"Contingency Plans" Coming for Syrian Chemicals?

As we already know Obama has recognized the Syrian Rebels as the folks to deal with when it comes to Syria and its future.  So it appears now a certainty that President Assad is done.  It is just a matter of time.

So who will control the tons of chemical weapons?  Will Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaida, or the Muslim Brotherhood be able to take a pickup truck full of militants with machine guns into the chemical warehouse and pull out a few drums of nerve gas?

Who will be guarding them?  Who will be willing to DIE defending them?

The Assad regime appears to be edging ever closer to disintegration, and the US and its allies may soon have to activate military contingency plans to secure or destroy Syria’s arsenal of deadly chemical weapons.

As Israeli defense officials have noted in recent weeks, the crumbling of Syria presents a formidable threat to national, regional and global security, a threat that is developing right on Israel’s doorstep.

The presence of disorganized armed militias – some of them affiliated with hardline Islamist-jihadi movements – in a land that hosts what some analysts consider the largest number of chemical weapons in the world creates a clear danger that cannot be ignored. Without external intervention, rebel fanatical elements or Assad’s close ally Hezbollah may try to raid abandoned chemical weapons storage facilities.

It is safe to assume that the US and others have long been preparing contingency plans to deal with this scenario, which could involve a mix of ground forces and air strikes.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon calculated that it would have to deploy 75,000 soldiers to fully secure the weapons sites around Syria, according to a CNN report. The projection was based on the estimation that Syria has some 50 chemical weapons production sites spread out across the country, in addition to storage and research centers.

Middle East and Syria expert Prof. Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv University told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that a move against the chemical weapons could come before Assad’s final collapse, if the Syrian dictator were to lose control of the weapons sites before falling from power.

That could constitute the most dangerous scenario, as it might leave room for the dying regime to respond to external intervention.

“A pinpoint strike on a warehouse or an underhanded operation probably won’t get a response and won’t change anything,” Zisser said.

But a larger operation could result in the remnants of Assad’s regime ordering a missile strike, he warned.

Syria has also been accused of operating a secret biological weapons program. While few details are available on counter-measures in this field, Israel is considered to have the most advanced defense program against biological weapons in the world.

Here;  http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=297317

Missiles and Muslims and chemicals...Oh my!! (Think Wizard of Oz)

Can you see how the USA and Israel are going to be brought into this thing?  Do you really think China and Russia are going to send crack troops into Syria to keep the crazy Muslim militants from storming the warehouses to get the chemicals?

Sadly, America is truly the world's LAST-BEST-HOPE to stand up against crazy folks who increasingly seem to have access to WMD. (North Korea now has nukes)  And sadly, America had to BORROW ALL THE MONEY NECESSARY TO FUND THE MILITARY LAST YEAR.

For how many decades more will we be able to borrow the money to run our hundreds of military bases all over the world, build our Black Hawk copters and Superiority Class Fighter Jets....when we have to borrow every single dollar to do it?

If the USA has to dispatch 75,000 troops into Syria to stand guard....who will pay for that?

Meanwhile the "fiscal cliff" draws closer...now measured in hours and not days.

It is beginning to appear increasingly obvious that the world is going to be in DESPERATE NEED OF A SAVIOR.

Hat tip to Tom F.