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Syria's Chemical Weapon Obfuscations

(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Dany Shoham - While nearly all of the chemical weapons (CW) capabilities declared by Syria have been destroyed, it has become increasingly clear that the declared quantities, components, and facilities constitute but part of the full picture. The CIA initially accepted and trusted the Syrian declarations, whereas the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency doubted their reliability. Recently, however, a shift has occurred, and the CIA is now fully convinced that the list of assets disclosed by the Syrian regime was incomplete. The reluctance of the international community to act forcibly regarding undeclared Syrian chemical weapon capabilities is a very bad sign. It raises doubts about full implementation of intelligence-gathering operations and effective monitoring of the Iranian nuclear program. The writer, an expert on chemical and biological warfare, is a former senior IDF intelligence analyst.
2015-08-10 00:00:00
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