Behold the partner in action!
Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad secured the highway Sunday that links Damascus with northern Syria, paving the way for the potential shipment of chemical weapons overland to a Mediterranean port for destruction abroad, an activist group and two pro-government TV stations said.
Yes, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning OPCW might use that road:
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is leading the U.N.-backed mission to rid Syria of its chemical weapons program, said last week it would consider using the highway to transport Syria's arsenal to the port of Latakia before the weapons are taken out of the country for destruction.
At first I thought this was just part of Assad's slaugher of his own people:
Assad troops are increasing their attacks on pro-rebel civilians. This is believed to be with the advice and encouragement of their Russian and Iranian advisors. Both nations have long practiced the tactic of punishing rebellious civilians in order to pressure, or at least demoralize, the armed rebels they support.
But Assad's offensive is to clear a road to allow the removal of chemical weapons? Well, that's the action of a true partner in disarmament rather than a human tragedy of epic proportions in the making, isn't it?
And note the roles of our other partners, Russia and Iran. With a partnership like this working the problem, we'll be north of 150,000 dead Syrians by the time chemical weapons are removed from Syria in June 2014, by the schedule.
Hell, we should let Assad use whatever chemical weapons he has left to clear the road! That's a two-fer in Nuance-speak, isn't it? Clear the road to remove chemical weapons and reduce the amount of chemical weapons to be moved?
Maybe we should conduct missile strikes against the rebels to clear the road, too! Kerry could give an impassioned speech about the vital need to act quickly, no?
Nobel Peace Prizes all around! President Obama could get another one for chemical weapons disarmament to use as a bookend with his nuclear disarmament-based Nobel Peace Prize.
Sheer coincidence that this operation to clear a major road between Damascus and Assad's Alawite homeland keeps a Core Syria under Assad's control, of course.
