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Subscribe to RSSPentagon sources tell NBC News that the Syrian military is awaiting final orders to launch chemical weapons against its own people after precursor chemicals for deadly sarin gas were loaded into aerial bombs. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Updated at 8:20 a.m. ET: The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said.
As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.
Sarin is an extraordinarily lethal agent. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces killed 5,000 Kurds with a single sarin attack on Halabja in 1988.
U.S. officials stressed that as of now, the sarin bombs hadn't been loaded onto planes and that Assad hadn't issued a final order to use them. But if he does, one of the officials said, "there's little the outside world can do to stop it."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated U.S. warnings to Assad not to use chemical weapons, saying he would be crossing "a red line" if he did so.
So far, intelligence sources say, bombs loaded with the components of sarin haven't yet been loaded onto planes. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Speaking Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Clinton said the Syrian government was on the brink of collapse, raising the prospect that "an increasingly desperate Assad regime" might turn to chemical weapons or that the banned weapons could fall into other hands.
"Ultimately, what we should be thinking about is a political transition in Syria and one that should start as soon as possible," Clinton said. "We believe their fall is inevitable. It is just a question of how many people have to die before that occurs."
Aides told NBC News that Clinton was expected next week to officially recognize the main opposition movement, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, with which she is scheduled to meet in Morocco. Britain, France, Turkey and some key Arab leaders have already recognized the opposition.
Fighting intensified Wednesday in the 21-month civil war, which has left 40,000 people dead. The U.N. withdrew its personnel from Damascus, saying conditions were too dangerous.
Kevin Lamarque / AFP - Getty Images
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government was "inevitable."
The government said this week that it wouldn't use chemical weapons on its own people after President Barack Obama warned that doing so would be "totally unacceptable."
But U.S. officials said this week that the government had ordered its Chemical Weapons Corps to "be prepared," which Washington interpreted as a directive to begin bringing together the components needed to weaponize Syria's chemical stockpiles.
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U.S. officials had long believed that the Syrian government was stockpiling the banned chemical weapons before it acknowledged possessing them this summer.
NBC News reported in July that U.S. intelligence agencies believed that in addition to sarin, Syria had access to tabun, a chemical nerve agent, as well as traditional chemical weapons like mustard gas and hydrogen cyanide.
Officials told NBC News at the time that the Syrian government was moving the outlawed weapons around the country, leaving foreign intelligence agencies unsure where they might end up.
Syria is one of only seven nations that hasn't ratified the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention, the arms control agreement that outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of such weapons.
Bombshells filled with chemicals can be carried by Syrian Air Force fighter-bombers, in particular Sukhoi-22/20, MiG-23 and Sukhoi-24 aircraft. In addition, some reports indicate that unguided short-range Frog-7 artillery rockets may be capable of carrying chemical payloads.
In terms of longer-range delivery systems, Syria has a few dozen SS-21 ballistic missiles with a maximum range of 72 miles; 200 Scud-Bs, with a maximum range of 180 miles; and 60 to 120 Scud-Cs, with a maximum range of 300 miles, all of which are mobile and are capable of carrying chemical weapons, according U.S. intelligence officials.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed President Obama's recent vow to take action if Syrian President Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons during the ongoing clashes within his country. U.S. officials are also concerned about the rising influence of extremist groups within Syria. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
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Its time to end this. Bomb the @!$%# out of those @!$%#s. Dictators need to take heed.
Questions: Where are the Muslim protesters who were so angry about the burning of the Koran? Why are they staying so quiet when Muslim children are being killed every day by the Syrian military? I don't get it.
Who is staying quiet? People all over the world are condemning Assad.
Evil Assad I condemn you for being so evil..... Obama has spoken the king of kings....
It's quite disgusting - the group hard-on all you little righties are getting over the prospect of "weapons of mass destruction" actually being used and thinking you're going to best Obama somehow and justify Dumya's wars. Disgusting.
your just pissed because now you find your lover "obama" to be in the same situation bush was in.
Just so funny how them weapons came from Iraq... Perhaps your lie will become known.
kyman, when was Bush ever in a situation like this? His father was when Saddam was crushing the Kurd and Shiite rebellions, but that was 12 years before.
The same situation? Really? Did terrorists kill thousands of American citizens on American soil under Obama's watch too?! What a coincidence!
This time I have a feeling they will provide proof of WMDs. Not just rumors. They will probably wait until he uses them, so there is no doubt. Then Assad is done.
I also doubt Obama will invade or try nation building. They will simply take out Assad with a missile strike, the same way they take out all terrorists these days.
It wasnt the Iraqis behind 9/11... That fight is in Afghanistan.
Did I miss that Obama terrorist attack?
not good news but...not the first time the USA has said someone has certain weapons...walk carefully..
Surely it's a gesture. I hope.
If the rebels are costing innocent Syrians their lives I suppose their might be some justification for it.
The rebels have the option of leaving I assume.
But with the US using depleted uranium shells in our wars that are leaving birth defects in children its hypocritical to suggest that they can't use toxins to accomplish their military goals.
I hate to break it to you but no one on either side that takes up arms is innocent. You tend to learn that in combat.
GoldfishTheDestroyer...great name! But I'm skeptical of your claim about birth defects resulting from the use of depleted uranium sabot rounds. Of course if you want to follow that line of thinking then you could conceivably make an argument claiming Americans, by drinking artificial sweetened soft drinks (just about everywhere they go), have spread cancer causing agents all over the world. Of course ultraviolet rays from the sun cause cancer (yep, they do!), sooooo...well you get the point.
Let me guess, you carried the 50 cal in combat.
Goldfish... a .50 caliber machine gun is a little too heavy for a person to carry, that's why they are mounted. Also a box of ammunition is considerable weight, so when you think of a .50 caliber machine gun, think in terms of an attack boat, plane, or vehicle. Carrying the gun barrel will provide you with some exercise.
Assad is akin to Jim Jones. He will kill his own people as he kills himself, men women and children. He will scorch his own earth, more significantly make it poisonous for all to remember him, even poison those who would enter trying to figure out the destruction. Another of world history's nut jobs. There is no "innocent" civilians, just those who are living and those who will be dead. In the thousands of years of history in the Middle East. just when did this concept of "humane" ever occur to these people. Conquer and slaughter, conquer and slaughter,conquer and slaughter. And since when is being a nut job an impediment to being a ruler in this Dark Ages mind set. Throw the plague riddled bodies over the walls to wipe out the population with pox and plague if you don't have chemical weapons, a lesson of warfare learned when there were millions of people to kill off.
I think Assad knows that if his regime falls he's not likely to get another job with those bad letters in his personal file from Clinton and Obama.
Of course you mean to heavy for a soldier to carry unless they go by the name Aunt Anna.
I don't think he will use it. I think this is called intimidation.
Of course maybe he has silently sworn allegiance to the dark side of the force. You never know until later that they have joined the dark side until the do something inhumane like Helldorado.
I've been wondering why his wife started referring to him by his nickname shortly before all of this started. It was a weird precursor to the civil war.
Who cares whoever is left at the end of this will still want to wipe out the US. When they kill each other they are doing us a favor
There's more than one way to get the U.S. debt ceiling raised!
Is anyone else sick of the predictable economic strategies of the warmongers?
Assad is a dead man, and he's going out in style.
We softhearted Americans couldn't mind our own business even if the lives of our own children depended on it.
This is all Obama's doing. It started with Libya and now here. He poked his nose in where it didn't belong, he'll get thousands of people killed and he will act suprised although fully aware of just what he did. This inhuman less than human mess of the century is in fact the great divider and deceiver. Beware of him. Do not trust Obama, do not let him into the realm of your country because he will do things to kill you. He is the anti-christ!
Hate much?
That is one of the dumbest posts I've read. I think you have him confused with the last president and his puppeteer, Dick Cheney.
WE should NUKE them..this way no terrorist get those bombs and that POS country is past history..next up IRAN!
Yeah, just NUKE it all. Install Walmarts, McD's and democracy!
Assad is a proven a hole...no doubt....but who are these rebels. not sure if i trust them either. When and yes it may not be long just how it happens when this guy is gone who takes his place.
Well, Well, Well isn't this interesting? Someone thinks the Syrians have sarin loaded up and ready to drop. I am not an expert in international law or treaties regarding weapons of mass destruction, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that even the mobilization of chemical/biological weapons is considered an act of war. Member states signing chemical/biological weapons treaties regard non-signatories as having committed a hostile act by merely threatening to employ such weapons. You don't have to have sign a treaty or be a member of a signatory pact to be designated an aggressor just by moving chemical/biological weapons from storage to a delivery platform or delivery system.
Soooo.... if Syria really has started to move such weapons you be assured that telephones are ringing (and being answered) on the desk of every Syrian military leader and they are being quietly informed by their counterparts from other countries that there will be no surviving the use of chemical weapons...just ask Saddam Hussein (you can't, they hanged him). Syrian military personnel involved in anyway with the use of chemical weapon will either be killed in the resulting counter-strike or will be tried, convicted, and executed by tribunals afterwards.
The US moves chemical weapons all the time. What does that make our government?
I don't think he will use them. I think he is tired of having American women tell him how to manage a coup defense. Probably loaded em up to see how bat crazy he can drive some people telling him how to run his own country.
And we use depleted uranium causing birth defects in nations we democratize with freedom.
The global liberation army is kind of hypocritical. We can use deadly chemicals, but no one else can. :)
As long as you are using deadly chemicals against the enemies children its okay.
We actually use them in combat and their effects last for generations.
All Assad has to do is move them in an intimidating manner to end this BS conflict and get his country back to order and he has American women trying to step on his toes.
The rebels have the option of leaving, not starting an unauthorized and unjustified armed conflict.
It's not North Korea. They can leave.
Their is no mention of this on the Al Jazeera English home page...they got brubeck but some how missed this story. Interesting!
Well it's nice to see that Obama's foriegn policy B.S. he promised is doing well in Syria. I take it, Syria isn't a muslim nation so there's really no interest in human rights for those people,.... right Obama? Maybe you should have been paying better attention to what's going on in Syria, Egypt, Iran, and N. Korea rather than a joy trip to Thiland,Mylasia or any other foriegn country who doesn't need your extended handouts. Yesterday MSN CLEARLY stated that your people said there was no need to worry that Syria wasn't making any WMD's. Now today the shoe is on the other foot. So I guess we all should believe our government too when they tell us everything here at home is all rosey.
We'll see if this is the conflict that ends it all, only 16 days left everyone. Just in case don't pay January's bills too early :)
Or better yet, don't pay next months tax bill either!
If we wake up on the 22nd we can just tell them it's in the mail :)
Islam is a religion of peace and the lies that Americans are telling are designed to kill muslims. Those are not WMD's that belonged to Saddam Hussein; you are all so gullible. That lie was a set up back in 2003 when Americans knew that they were going to try to destroy the people of Islamic countries. This is well-planned propaganda to overthrow Aysad and the sovreign country of Syria. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. That President Obama would even entertain the idea of intervening is outrageous. He should be doing all that he can to help Aysad get his country back under control. Instead of giving all that money to places like Israel and Canada and other countries, he should be giving some money to Syria to fix the harm that we have done.
You, Sir, are a moron.
Your an idiot. Islam is a religion of peace??? so what is so peaceful in killing innocent people with an AK-47 or IED? second, WMD means, Weapons of mass destruction....jack wagon. ANYTHING that kills people as a group, whether its a hundred people or millions, still falls under "MASS" (as in many) people. It's also not propaganda when you go through with it. So if Syria starts to kill it's own people, it would be a true statement to say that they used WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. As for Obama helping Syria,....why should he give them OUR TAX payer dollars? I don't give a @!$%# what they do as long as i don't have to fund any of their causes. You should fund them with your Islamic religion and tell them Allah will save them, and leave my tax dollars out of it.
Sorry. I just realized that was sarcasm.
The moron dictator will try anything to stay in power. He should be advised a few bunker busters are going to head his way very soon if he releases any gas on his people. This idiot needs to go and the forces of NATO shoud quit screwing around and take him out now!!
Rick--You talking about Obama? If not, you do realize Obama is president and all he will do about this is write a check, he is too weak and too much of a coward to do anything more than that.
Barb210: Obama would write a check IF he had any money in the USA bank account, but he has to go ask his dad Bernanke right now if he can use the country credit card to do anymore buying.
The US official is a coward and works for a coward. There is something that the United States and the world CAN and MUST do--it's called stop Asaad's military before they release the sarin. Didn't Obama say before the elections that if Syria started moving these WMD's that he would put in action to stop it? Well this is the second time the media has said the WMD's have moved--first time US intelligence allegedly lost track of them and this time well Obama as usual was all talk and will be no show--weakening America once again. I don't want to see any more wars but it is inevitable and even more so in today's world with such barbaric terrorists and an American government that is good at writing on blank checks, but bad at taking any other action. Besides this is not about politicians, this is not about adult men and women, this is about those little babies that have been living with this all their lives and will probably die because the world is standing still and doing nothing to protect them. America stopped caring about children when the Clintons come up with some nonsense saying "it takes a village to raise a child." It takes parents to raise their children, but it takes the village and the world to keep an eye out for their protection and their lives.
As for the United Nations--you are pathetic--you stand and do nothing about Syria either after 40,000 Syrians have died to date. Yet when some idiots from America cry about unfounded voter intimidation, you jumped right on that band wagon when you should have been sending those resources to Syria where the real intimidation and oppression is.
Merry Christmas Obama--hope you enjoy your continued 4 year hiatus that has you now going to Hawaii.
Want war? Suit up and go yourself, Barb. Ta ta!
Re-pub--must be sad to be you.
No Barb I'm thinking that it is sad to be you when you want American youth to die fighting a Muslim on Muslim war. What exactly will you tell the parents when the son or daughter comes home in a box?
That they died to protect Sharia law?
Hey republicanbs: would you rather stop Syria right now or face N.Korea on your own front lawn? One way or the other, there's another war to be fought soon enough and if Obama doesn't get off his ass and start doing something to controll the idiots in power that have WMD's, soon enough it will be YOU that will be placing your head between you butt checks. Stop acting like a dumb democrat that likes to hide his head in the sand and believe the worlds problems will just pass on by.
Stay out of it and let them kill each other. All of the area is not worth one American's life.
In a situation like this, only a moral coward and moral degenerate would say to do nothing. Enough is enough, it is time to take Assad and his thugs out. This is a matter of moral and ethical proportions.
wonder how our socialist presidents is going to handle this.... should we go in or not, if we dont then obama will have to answer for his in ability to act should these WMD'S be used.
There are no WMD. Remember? It was a Bush lie.
This will be the end of Syria and Iran if WMD is used.
Joey--not in the next 4 years it won't.
So the government "believes" Assad has weapons of mass destruction? I am sure they have evidence of that as well. Does this scenario sound familiar?
I am sure Syria got most of the chemical weapons from Iraq. That is where Saddam sent them before the initial invasion. No Hilliary is shaking her finger and saying, "Don't do it. That is crossing a line." I would imagine that shaking her finger is all that will happen. The US is now a toothless dog. All bark and no bite.
if one of those bombs is dropped, the death toll, depending of how big the bomb is, could reach into the thousands. after the bomb is dropped what does Barry plan to do, shake his left index finger at Assad and say bad boy? the other problem is who actually has control of the weapon? the syrian military, or some other group within the government? there is only one thing to do, turn the Marines and SEALs loose and take the controls out of the loop. other than that is retaliation, neuc the bastards. if they are willing to kill thousands of their own people, then they are crasy and should not be allowed to procreate. the target after their own people will be NY, LA, CHI, Bos, Atlanta, or some football game in DC or elsewhere.
I hope to see you at the marine recruiting station in the morning. I would not want you to miss learning about killing as you seem to think that it is such a glorified thing to do.
Muslim on Muslim have a blast guys.. Kill as much as you desire.
You, sir, are no Christian and should be ashamed!
People who fantasize about violence are rarely ashamed.
I never said I was. I have a dead brother killed by Afghan military. What have you donated lately?