say.

I don't think they really like to get into specifics. It's best to stick to catchphrases that can fit on bumper stickers. Cut-and-paste.

SuperLib,

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

Yeah unfortunately superlib likes to cut and paste his cut and paste comment every single time someone says something disparaging against the US. I think he thinks its wity. Yet the only one cutting and pasting is him with his own comment