Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Assad's Willingness To Use WMDs Is Raising Concerns Worldwide



Assad, Offered Chance To Flee, Instead Boasts Of His Nerve Gas Bombs -- Matt Gurney, National Post

The Arab League has offered President Bashar as-Assad of Syria an exit strategy. He and his family will be given safe haven in a friendly country if he agrees to peacefully step down. That wouldn’t solve much: The rebellion consuming Syria isn’t about how much people dislike Assad personally, but about being fed up of being ruled by the broader regime. Assad is an Alawite, a sect that makes up a small percentage of Syria’s total population, but wields a huge amount of power in the government and military officer corps. It is doubtful that anything less than full-on regime change will truly bring an end to the fighting in Syria, nor is this the first offer of asylum Assad has received.

Still, it was worth a shot. After a bomber killed four senior members of his government last week, it would have been understandable if Assad had perhaps decided it was time to start packing.

No such luck. Instead of agreeing to step down, Assad instead had one of his officials go out and boast that Syria has weapons of mass destruction, and are ready to use them.

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My Comment: By making this subtle threat .... Assad is forcing the countries in the region and their western allies to become more involved in Syria's civil war. They are not going to let such a regime threaten them with WMDs .... and get away with it. In short .... he crossed the "WMD line".

But it doesn`t stop there. What makes this crisis even more dangerous is the understanding that other rogue nations are looking at this crisis .... and what happens to Syria and the Assad regime will determine how they will develop and position their WMDs against the West. If Assad should survive .... expect them to develop an identical chemical and biological weapons program .... and threaten other countries just as Assad is threatening us now.

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