Israel Matzav

Kemp: Agreement on Syrian chem weapons 'not realistic'

I am sure that many of you remember Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, whose testimony before the United Nations 'human rights council' (after the Goldstone commission refused to hear him) was the beginning of the end for the credibility of the Goldstone Report in the international arena.

Kemp has told the Jerusalem Post that the US-Russia plan to force Syria to turn over its chemical weapons is 'not realistic.' Here's hoping Matt Lee asks the State Department about that assessment at Monday's briefing.

The agreement reached between the US and Russia for the destruction of chemical weapons in the possession of the Assad regime is fraught with difficulty and danger and, in the best case scenario, would likely end up with a token show of disarmament, Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Speaking to the Post by phone, Kemp, who also served in the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee and Cabinet Office Briefing Room, said: “I think it’s extremely difficult to do something like this during an active conflict, during a war. I think it’ll take a very large amount of time, with a significant amount of military protection, so that the inspectors can be as safe as they can be. That aspect will present huge challenges. Which country, first of all, will provide the scientists who will take these risks and the military forces to back them up? It’s a very dangerous situation.”

...

“Secondly, to get verification in this kind of situation, I would say, is impossible,” he stated. “It would be very easy for President Assad to hide or remove out of the country significant quantities of chemical weapons.

As I reported on Sunday, Assad has already started to do just that.

Kemp continues.

What we might end up seeing is a token show of disarmament. I don’t think it is realistically feasible.”

In turn, it would end up harming regional – and global – security, the former military commander warned.

Assad’s position would be strengthened by a more positive international stance towards him, “combined with very active Russian support and American collusion with that support,” Kemp said. Iran’s position, too, would be strengthened significantly, he continued, as the value of American deterrence “appears to be degraded as a result of this, and Iran’s own position is obviously strengthened by what will be its closer relations with Russia.”

This spells bad news from Israel’s perspective, Kemp said, adding nonetheless that “Israel appears to be the only reliable power in the region. America’s power and American deterrence is reduced. Israel remains the one reliable power that the world can count on to intervene if the situation gets too dangerous.”

Well, at least Syria isn't a nuclear power.... 

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Bashar al-Assad, chemical weapons, John Kerry, Richard Kemp, Sergey Lavrov, Syria, Vladimir Putin

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:12 AM