Secretary John Kerry has struck a deal on Syrian chemical weapons. Will it work? Is it enough?

(Dallas, Texas) — The U.S. and Russia have announced that their diplomats have struck a deal to identify all chemical weapons in Syria by November, and destroy them all by mid-2014. It will take some time to learn all the details and assess the deal. Here are some of the questions that will need to be answered:

• Will Assad really disclose all the chemical weapons the Syrian regime possesses?
• How will we know for certain?
• Is it really possible to destroy an estimated 1,000 tons of chemical weapons in the middle of a raging civil war?
• What countries will provide the weapons inspectors?
• How many will be needed?
• How will they be protected?
• What happens if they are ambushed, kidnapped, or killed?
• What happens of Assad reneges on the deal?
• Will the U.S. use force then?
• Would a U.N. Security Council vote be required first?
• Wouldn’t Russia veto such a resolution?
• Will Russia be able to continue selling — or giving — conventional arms to Assad’s regime?

The larger question is this: Even if all of Syria’s chemical weapons could be identified and destroyed (that would be a good thing), this deal does nothing to stop the mass murder and savage brutality still underway in the country, right?

Let’s keep in mind:

• Sheer evil has been unleashed in Syria.
• Both sides are guilty of war crimes.
• We are witnessing the implosion of a modern Arab state.
• More than 110,000 Syrians have been killed in the last 30 months — only a tiny percentage by chemical weapons; most by conventional methods.
• An estimated 7 million Syrians — nearly 1 in 3 citizens of the country — are fleeing for their lives (2 million have fled the country as refugees; another 5 million are “internally displaced”).

Here is the text of the agreement.

• Text of the Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons (State Department)
• U.S., Russia reach agreement on seizure of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal (Washington Post)