I guess this is what happens when you play with nasty toys:
Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in Jane’s Defence Weekly, which reported 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.
Pity.
So they were using multiple agents in the warhead, or does the reporter not comprehend the process?
Insha’allah, works for me.
oopsie!
Hard to see any downside here, no?
To shamelessly steal from John at op-for.com, more Tangos bite the dust. Sarin gas, seriously nasty stuff.
Of course, the good ole U.S. of A. is not without sin in the chemical weapons arena — though we are slowly moving toward elimination of our stockpile. Just south of me, in Pueblo CO, literally tons of mustard gas are stored.
Globalsecurity on Pueblo Depot
Offical Army Pueblo Depot Site
Kinda gives me the willies occasionally, thinking about all that nastiness stored less than 60 miles from my home.
There is another storage depot in Kentucky that is also chock-full of chemical weapons.
Linc
60 miles? Gee whiz. I hope you have enough airbags in your mini-van! Be safe Linc.
BTW, we may need the stuff someday- glad to hear about it.
b2
Linc, while I share your concern that these stockpiles exist and could perhaps have an accident. It should be noted these are very old weapons are no longer usable and are targetted for destruction. Unfortunately there have been extensive delays in destroying these weapons for a variety of reasons. It should also be noted we have made great strides as of late destroying our very old stocks.
Dave
Who was it that wrote the immortal lines…”Turn out the lights the party’s over”? Pretty appropriate I’d say.
At least for some Syrians.
And Iranians…
karma.
Three cheers for cooperation.
I agree Kristen. Except that it does mean that what we have suspected all along, is actually the truth. And if they are half as smart as they appear to have been – given that they’ve been able to keep this secret – they will learn from this mistake.
Then again, maybe they are as stupid as they look – one can only hope.
And just where did those chemical weapons come from, hmmm…????
Ponder this, por favor.
Back in the day, my brother got a bunch of those nice C&GD (now NOAH) maps and posted them on our office walls – two walls – which covered So. Cal from the Tehachapi Mts. South. Then he noted all the possible military targets (this was pre – Boxer/ Feinstein) he knew of (as in any well read joe slob civilian without military/big defense contractor contacts). Then he cut out neat little circles of paper representing a reasonable radius of destruction for the average – type soviet Nuke. He got tired after cutting and pasting 200 of these circles to cover the targets in So. Cal. alone. He had a ways to go to achieve full target saturation.
Now this proves nothing but should make fodder for hours of abstract what – if argument.
If we’re going to freak out at even the thought of one Nuke, one or two Sarin Scuds, might as well turn over the keys to Achmadinajad, Khameini & Co. now.
Kindly file this comment under ‘US – weak and soft?’ and ‘US – in decline?’. Gracias.
That’s right Cottus. In the words of old Bucky, “Mr. President, I’m not saying we won’t get our hair mussed. I do say, no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops!”
Speaking of Soviets and nukes, guess what I bummed across last night? Some historian found a copy of a Soviet War Plan for Central Europe.
Take a read, if you’re curious…
oops…”bumped”
Bumming last night was probably apt, but not in reference to finding the article mentioned above.
And…SJS commented on some of his work along those lines under the post. He’s got academic experience!
What are you trying to imply FBL?? Hmmmmm? LOL….yeah a little neighborly hand off seems about right doesn’t it. Oh well, we had the right idea just the wrong country to interdict the WMD.
Dave,
It is precisely the age of this material that concerns me. It is of no military use anymore, but bureaucratic SNAFUs keep delaying the final destruction of these old stockpiles. I am regularly informed of the status of the destruction plans by our (pretty darn good) local newspaper.
Destruction deadline by treaty is 2012, but current projections are that we will not be able to meet that deadline.
Linc
In the case of Mr. Casca, Q.E.D.
This and other signs have me convinced that the next war, like the Iraq War, will be more about counterproliferation than counterterrorism. And it’ll be a conventional war, not a counterinsurgency.