http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2411885/Syrias-chemical-weapons-Pentagon-knew-2012-75-000-ground-troops-secure-facilities.html#ixzz2e5iTybbo
Securing Syria's chemical weapons
stockpiles and the facilities that produced them would likely require
the U.S. to send more than 75,000 ground troops into the Middle Eastern
country, MailOnline learned Wednesday.
That estimate comes from a secret memorandum the U.S. Department of Defense prepared for President Obama in early 2012.
U.S. Central Command arrived at the
figure of 75,000 ground troops as part of a written series of military
options for dealing with Bashar al-Assad more than 18 months ago, long
before the U.S. confirmed internally that the Syrian dictator was using
the weapons against rebel factions within his borders.
'The
report exists, and it was prepared at the request of the National
Security Advisor's staff,' a Department of Defense official with
knowledge of the inquiry told MailOnline Wednesday on condition of
anonymity.
'DoD spent lots
of time and resources on it. Everyone understood that this wasn't a
pointless exercise, and that eventually we would be tasked with going
and getting the VX and sarin, so there was lots of due diligence.'
The
logistical difficulties of bringing Syria's chemical warfare
infrastructure under control stands in stark contrast with the text of a
resolution passed Wednesday by a powerful Senate committee, and with
assurances Secretary of State John Kerry has given committees in both
houses of Congress.
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No deniability: When Secretary of Defense Chuck
Hagel (L) inherited the Pentagon's top job in February, his agency had
known for a full year that resolving Syria's chemical weapons threat
without ground troops was a practical impossibility
Hundreds of children were among the more than
1,400 killed by what U.S. officials have called a sarin nerve gas attack
in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus on August 21
Kerry promised Wednesday that there would be 'no
boots on the ground' in Syria, less than 24 hours after hedging his
bets by allowing that securing chemical weapons sites could require more
than just air strikes
U.S. Navy SEAL teams and other Special Forces
units could be part of a rapid deployment, with a 'non combat' mission
restricted to securing chemical weapons, but if they are attacked their
rules of engagement would likely permit returning fire
The War Powers Resolution,
which passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee late Wednesday on a
bipartisan 10-7 vote, includes text noting that it 'does not authorize
the use of the United States Armed Forces on the ground in Syria for the
purpose of combat operations.'
If
President Obama were to deploy ground forces in Syria, the final words
of that phrase – 'for the purpose of combat operations' – could become a
loophole large enough to drive a Humvee through.
Speaking to the committee on Tuesday as he made the case for a congressional authorization to bomb critical Syrian military
sites, Kerry seemed to leave open the possibility that 'boots on the
ground' could be marshaled specifically to secure chemical weapons
stockpiles 'in the event Syria imploded, for instance.'
Kerry also mused on a scenario
in which 'there was a threat of a chemical weapons cache falling into
the hands of al-Nusra or someone else and it was clearly in the interest
of our allies and all of us – the British, the French and others – to
prevent those weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of the
worst elements.'
'I don’t
want to take off the table an option that might or might not be
available to a president of the United States to secure our country,'
Kerry concluded.
Holding their noses? Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Chairman Bob Menendez and ranking Republican Bob Corker
co-authored a war powers resolution whose guarantee of no ground troops
could be quickly discarded
These Syrian troops, shown in a February 2012
CNN broadcast, shout 'Allahu Akbar' as they raise their rifles skyward.
U.S. forces entering the country would have to fight them for control of
chemical weapons sites
What's waiting: In Syria's eastern town of Deir
Ezzor on August 26, government forces were accused of opening fire on UN
weapons inspectors on their way to a suspected chemical weapons site
outside Damascus
But moments later he
insisted 'the military plan that has been developed by the joint chiefs
... is limited. It does not involve boots on the ground. This is not
Iraq and this is not Afghanistan.
Less than a day later, Kerry sang the same refrain for members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
'There will be no boots on the ground,' Kerry said Wednesday.
'The
president has said that again and again. And there is nothing in this
authorization that should contemplate it. And, we reiterate, no boots on
the ground.'
An August 20, 2013 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service,
whose research muscle is tapped routinely by members of Congress,
described that troop estimate and attributed it to a February 22, 2012 CNN report.
When
that report aired, the network cited unnamed Pentagon officials who
said securing the chemical warfare installations would be
extraordinarily difficult,' and might require more U.S. ground forces
than were in Afghanistan at the time.
A
British Parliamentary report published in July determined that there is
'no doubt amongst the UK intelligence community that the Syrian regime
possesses vast stockpiles' of weaponized chemical agents.
As the Pentagon integrates female soldiers into
all forward combat units, women in uniform will likely enter Syria
alongside men, prompting an unusual Middle Eastern culture clash
More than 2 million Syrian refugees have swarmed
across the nation's borders into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and northern
Iraq since Syria's civil war spiraled out of control a year ago,
creating humanitarian relief problems that will compound any military
mission
Strongman: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C)
has allegedly hidden military hardware and chemical weapons smuggled out
of Iraq during the early days of the first Gulf War. Some of those
weapons were used against Syrian civilians in late August
The Congressional
Research Service underscored concerns 'that Syria could transfer its
chemical weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon,' further explaining the need
for large masses of U.S. troops in the country during the early days of a
military attack.
The White
House confirmed ten days later that 'the Syrian government carried out a
chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013.'
A
preliminary assessment that at least 1,429 people were killed in that
attack, including at least 426 children, has formed the basis for
President Obama's demand that Congress approve a series of targeted air
strikes in retaliation.
The
full Senate may vote on the Was Powers Resolution as soon as Monday,
barring a filibuster for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who hinted during a
Tuesday conference call that he might repeat the March marathon during
which he spoke for 13 hours straight in order to delay a confirmation
vote on CIA Director John Brennan.
The
House of Representatives could face a longer, more drawn-out process
with Republicans at the helm, and growing public opposition to new
military action in the Middle East.
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