Rupture of Civilization Outside Damascus

The United States and Russia could have long known who uses chemical weapons in Syria against whom thanks to their espionage technology. The question is of their willingness to do so, and the world should have an urgent interest to find out the answer. If Assad is responsible for this rupture of civilization, then no one should support the regime or supply them with weapons.

One has learned that intelligence services can break almost any kind of secret. With the aid of satellites, aircrafts and drones, almost anything can be observed and analyzed. Moreover, electronic intelligence monitors all kinds of human communication. Intelligence operatives provide the rest in the traditional manner.

This time the methods of the NSA and their cronies should not be discussed, despite their assault on the privacy of innocent citizens. These discussions should focus on how the conscious use of intelligence technology and spies in Syria was capable of providing evidence of whether and by whom chemical weapons were used. As Americans or Russians can control commando operations from a long distance, they should also be capable of quickly delivering soil or blood samples after an alleged chemical weapons attack, even in contested areas that would require breaking the sovereignty of the state. It is a question of the will to do so.

It is correct that the use of chemical weapons, even in an unsettled civil war in Syria, means the collapse of civilization. That is more or less what U.S. President Obama argued a year ago. Since then, Washington has done little to verify whether or not those red lines have been crossed. Moscow is not to be spoken of in this context; Putin remains loyal to the allied vassals of Assad. This probably has more to do with the desire for being sovereign than with rational, albeit immoral, foreign policy.

The Gas from Damascus Could Be a Turning Point

Propaganda, especially the most gruesome kind, is an effective tool in war. Russians, Americans, Europeans and Arabs must have the greatest interest either to debunk the propaganda or confirm the breakdown of civilization. If Assad’s troops have fired poison gas that killed hundreds of people, no one, for any reason, should support this regime or supply them with weapons. However, it is also possible that radical guerrillas used chemical mass murder as a weapon against the still relatively stable military regime.

Assad’s fall does not necessarily mean the end to the civil war. But there are events, which even in a terribly muddled situation, can be turning points in a conflict because of their sheer awfulness. Srebrenica was such an incident; the gas from Damascus could be another one.

But the world must have certainty. The U.N. inspectors must gain access to the alleged places of horror, possibly with the aid of an armed escort. No one, not hesitant Washington, not Russia or China and not the desperate Europeans can escape the obligation to investigate this time. And even if this investigation is not consensual, there are other ways and means to secure the necessary samples.