Originally published on the CGS blog on May 6, 2014.
Happy belated Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare.
This sad memoriam is observed annually on April 29th to “honor past victims and liberate future generations from the threat of chemical weapons,” as noted by UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon. Regretfully, there are individuals alive today who may fall under its call for remembrance next year.
President Bashar al-Assad recently attacked his countries’ citizens with chlorine and ammonia gas. The effects were deadly. Victims’ lungs were burning and contact with the gases caused burning, irritated eyes and skin. It’s maddening to think that any leader could kill their countries’ citizens using crude barrel bombs and chemical gasses. It’s more enraging to think this is happening in an era of unprecedented international law.
Let’s not forget that Bashar has already used Sarin gas against the Syrian population back in 2013. Those attacks prompted President Obama to threaten Bashar with airstrikes citing the Responsibility to Protect. Yet Russia came to the rescue of its ally and forged a deal that kept Assad in power, dismantled Syria’s chemical weapons, and made Syria ascend to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
That last part, that Syria has agreed to abide by the rules of the CWC, is the real kicker. Russia may have given their Syrian ally a second chance, but now Assad is in clear violation of the treaty. The use of any chemical weapon, defined as the use of toxic substances for harm, is strictly prohibited in the first paragraph of the convention. The hammer of justice can be brought down upon Bashar now, right?
No. First the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) needs to conduct a formal investigation. The Syrian regime has claimed the rebels were responsible for the use of chlorine gas, but the claim is unlikely because military helicopters were widely reported to deliver the weapon.
So when the Syrian regime is found guilty, then the international community can remove Assad from power, right? Again, no. There’s still the dilemma of gathering the necessary political will. After years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans and President Obama are wary of any kind of military action.
However, I’m not sure a stronger response to Assad’s new affront can be avoided. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
The US was on the brink of military action the first time the Assad used chemical weapons. I think it’s clear that Assad cannot be trusted and, since he believes he is winning his war, has gone mad with power.
Russia could still obstruct the process to remove Assad from power. Recently President Putin has revealed himself to be concerned only with direct national interests. In Ukraine and Syria, Putin has thrown around the full weight of Russian power to make sure he gets what he wants. Yet when the OPWC report confirms Assad to be responsible for the new chemical attacks, it’ll look bad for Russia as the crafters of the deal keeping Assad in power. Just maybe Russia won’t defend the Syrian regime so strongly this time.
If Assad is not severely punished for breaking the CWC, then all international law will lose its authority. No single country has the right to dispose a regime of power, but we can no longer sit idly by as Assad murders his citizens through barrel bombs, starvation, and chemical warfare. The recent developments in Syria must be a catalyst for multilateral intervention ending in Assad’s removal. Let’s prove that we don’t want and will not stand for a world that deals in chemical weapons.
