If the situation in Syria continues to worsen and the Assad regime loses control of its security forces, the US will be forced to act to recover the army’s stockpile of VX and other biological weapons. Regardless of what happens in the UN, the US has no other option. The alternative of inaction is the possibility that these weapons will end up in the hands of Hamas or Hezbollah who would certainly utilize them in an attack on Israel or other US targets in the region.
We would also privately or publically have the consent of Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries who are worried about the growing threat from Iran’s missile program and the terror organizations the regime supports. Few would argue that allowing terror groups access to nerve agents is in our nation’s best interest, but equally valid is the concern that we don’t get involved in yet another trillion dollar nation-building operation in the Middle East.
With high ranking US officials suggesting it could take some 60,000 troops to secure Syria’s weapon storage facilities, this would be an expensive proposition in and of itself. If it becomes necessary, our only objective needs to be to recover these weapons and then quickly extract our soldiers as soon as tactically possible. That must be the future goal of all US military action in the Middle East and around the world. The idea that we need hundreds of thousands of troops in the role of “peace keepers” is futile and foolish.
The bottom line is that the US needs to ensure that this potential conflict resembles Operation Desert Storm and not the latest war in Iraq. I’m personally not concerned about the political future of Syria – it would be nice if they would pass some freedom oriented reforms, but that is for their people to decide. I only care about preventing radical Islamic terror organizations from obtaining weapons that can easily kill thousands of Jews in Jerusalem or strike US military installations throughout the Middle East.
Part 1: http://bit.ly/SyR26g
Part 2: http://bit.ly/SyQNIq
...simply stunning! ◄Dave►