If you have been wondering what sort of activities the peace-loving Syrians have been involved in recently, here’s one example:
Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane’s Magazine report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.
According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas and VX gas. — Jerusalem Post
Syria has been developing chemical and biological weapons since 1973. Some details on their chemical weapons program, from GlobalSecurity.org:
…Syria has developed a robust chemical weapons program, perhaps one of the most advanced in the Middle East, and a variety of delivery methods. The country is still very depending [sic] on outside assistance in procuring important precursor chemicals and equipment….
The Syrian arsenal is said to be comprised mostly of large amounts of Sarin in addition to tabun, mustard gas and is reportedly producing and weaponizing VX.
…Syria’s principle [sic] suppliers of CBW production technology were reported to be large chemical brokerage houses in Holland, Switzerland, France, Austria and Germany.
Syria also apparently has a close relationship with North Korea, from which it has obtained Scud missiles, components, and blueprints — and now possibly nuclear material.
The Syrian desire to commit mass murder of Jews is not surprising. They had good teachers:
Israeli military intelligence reports during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war were filled with references to the presence of Nazis among the Syrian forces attacking northern Israel. Some of them served as commanding officers.
The names of prominent Nazis living in Syria began to surface during the 1950s and 1960s. One was SS Captain Theodor Dannecker, who helped Adolf Eichmann implement Hitler’s genocide policy in France, Bulgaria, and Hungary. Another was Karl Rademacher, a senior Eichmann aide who had been involved in the mass murder of Jews from Belgium, Holland, Croatia, and elsewhere. After World War II, Rademacher escaped Allied capture by fleeing to Syria, where he became an official in the Syrian Secret Service.
The most notorious of the Nazis granted asylum in Syria was another top Eichmann aide, SS Lieutenant Alois Brunner. After being convicted in France in 1954 of responsibility for the murders of more than 100,000 Jews, Brunner disappeared. Two decades later, the famed French Nazi-hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld tracked down Brunner in Damascus, where he was making a comfortable living as an adviser to the Syrian intelligence services. And he is apparently still there. — Dr. Rafael Medoff, ‘Why Syria welcomed David Duke’
Consider all of the above, and then ask yourself why Israel has developed atomic weapons.
The major question in my mind in regards to Iran, Syria, Hizbollah, and to a lesser extent Hamas in Gaza is how much damage they can cause within Israel should there be a real conflagration. For instance should the Americans decide it necessary to, for their own reasons not Israel’s, to take out Iran’s nuclear program the first target will be Israel.
I am concerned about our defenses, our civil- defense network, our ability to deal with this. And I have not read any really serious analysis regarding the possibility.
Barak at least is giving the impression that he intends to deal with home front preparation. If so, it’s still unacceptable that it’s taken so long. And if it’s just BS…
Iran is a big problem because none of the alternatives are good. Attack them and even if it is possible to destroy the nuclear facilities from the air — which it may not be — there will certainly be a reaction and Israel will bear the brunt of it. Don’t attack them and they will get nuclear weapons. Is there another way to stop them? I don’t know, but public diplomacy hasn’t worked.