chemical

Thursday April 6, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 6, 2017

Donald Trump’s response to Syria gas attack: blame Obama

The scale and horror of Tuesday’s gas attack on civilians in Idlib highlighted the vacuum in the Trump administration’s foreign policy making: the incident was met first by silence, then by criticism of Barack Obama.

 

April 10, 2012

Donald Trump described the attack, which killed scores of victims, including many children, as a direct “consequence” of his predecessor’s Syria policy.

 
“These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administration’s weakness and irresolution,” he said in a statement. “President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a ‘red line’ against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.” 
 
The reflex illustrated Trump’s enduring sense of being in his predecessor’s shadow, reinforcing the impression given by his obsessive tweeting of unsubstantiated claims that Obama wiretapped him.
 

September 13, 2014

As with healthcare, Trump’s policy on Syria has been defined by the desire to unpick Obama’s legacy – without a clear picture of what would replace it.

 
In the absence of a clear vision, the initial response to on Tuesday was silence. 
 
The Idlib attack was swiftly condemned by western capitals and congressional leaders, but the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson – who was visiting neighbouring Jordan at the time – ignored a press question about it, retaining his customary silence in the face of daily world events.
 
He recently described himself as “not a media press access person”.
 
On Tuesday morning, Trump addressed a builders’ conference, but made no mention of the attack.
 
It was only later in the day that the White House spokesman read out a statement from the president, in which Trump used the occasion to score a domestic political point against the Obama administration. (Source: The Guardian) 

 

Wednesday July 25, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday July 25, 2012

WMD fear heightens as Assad regime’s authority deteriorates

The spectre is looming larger of a desperate Syrian regime resorting to chemical weapons in order to survive the growing armed assault against it.

In a statement read out Monday on Syrian state television, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi attempted to reassure people that “no chemical or biological weapons will ever be used … during the crisis in Syria no matter what the developments inside Syria.”

However, addressing Syrian journalists, Mr. Makdissi added: “All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression.”

Not only was this the first time Syria ever had publicly acknowledged it possesses such weapons of mass destruction, but the statement also made clear the regime of Bashar al-Assad is willing to use them if “exposed to external aggression.”

Such a threat wouldn’t necessarily come from another country invading Syria, says Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel. Rather, “external aggression is exactly how the regime describes the current uprising” being carried out by “terrorists” and “foreign interests.”

“The good news,” says Mr. Rubin, author of The Truth About Syria, “is that the regime still is in control of the stockpiles and has been doing a good job of securing them.”

The chemical weapons, such as Sarin, a nerve gas developed in Nazi Germany and used in the 1995 terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway, and VX, an even more deadly nerve agent, as well as mustard gas of the sort employed in the First World War, are believed to be secured in two or three well-guarded compounds in the centre of the country. (Source: CBC News)