Czech Anti-Chemical Warfare Troops Are Sent to Jordan After Obama Administration Lose

[Wehrwolfen]

Czech Anti-Chemical Warfare Troops Are Sent to Jordan After Obama Administration Loses Track of Syrian Chemical Weapons​

Now this…
Czech anti-chemical warfare troops were recently sent to Jordan.
Foreign Policy reported:

Czech troops are in Jordan, providing technical expertise in case Syria’s massive stockpile of chemical weapons is somehow unleashed by the Assad regime, rebels, or terrorists.

“We do have the traditional CBRN [chemical, biological, radialogical, nuclear warfare] specialization, we have our anti-chemical units in the Gulf, in Kuwait . . . we do have some even in Afghanistan, we do have some cooperation now with Jordan because of the danger with Syria,” Czech Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra told Killer Apps yesterday while discussing the Czech military’s special role within NATO: dealing with CBRN threats.

While there are reports of some of the Syrian government’s advanced Russian-made SA-24 handheld surface-to-air missiles falling into rebel hands, we have yet to see evidence of Assad’s chemical or biological weapons making their way out of their supposedly secure storage sites — although there are reports of government troops moving the chem/bio weapons in an effort to keep them safe.​

Video:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8a3oTAQ57M]Panetta: Syria Moving Some Chemical Weapons - YouTube[/ame]

Read more:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/11/czech-anti-chemical-warfare-troops-are-sent-to-jordan-after-obama-administration-loses-track-of-syrian-chemical-weapons/


Where's Colin Powell to explain this?

 

[waltky]

After the war the same technology can be used to cook up one-pot meth labs...

U.S. concerned Syria "cooking up recipes" for chemical weapons
December 4th, 2012 - The United States is concerned that Syria may be "cooking up recipes" at multiple sites to arm chemical weapons, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

CNN reported on Monday that Syrian forces battling rebels in fierce fighting had started combining chemicals that could be used to make deadly sarin gas for weapons. The official would not detail more on intelligence developments, but said the United States is concerned about possible preparations at more than one chemical weapons plant around Syria. The official would only say it was a "small number" of facilities where activities are taking place. The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied that the country has any plans to use chemical weapons, state TV has reported. The government likewise has repeatedly stressed it will not use such weapons, if they exist, against its people under any circumstances.

The U.S. military believes there are 50 chemical weapon and production sites spread across the country with additional storage sites and research centers as well. Syria is believed to have one of the most advanced chemical warfare capabilities in the region, with the ability to develop and produce agents such as mustard gas, sarin and possibly the VX nerve agent, according to information collected by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-profit group that seeks to reduce the risk of use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. American intelligence shows activity at certain facilities and no evidence that anything had been moved out of them, several senior U.S. military officials said. While they would not describe the activity, the officials said there was no sign that showed Syria was ready to do anything with chemical weapons.

Officials explained that some types of chemical arms require mixing before they can be weaponized. None of the officials who spoke to CNN would discuss the issue for full attribution due to the sensitivity of the issue. The intelligence was strong enough for President Barack Obama to issue a public warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, according to one of the U.S. officials. "I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command - the world is watching," Obama said at a speech at the National Defense University in Washington. "The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. And if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable," he said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Don't be makin' ultimatums unless ya intend to follow through...

Intel chair warns U.S. must act if Syria moves to use chemical weapons
December 7th, 2012 - The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Friday warned the Obama administration it must act more urgently to prevent Syria's government from using chemical weapons.

Rep. Mike Rogers told attendees at the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrian that the United States has a moral obligation to act immediately if there is concrete proof chemical weapons are loaded and being readied for launch. Recent U.S. intelligence suggests the Syrian government has started mixing chemical weapons compounds and loading them into bombs, though the bombs are not being moved to any delivery devices, CNN's Barbara Starr reported. Visibly frustrated, Rogers argued the United States and the international community were way behind in acting to prevent use of chemical weapons, saying there was a robust debate in Washington on what constitutes a red line for military action - before Syrian President Bashar al-Assad moves to use weapons or after the weapons are launched.

President Barack Obama said this summer that any effort to move or use chemical weapons was a red line. "A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of weapons moving around or being utilized," Obama said. Though he prefaced that remark by saying the concern was the weapons falling into others hands. With the new intelligence, administration warnings have focused not on moving, but on using the weapons. Rogers' sense of urgency was reflected by others at this influential Middle Eastern meeting. There was a sense among attendees, especially among representatives of the Syrian opposition in attendance, that the al-Assad government was growing ever more desperate - making it more dangerous. The recent reporting about how the leader's military is preparing chemical weapons was a subject of much discussion in the hallways. The intelligence chairman from Michigan also seemed to be softening his own stance about arming the Syrian rebels.

Rogers said the United States still needs to better understand who they would be providing arms to, and to ensure they don't end up in the hands of extremists. But he said he believes the United States should be much more involved in arming, training and providing intelligence to rebels to ensure that the rebels are acting in a proper way and not working to closely with extremist groups such as al-Nusra. Rogers suggested the prospect of arming the rebels could be a matter of discussion at the upcoming Friends of Syria meeting next week in Morocco, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending. This sentiment was echoed by other diplomats at the conference.

Mustapha Sabbagh, one of the leaders of of the new Syrian opposition coalition, said that procrastination and reluctance of the international community to get involved militarily has led to further militarization and radicalization of the conflict. He urged the world to do more. Sabbagh called on Russia and Iran to stop supporting the 'killing machine' of al-Assad's government. "I would be very embarrassed for Russia when the file is opened about their involvement in Syria," he told the delegates.

Source

See also:

U.S. military updates options for potential Syria strike, source says
December 7th, 2012 - The U.S. military has updated its plans for a potential strike against Syria after intelligence showed that the regime has filled aerial bombs with deadly sarin gas in at least two locations near military airfields, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

A senior U.S. official confirmed the details but declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information. There has been no movement to put the bombs on aircraft and no significant additional movement of chemical materials as far as the U.S. knows, he said. The updated options are being refined daily. "The more information and intelligence you have, the more clarity you can bring to options you may decide to use," the official said. "You would expect new information like this to drive an update of options." "We are prepared for a full range of contingencies," said Pentagon spokesman George Little.

But there is much concern, the official said. It's not clear if President Bashar al-Assad's regime is pulling back after President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued statements condemning the action, or what al-Assad's future intentions may be. The official also said the U.S. has all the firepower it needs in the region to conduct military action against Syria if Obama orders it. The U.S. maintains a fighter and bomber aircraft presence across the Middle East, including on board aircraft carriers. There are also warships with satellite-guided Tomahawk cruise missiles that can be programmed to hit specific targets.

But experts have said bombing a chemical weapons site or an airfield where chemical bombs are located poses significant challenges, including the possibility of dispersal of chemical agents into a civilian population. A military option could involve dropping bombs on runways to keep airplanes from taking off. Also, communications sites could be struck to cut al-Assad's links to his troops so orders for a chemical attack cannot be issued. But U.S. officials have said they are not certain how much control al-Assad has over his military, so there is no guarantee that commanders would not act on their own.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Assad may have given chemical weapons to Hezbollah...

Concern that Assad may have passed some chemical weapons to Hizballah
December 10, 2012, There is growing concern that some of the chemical weapons the Assad regime has been pushing out of the Damascus area in the last few days were sent across the border to Hizballah strongholds in the Lebanese Beqaa Valley to keep them out of rebel hands.

Syrian army officers who recently defected report that containers were last week removed from Syrian bases at Jabal Kalamon and loaded on vehicles camouflaged as commercial trucks. On the Lebanese side, the consignment is thought to have been split up and hidden at different Hizballah bases to make them harder to attack. Israel’s US Ambassador Michael Oren, asked by a FOX TV interviewer Saturday Dec. 8, if he could confirm this, said he could not, but warned that any evidence of chemical weapons being passed from the Assad regime to extremist groups like Hizballah would be a "game-changer," and a "red line" for Israel. "We have a very clear red line about those chemical weapons passing into the wrong hands. Can you imagine if Hizballah and its 70,000 rockets would get its hands on chemical weapons? That could kill thousands of people."

Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon on he other hand saw no indication Sunday that Syria was planning to use chemical weapons against Israel. He refrained from going into any of the three possible perils presented by the regime in Damascus as it finds itself in a knife-edge situation:

1. Syria’s chemical weapons are deployed in at least five air force bases, with evidence of preparations to use them, as confirmed by British Foreign Secretary William Hague Saturday, Dec. 8. US military sources explained early Monday, Dec. 10, that the nerve gas sarin is effective up to 60 days after its precursor chemicals are mixed. Placing the weaponized material in close proximity to warplanes indicates an intention within that timeline to drop the poison gas bombs from the air. After that, sarin must be destroyed in controlled conditions lest its poisons escape into the environment. No one knows if the Syrians have the necessary scientific manpower to take responsibility for this process.

2. The battle around Al Safira, site of Syria’s biggest chemical weapons store and Scud D missiles fitted with chemical warheads, is fierce and fluid: the base changes hands every few hours in heavy fighting between Syria army and rebel forces. Saturday, the base’s capture by the rebels triggered a warning from the Assad regime against throwing chemical weapons into the battle. Sunday, Al Safira was recaptured, but the rebels are sweeping through the surrounding villages and closing in on three sides. For now, Syrian forces control the road connecting Al Safira to Aleppo, but the rebels have seized parts of Sheikh Suleiman, the biggest air base near that city, and are getting close to that highway. Its fall would snap shut the rebel siege on Al Safira. Control of Al Safira would place the big chemical weapons stores in the hands of rebel forces in that sector, many of whom belong to Jabhat al-Nusra, the roof organization of the al Qaeda elements fighting in Syria against the Assad regime.

3. In the estimate of Western and Israeli intelligence agencies, Assad has already directed his troops fighting in and around Damascus to use chemical weapons if the rebels get near to seizing any part of Damascus international airport.

Source

See also:

Syrian rebels capture parts of army base in north
Dec 10,`12 -- Rebels captured part of a sprawling Syrian army base outside the embattled northern city of Aleppo, tightening the opposition's grip on areas close to the Turkish border, activists said Monday.

The gains by rebel forces came as the European Union denounced the Syrian conflict, which activists say has killed more than 40,000 people. "The current situation in Syria is a stain on the world's conscience and the international community has a moral duty to address it," European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said in Oslo as the EU received the Nobel Peace Prize. The rebels also killed 13 soldiers in an ambush near a strategic northern town along a road linking Aleppo, the nation's largest city and business hub, with Damascus, and captured 20 soldiers and policemen at a major post on the highway linking the central town of Salamiyeh with the northern city of Raqqa, activists said.

Once on the defensive, Syria's rebels have gained momentum in recent weeks with a number of tactical advances, seizing airbases near Damascus and Aleppo and putting President Bashar Assad's forces on their heels. In an interview with Dubai TV, Syria's top military defector said Assad's regime is "over" and advised the president to leave office and let the country's people decide their own fate.

Manaf Tlass, a Syrian general who was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition, said "we are at a turning point and the train of the revolution will be victorious." Tlass, who defected in July, said he urged Assad to listen to the people's demands and implement serious reforms. "I used to talk to the president four times a day and I used to see him every other day. I tried to convince him to react with the rebels. He always avoided answering and used to say they are armed gangs," Tlass said from Paris, where he has been spending much of his time. "I told him tens of times, and sometimes in a loud voice that `you should be with your people' and he did not answer," Tlass said. "It's over ... I advise him to leave."

MORE

 

[waltky]

Obama wantin' to keep Syria's chemical weapons outta the hands of terrorists...

U.S. plans for possibility that Assad could lose control of chemical arms cache
17 Dec.`12 - As Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power steadily weakens, U.S. officials are increasingly worried that Syria’s weapons of mass destruction could fall into the hands of Islamist extremists, rogue generals or other uncontrollable factions.

Last week, fighters from a group that the Obama administration has branded a terrorist organization were among rebels who seized the Sheik Suleiman military base near Aleppo, where research on chemical weapons had been conducted. Rebels are also closing in on another base near Aleppo, known as Safirah, which has served as a major production center for such munitions, according to U.S. officials and analysts.

The opposition Free Syrian Army said it did not find any chemical weapons at the first installation. But the developments have fanned fears that even if Assad does not attack his own people with chemical weapons, he is on the verge of losing control of his formidable arsenal.

A former Syrian general who once led the army’s chemical weapons training program said that the main storage sites for mustard gas and nerve agents are supposed to be guarded by thousands of Syrian troops but that they would be easily overrun. The sites are not secure, retired Maj. Gen. Adnan Silou, who defected to the opposition in June, said in an interview near Turkey’s border with Syria. “Probably anyone from the Free Syrian Army or any Islamic extremist group could take them over,” he said.

President Obama and other leaders have warned Assad not to use chemical weapons, saying such a move would be a “red line” that would force them to take military action. But the White House has been vague about whether and how it would respond if Assad is toppled and Syria’s chemical weapons are left unprotected or end up in the hands of anti-
American insurgents.

Contingency planning

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - either poop or get off the pot...

Lavrov: ‘Either secure Syria's chemical weapons, or arm its rebels’
24 December, 2012, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tells RT that Western powers' habit of dividing terrorists between "bad and acceptable" could have lasting consequences for the whole world.

Syria’s chemical arsenal has become a central point of international concern since the country’s civil conflict flared up in March 2011. Syria is reportedly in possession of nerve agents including mustard gas, while NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has already accused the country’s government of deploying the Scud missiles needed to deliver it. The worst-case scenario, as acknowledged by many governments including the US, would be for the weapons to fall into the hands of Syria’s various opposition groups – some of whom are affiliated with al-Qaeda. But to date Syria’s chemical arsenal is secure, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT in an exclusive interview.

“Every time we hear rumors, or pieces of information come to the surface that the Syrians are doing something with the chemical weapons, we double-check, we triple-check,” says Lavrov, adding that the latest move concerning the chemical weapons was related to the Syrian government’s intent to gather and consolidate the dispersed arsenal in order to make sure that it is “absolutely” protected. However, Lavrov says it shows a “strange logic” when the Western powers involved in solving the Syrian crisis pin the full responsibility for the arsenal on the sitting Syrian government – “even if the rebels take hold of it” – and at the same time, continue to encourage the conflict by supplying the rebels with arms and money.

Meanwhile, Western governments have begun distinguishing between “bad terrorists and acceptable terrorists” on the ground in Syria, refusing to condemn acts of terror there, saying the overall context should be taken into account to explain why people choose terror – an “absolutely unacceptable,” route, the FM continues. No war can last forever, and all wars finish in the same way: parties sit down to talks. This is what will happen in Syria – and it should happen as soon as possible, Lavrov concluded.

More Lavrov: