Not necessarily stirring in their bunkers and warehouses, but stirring in the news headlines.
Here's today's take from the New York Times. Note the vague sourcing of the story. Unnamed officials in the Israeli and US intelligence services. Note the vague generalities about red lines and open-ended threats to do whatever must be done.
This is not a new story. It has reared its head several times in the course of this war. Then it fades away again, the people who decide these sorts of things having determined that the time is not yet right to play the WMD card.
But as al Qaeda gets closer and closer to toppling Assad, and closer and closer to getting their hands on those chemical weapons stockpiles, look for this story to get the full court press. If Assad doesn't use them, unsavory elements among the freedom fighters might. We must act now! Thousands of innocent lives hang in the balance...
The game of denying who the rebels are can only be played for so long. Thus far, when photographs of al Qaeda fighters flying their flag in Syria have emerged, it's been dismissed as regime propaganda or naive rebels not knowing what they're doing. Just having a bit of fun with that black banner, maybe making a few gag souvenir pics for the folks back home in Libya and Iraq.
But sooner or later, probably sooner, thousands, no tens of thousands of lives will hang in the balance, and what if those al Qaeda rebels smuggle those chemical weapons into Iraq and from there in a shipping container right into... Baltimore? Manhattan? Boston?
WE MUST ACT!!!
No time for long-winded debate at the UN or Congress. Hundreds of thousands of innocent lives hang in the balance!
American boots will be on the ground in Damascus before spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment