U.S.-Russia strike deal on Syrian WMD, but many questions raised. Here are some.

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

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.

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