Weren’t Syria’s Chemical Weapons Destroyed? It’s Complicated

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/world/middleeast/werent-syrias-chemical-weapons-destroyed-its-complicated.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmiddleeast&action=click&contentCollection=middleeast&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront 

This article was a good read for anyone looking for background information about the world’s attitude towards the use of chemical weapons.  It goes into the history of how chemical weapons were dealt with under the Obama administration.  Questions have risen due to the presumption that all chemical weapons were destroyed, yet there was the recent use of these weapons in Syria.  It begs the question of where they came from.  They were either hidden from inspectors by Assad or a new supply of weapons were manufactured by weapon specialists in the Syrian government.  This article also speculates the reason behind these chemical attacks, possibilities including “perceived signals of apathy from Russia and the United States.”  (For example, Russia has played a role in the destruction of chemical weapons.)  After seeing the effect that these weapons had on so many innocent lives, it is no secret as to why chemical weapons have been declared “off limits.”

Ally Bockay