Posted By Josh Rogin
Friday, February 24, 2012 - 3:03 PM
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The State Department has begun coordinating with Syria's neighbors to prepare for the handling of President Bashar al-Assad's extensive weapons of mass destruction if and when his regime collapses, The Cable has learned.
This week, the State Department sent a diplomatic demarche to Syria's neighbors Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, warning them about the possibility of Syria's WMDs crossing their borders and offering U.S. government help in dealing with the problem, three Obama administration officials confirmed to The Cable. For concerned parties both inside and outside the U.S. government, the demarche signifies that the United States is increasingly developing plans to deal with the dangers of a post-Assad Syria -- while simultaneously highlighting the lack of planning for how to directly bring about Assad's downfall.
Syria is believed to have a substantial chemical weapons program, which includes mustard gas and sophisticated nerve agents, such as sarin gas, as well as biological weapons. Syria has also refused IAEA requests to make available facilities that were part of its nuclear weapons program and may still be in operation.
The State Department declined to provide access to any officials to discuss the private diplomatic communication on the record, such as the author of the demarche Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Tom Countryman. In a meeting with reporters earlier this year, Countryman expressed confidence that the United States knows where Syria's WMD stockpiles are, but warned that they could become a very serious security issue for Syria and the region going forward.
"We have ideas as to the quantity and we have ideas as to where they are," Countryman said. "We wish some of the neighbors of Syria to be on the lookout... When you get a change of regime in Syria, it matters what are the conditions -- chaotic or orderly."
Today, in response to inquiries from The Cable, a State Department official offered the following statement:
"The U.S. and our allies are monitoring Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. These weapons' presence in Syria undermines peace and security in the Middle East, and we have long called on the Syrian government to destroy its chemicals weapons arsenal and join the Chemical Weapons Convention," the State Department official said. "We believe Syria's chemical weapons stockpile remains under Syrian government control, and we will continue to work closely with like-minded countries to prevent proliferation of Syria's chemical weapons program."
The demarche made four specific points, according to other U.S. officials who offered a fuller account to The Cable. It communicated the U.S. government's recognition that there is a highly active chemical warfare program in Syria, which is complemented by ballistic-missile delivery capability. It further emphasized that that any potential political transition in Syria could raise serious questions about the regime's control over proliferation-sensitive material.
Third, the State Department wanted Syria's neighbors to know that should the Assad regime fall, the security of its WMD stockpile -- as well as its control over conventional weapons like MANPADS (shoulder-fired rocket launchers) -- could come into question and could pose a serious threat to regional security. Lastly, the demarche emphasized that the U.S. government stands ready to support neighboring countries to provide border-related security cooperation.
"It's essentially a recognition of the danger to the regional and international community of the stockpiles that the regime possesses and the importance of working with countries, given the potential fall of the regime, to prevent the proliferation of these very sensitive weapons outside of Syria's border," one administration official said. "It's an exponentially more dangerous program than Libya. We are talking about legitimate WMDs here -- this isn't Iraq. The administration is really concerned about loose WMDs. It's one of the few things you could put on the agenda and do something about without planning the fall of the regime."
The administration is also working closely with the Jordanians on the issue. A Jordanian military delegation was at the Pentagon Thursday to meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
In addition to the danger of proliferation, there is a concern that Assad could actually use his WMDs if his situation becomes desperate.
"The WMD program is in play now, and that's important because it highlights the innate danger that the existence of this regime poses to U.S. security and regional interests," the administration official said. "[The demarche] puts Syria's neighbors on notice and it reflects the recognition that a dangerous Assad regime is willing to do anything to save its own skin. If they are willing to kill the country to save the regime, they might be willing to do a great deal more damage throughout the region."
Some officials inside and outside the administration see the WMD activity as helpful, but lament that such a high degree of planning is not taking place on the issue of how to precipitate the downfall of the Assad regime as quickly and as safely as possible.
Over 70 countries met in Tunis today to develop a unified message on the transition of power in Syria and urge the Assad regime to allow humanitarian access. The Saudi delegation actually walked out of the meeting, complaining of "inactivity" and urging the international community to arm the Syrian opposition.
The Obama administration has consistently rejected calls by the Syrian National Council and others to prepare for a military intervention in Syria and no real strategy exists internally to force Assad from power, another administration official said.
"Our strategic calculus can't be solely about what comes after Assad without taking a hard look at how to bring about Assad's downfall as safely as possible," said this official. "The reality is, at some point, there will be a recognition you can't plan for a post-Assad scenario without planning how to shape the downfall itself. You can't separate the two."
Concern about a gap in planning for how to oust the Assad regime is shared by some in Congress, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who issued a statement today urging the administration to start directly aiding the Syrian rebels and protecting Syrian civilians.
"Unfortunately, speeches and meetings by themselves will do nothing to stop the unacceptable slaughter in Syria, which is growing worse by the day," the senators said. "We remain deeply concerned that our international diplomacy risks becoming divorced from the reality on the ground in Syria, which is now an armed conflict between Assad's forces and the people of Syria who are struggling to defend themselves against indiscriminate attacks."
In her prepared remarks in Tunis, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she supported more sanctions on the Assad regime but she declined to endorse any direct help to the Syrian opposition without the consent of the Syrian government, saying only, "We all need to look hard at what more we can do."
EXPLORE:ARAB WORLD, DIPLOMACY, FREEDOM, HUMAN RIGHTS, MILITARY, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, STATE DEPARTMENT, U.S. CONGRESS, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY 
I would not be at all surprised if some of these were not marked "Property of Iraq - if Found, Return to Saddam"... this was where so much evidence indicated Hussein's WMD went to before the war. We may never know but it is a bit beyond coincidence that now Syria is the 'threat.'
That was the rumor at the beginning of the Iraq war - that all the WMDs were trucked over the border or buried in the sand. I guess we're about to find out.
After the coup and cover up I wouldn't believe much or really any of the news coming out of Washington. The next election is shaping up to be as big of a sham as the last. Do you know why Sarah Palin's bus tour was really canceled? Do you know why she stayed 30 miles away from the second debate and chose the death of Steve Jobs to announce that she's not running? Know what leaked out? Sarah Palin and Cain aren't in the race for the same reason, the truth leaked out. Search PalinsDirtyLittleSecret for the biggest cover up in history
I agree completely. I thought it was fairly common knowledge that most of the WMDs had been sent off to Syria so that Saddam Hussein could keep up the ruse of compliance with the UN inspectors.
Our leaders should spend some time with Iraqi General Georges Sada, who wrote an entire book claiming that's precisely where the WMD's went. And Sada had a very high position in Hussein's military. The book, published in 2006 is titled "Saddam's Secrets".
Media would never let W be correct!
I recall those rumors after the invasion also. This will be a bitter sweet justice if proved correct.
I wonder what Colin Powell thinks?
I spent 13 months in Iraq and saw the mass murder caused by Saddam's WMD and more than that we tracked a road into Syria that was most likely the route that was used to truck the WMD into Syria. Saddam did have WMD's that is a no brainer. OIF vet
Blow up Iran and its neighbor Syria. Nothing but terrorists anyway.
Not enough tin foil on the fucking planet to fix you.
you should look at the PDF @ the link..."believed to have"
From the link at "believed to have " in the story above....
"There are some analysts who still feel Syria might have acquired Iraq‘s weapons of mass destruction when Saddam Hussein had them smuggled out of Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion. Such reporting is anecdotal and so far has not produced any evidence to give it credibility."
The study shows that the WMD's are a product of domestic production aided by Iran.
They will not be found because an Iranian warship docked in Syria last week. They went there to get certain materials out before the fall. Whatever they were are now in Iranian hands.
in 2002 a NewsMax article about a DIA agent named Shaw, on the ground in western Iraq. He developed information from local sources and personal observation of large Russian trucks running loaded toward Damascus from Baghdad, 24-7, with radio traffic about 95% in Russian, returning empty. Newsmax is sometimes sensational, so I waited and verified. I have no less than 8 friends who personally served in western Iraq, sometimes 2 or more deployments. They are Marines, some attached to the intelligence office of the Commandant. They are Navy SEALS, DIA, security contractors, regular Army, and Iraqi citizens. Every source said it was common knowledge that Saddam moved his WMD to Syria prior to our engagement there. The military and intelligence sources confirmed the Shaw story, surprised that anyone knew about this, but were under orders not to give information about it. The question is, why would Bush take such a black eye over this and say nothing? Another friend, a Korean translator and interrogator in the Army during the early years of the Iraq war, picked up the following explanation from the Russian code breakers and translators with whom he shared office space, lunch breaks, and quarters: If the US went into Iraq and found all the illegal Russian toys, it would be such a foreign policy disaster for the Russians that they would be forced to enter the conflict on the side of Saddam. If Bush would hold off until the Russians moved their toys (and considerable French and German toys) out to Damascus, then Putin would keep Russia out of it. Saddam was a clown and a drag on their own foreign policies in the Middle East, so they were willing to throw him under the bus if Bush gave them time to evacuate their toys. I have been wondering when this "other shoe" would fall ever since Syria started to boil. Small wonder the Russians block ever effort of the Security Council to do something with Syria. Long story short, I've talked personally to enough people whom I know well who confirm this account that I consider it totally true that the WMD in Syria, and any developmental suppport, came at least partly from Iraq before we invaded.
So if they find WMDs the Democrats can take credit for finding the WMDs Bush couldn't find but would never admit that Bush didn't lie as they claimed.
They better know where they are so they can be secured quickily assuming they haven;t been moved to Hezbollafh
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declined to endorse any direct help to the Syrian opposition without the consent of the Syrian government
Ask Syria if it is fine with them to help the opposition????
Is this as stupid as it gets?? Like obummer asking Iran to brig back our drone, without saying "pretty please" LOL
PalinsDirtyLittleSecret is a "separated at birth" hoax blog. Completely bogus nonsense made up out of whole cloth designed to waste your valuable time. Go get a real job.
Liberal's heads are exploding.....
Absolute rubbish. The US military is in Iraq for nearly 9 years and they would have gathered enough evidences by now to prove whether WMD have been relocated to another country. The WMD and the Mobile Weapon Labs are just an outright lie used as a pretext to invade Iraq. Don't find excuses for the follies of the past US leadership.
Bush waited six months or longer between the time an invasion of Iraq became likely and the actual start of the war. At the time, there was plenty of fear and speculation that Saddam would take advantage of this lull by secreting his WMDs in Syria or even Iran. Saddam was certainly cunning enough to do such a thing and would, in fact, have been stupid not to. And yet, the Left remains insistent to this day that "Bush lied." (As for the question whether Saddam ever possessed WMDs in the first place, you need only ask the Kurds. Or you could take the word of the international intelligence community, which was in practically unanimous agreement on the issue.)
. . . he didn't say "pretty please"?
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME.
I don't think GWB wanted any trouble with the Russians over the WMD. If indeed, they shipped it out of Iraq, then it probably didn't matter to Sadaam if these weapons ended up in Syria or elsewhere as long as he didn't get caught "red handed" with them.....
Clinton bombed Iraq because of WMD
Would you please just google.. Clinton bombs Iraq , WMD.. long before Bush took office Clinton, Albright, Kerry, Pelosi.. etc... all were claiming they were bombing Iraq because of WMD. I am surprised you don't have any clue to history before Bush took office. BTW.. even the UN said there was WMD!
Why are liberals so uneducated?
"Absolute rubbish. The US military is in Iraq for nearly 9 years and they would have gathered enough evidences by now to prove whether WMD have been relocated to another country. The WMD and the Mobile Weapon Labs are just an outright lie used as a pretext to invade Iraq. Don't find excuses for the follies of the past US leadership."
Seriously? You're ACTUALLY that naive OR stretching THAT far trying to ignore reality and well documented history? 10 years of "sanctions", 17 individual UN resolutions went by-Demorats draggin their tails the whole way and ALL our intelligence and many other agencies from other countries pointing to the 1. existence of the wmd's and 2. their removal SPECIFICALLY to Syria.
You REALLY have to have your head either buried in the sand or up the Demorats okoles (check the hawaiian dictionary if it's not obvious) to spew that garbage at this point. Change your name to Baghdad Bob and we'll understand.
Try As You Might You Can't Rewrite History, Bush Lied
It's laughable reading the comments from the Bush Brigade. Bush lied about the WMD's in Iraq and Syria possessing them does nothing to absolve him from those lies. Syria has been a friend of Russia, China and the USSR before that. Both China and Russia have been arming Syria for decades and included in those weapons were no doubt chemical weapons, biological weapons and WMDs of every type. Claiming that Syria didn't posses WMDs until Saddam shipped them in before we invaded Iraq is ludicrous. Of course Syria has WMDs and they will all be labeled Made In China or Made In Russia. Bush was a liar and his lies were directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians and thousands of American soldiers. Whatever is found in Syria won't change that. Obviously the right wing can't wait for WMDs to be found in Syria so they can try and claim that this proves Bush was right all along. This ignores reality and that's something the right does very well.
Compassionate liberal Palin Haters
Stop acting like you're in junior high. You've completed your character assassination on Palin and her family. She's not running for anything. Let it go. Besides, the biggest scam in history will be when we finally learn that Obama didn't meet the citizenship requirement and the leftist media has been covering for him for years.
Even if the WMD were stamped "Property of Iraq - if Found, Return to Saddam" in bright red letters, the left and the MSM would never, ever acknowledge their existence. They had entirely too much invested in the entire "Bush Lied, People Died" myth to ever allow if to be debunked.
Iraq or Iran. All those pre PGII, flights from Iraq to Northern Syria were just carrying refugees. UN are a bunch of buerocrats who do nothing but endanger the planet and get rich doing so.
TOTALLY AGREE! Has anyone seen that movie Contagion regarding the SARS outbreaks? At the end we see the new outbreak vaccine is just the same old one re-labelled and re-shipped out.... The old playbook Rule #1 - Create the Problem, Provide the Solution.... So old. Get a new one already.
How do you know they didn't? Because CNN didn't do a story on it?
Common knowledge by whom?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7LGeYr1hiQ
The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein's air force says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed.
http://www.nysun.com/foreign/iraqs-wmd-secreted-in-syria-sada-says/26514/
Yellow Cake uranium. duh
yellow cake, duh.
yellow cake, duh.
this keeps posting to the wrong recipient.
I refer u to read "Saddam's Secrets" Georges Sada. Everyone ignored this book and it explains what happened to Saddam's arsenal. In addition, it is not coincidental that Iranian Navy warships and "supply ships" have visited Syrian ports. Take the small, seemingly isolated bits of available info , put them together for a bigger picture. The State Dpartment must be aware of this and is beginning to lay the path for future action or inaction / excuses.
The right wing lunatics are still desperately trying to rewrite history about Bush's lies to justify the illegal and failed war against Iraq!
What a bunch of pathetic losers!
Well, actually there were WMDs in Iraq and they found big warehouses full of them. What you have not been informed of, evidently, is the origin of said WMDs. They originated in the USA. Even Texas had weapons there in the form of deadly nerve gas, supplied by friends of the Bushs. Friends who had chemical manufacturing plants in Texas. Google WMDs in Iraq with USA origins. In fact there's a youtube video about it with video of the actual material in the facilities there in Iraq.
Maybe the media will use this to run Obama out of town.
You are so right.
Here is some factual evidence on teh record of our higher ups and their wild claims of Iraq and WMDs.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp
enjoy !
Truerwords you are so right on with your posts. You are truly such a prophet of truth. Let those Bushies check out this link for the truth.
All progressives should arm themselves with this knowledge in order to point out the truth to others.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp
Strangely, your link to the snopes page merely establishes that Democrats as well as Republicans believed Saddam had WMD. The only difference was over how to handle that "fact." The whole "Bush lied" nonsense remains a cheap slogan since this would mean that a host of Democrats lied in the same way about the same thing.
ANd if the find WMDs stamped 'Owned by Iraq' would you believe them? I think the military was a little busy and I don't think syria would have opened up their warehouses to US inspection. Always so quick to continue to blame Bush. Of course Democrats ignore that they approved going to war.
Come on now. Why would anyone ever admit that W was right. We also know there was about 200 tons of yellow cake uranium quietly moved to Canada just after the invasion. Who's to say that the Russians weren't there just playing truck games? After all, certainly that must be the next most famous rally next to Paris-Dakar no?
Come on now. Why would anyone ever admit that W was right. We also know there was about 200 tons of yellow cake uranium quietly moved to Canada just after the invasion. Who's to say that the Russians weren't there just playing truck games? After all, certainly that must be the next most famous rally next to Paris-Dakar no?
Georges was Sadams confidant. Along with being a Jet pilot with war experience against the Iranians, he was an Assyrian Christian, and Hussein knew it. He does have 'Sadams Secrets.'
I say Pull em' all out, and DROP the big one !
Those nit-wits can't even read the Book, their screaming about !!
Then why didn't they know these WMD were being sent to Syria. Did Bush not monitor any activity going on prior to the start of the war. Did no one notice a large movement of trucks going into Syria. Bush was a lying failure have the balls to admit it.
A big chunk of what happens in the ME can be explained by the Sunni-shia split - www.war-in-middle-east.blogspot.com
John Hudson reports on national security and foreign policy from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, the White House to Embassy Row, for The Cable.
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