Syria shows signs of preparing to surrender its chemical-weapons stockpile
Source: Washington Post
Syria appears to be moving its chemical weapons to a small number of central locations, U.S. officials say, in a sign that the regime is preparing to cooperate with an international effort to rapidly destroy its entire arsenal of deadly toxins.
The movement of chemicals and equipment in recent days — which initially spurred fears that Syrian officials were trying to hide parts of their stockpile — suggests instead that the weapons are being consolidated ahead of a first visit by inspection teams that arrived in the country last week, administration officials said.
The activity has contributed to a cautious optimism among U.S. officials over the prospects for quickly dismantling the chemical arsenal. Syrian officials a week ago turned over their first inventory of chemical weapons and storage sites, a list that U.S. analysts described as detailed, although incomplete.
The records have helped shed light on a sizable Syrian stockpile that U.S. officials say contains hundreds of tons of precursors for the nerve agents sarin and VX, as well as a surprise: ricin, a highly lethal poison derived from castor beans.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/syria-shows-signs-of-preparing-to-surrender-its-chemical-weapons-stockpile/2013/10/05/bd8a4d22-2d40-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html
It seems not too long ago that Republicans were simultaneously attacking President Obama for doing nothing despite 2 years of diplomatic efforts, attacking President Obama for failing to seek their authorization for the use of force, attacking the President for seeking such authorization, then saying that they will vote against any authorization because President Obama did not have a plan for reducing Syria's stockade for chemical weapons.
The point of all this is that Republicans have no principled opposition or policy. They happily advance mutually exclusive policy arguments and no one really calls them on it. Finally, when progress is made on Syria and Iran, no one holds them accountable on the fact that many of their contradictory arguments were specious.
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