Instant Karma

Syrian and Iranian efforts to add chemical warheads to Scud missiles backfired two months ago, according to Jane’s Weekly. Instead of killing Israelis by firing them at their cities, it killed dozens of engineers attempting to load the WMD onto rockets for a Syrian attack (via Power Line):

Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane’s Defence Weekly report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.
According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas.
Reports of the accident were circulated at the time; however, no details were released by the Syrian government, and there were no hints of an Iranian connection.

Syria does not belong to the list of signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention or Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would prohibit these actions. Obviously they have no duty to refrain from using these weapons if they haven’t signed the treaties, but just as obviously their work on WMDs can allow their neighbors to deduce that they represent a clear danger to their security. After hearing this story, one can understand why Israel chose to attack the Syrian facility that they suspected held nuclear weapons material.
Also, it’s difficult to feel much sympathy for those who lost their lives in this effort. The intent of these weapons is easily determined. They wanted to kill Israeli civilians in a cruel and excruciating manner, outside of the rules civilized nations impose on themselves. The fact that the two leading terrorist nations combined in this effort should surprise no one, but also should underscore the threat they pose to all other nations in the region and the world.
My sympathies remain with those who will eventually have to risk their lives and sacrifice them in some instances to end their threat. Those who died in the chemical weapons explosion merely got what they had coming. It just means we’ll have a few dozen less we have to find later.

32 thoughts on “Instant Karma”

  1. This was a whole successful operation!
    I credit Olmert for playing his “weak hand,” and in not giving anything away.
    And, I credit the Israelis, themselves, because Labor saw it had a problem. Amir Peretz did not want to leave. And, it took an election to change the odds.
    Today, those odds have been shaken. And, stirred. Ehud Barak’s stock tops even what Arik Sharon held.
    And, there will be very little information forthcoming. No operational secrets will leak.
    Of course, if you look over to iran, you’ll remember the “announcement” that Israel would be wiped off the face of the earth.
    And, it’s true. Using a nuke would destabilize Israel; a small country.
    While Israel knows she hasn’t got a friend worth a damn in the whole region. (Bush is in bed with the Saud’s. Where you get to see stuff that’s also “impossible.”)
    For instance, Maliki wanted to kill Ambassador Crocker. So the State Department hires the BLACKWATER contractors; to get him from the airport, back to the safety of the US Embassy, in Baghdad. Maliki has “inside information” on the convoy. But the US military DOES NOT.
    Hmm. Could it be the Shi’ite Iraqi police couldn’t be trusted? And, experienced hands were needed? Blackwater is composed of Special Ops guys. And, Seals.
    Please do not expect to find out. You never will.
    But the way I figure it, the SURGE was to protect the SUNNI tribes, and convince those bastards (oops … those sheiks) … that time was running out.
    So, yes. Petraeus knows that the Anbar, Fallujah, hot beds are improving. THIS INFURIATES MALIKI!
    He sees the USA helping the SUNNIs. And, doing this successfully.
    So, Maliki was in Damascus. But then on July 23rd, syria had a work accident. And, there were dozens killed. FROM SARIN and VX GAS! (Oh, you’re still questioning WMD’s?)
    Israel made a calculated decision, for all these arab screw ups to get as far as they could go.
    Ship from north korea has nukes? Yup. Delivers same? Yup. And, then falls off the face of the earth. People think the captain just painted his hull; and he’s now a Disney cruiser. Believe what you will.
    But the choices are still there.
    The Mossad is better than ever.
    And, the Israelis aren’t looking to conquer territory! Why bog down among these dogs? You need to see more than you see in gazoo?
    Oh, while in gazoo … you heard some Special Forces go in, totally unrecognized by the armed-to-the-teeth natives. They arrive on donkey carts. They pass for “grocers.” And, they slowly approach the gang leader, who kidnapped Shalit.
    Must have been well planned. Once they had their hands on this bastards; they drove to the airport. And, a helicopter made the quick trip OUT. And, to an airport in Israel.
    Yeah. Gazoo complained to the UN.
    Syria is also complaining.
    But there’s a rumor, afoot; that Assad has ten more days to live. Should he not choose to go to a senseless war with the IDF, his own brother-in-law gave him an ultimatum. (Maybe, he can share his get-away with Mugabe?)
    When these kinds of operations aren’t successful, that’s when the diplomats come in. And, tear into the brave who are tasked with these assignments.
    Success is a whole other ball game.
    And, you’re free to make things up. I just did.
    I also think that MONEY had to change hands “after the goods arrived.” And, here, too, the operation was so quiet … no one heard a thing.
    Well, isn’t that how they’re building subs these days?
    Also, there’s no need for the russians to make refunds. As a matter of fact, their prices just went up.
    How did the Israelis do it? How did they just sit there, watching this develop; and then waited?
    One reason? I think they have a quiet, Dolphin Class submarine … in the waters. (They got it from Germany. And, they’ve made enhancements.)
    If the plans on the ground … because there were ground troops inserted 48 hours before September 6th … I think missiles would have been flying.
    Just never needed to press the button on Option #2.
    Feel free to make up your own scenarios. Something happened.
    Condi even has to absorb that Maliki wanted Crocker dead, for the headlines!
    You think he wants Petraeus … and the surge?
    Doesn’t benefit the shi’t … shi’ites. Not at all. But the Bonkeys have corrupted our war news. Forget it. There’s not gonna be any debate.

  2. I would guess the sarin came from one of the three locations within Syria that house Saddam’s WMDs.
    And, since Syria is such a fine upstanding country, they were doing their part to recycle and not dsangerously start a new nerve gas program.

  3. I think “Janes” is printed by the Brits…right? Aren’t they the puppets of BushHitler / Cheney? How can anyone trust this “information/propaganda”? Even if it is true…why shouldn’t they be allowed to posses these weapons? Couldn’t one consider them to be “defensive weapons”? How can you say otherwise? You must be biased!!

  4. Apparently Ms Pelosi needs to return to Syria. Her last hug and photo op failed to produce its intended effect. I believe she said something along the lines that Assad was a man of peace.
    Pelosi said afterwards she had been pleased with the “assurances we received from the president” that he was ready to resume the Middle East peace [sic] process and to talk with the Israelis.
    “We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace.”

  5. CJW, I’m not questioning any of your statements I have a serious question. Right before the Bush/kerry election, a retired military officer came out and said that the Russians had assisted the Syrians in securing the WMDs from Iraq. He subsequently had his security privileges revoked and I can’t find anything about the guy. Would you happen to know his name? Anybody?Thanks.

  6. I hate to diagree with Captain Ed.
    I think that you picked the wrong title for this essay. “Instant Karma” is good but “Bang Bang the witch is dead” is perphaps a better one!
    Keep up the good work!

  7. Wasn’t this sarin gas explosion shortly after or around the time comrade Pelosi was visiting Assad?
    Bet she talked them into getting rid of their chemical weapons. Too bad she wasn’t up close and personal to witness it. I would have loved to see some pictures from her disposable kodak.

  8. These countries are all trying to punch way above their weight class. It’s as if they have no comprehension of the danger to themselves, messing around with this stuff. They don’t seem to have the technical expertise to make these weapons work or the sense to put measures in place to protect themselves against just this kind of accident. So what is the point?
    It would make for a great comedy skit if it weren’t so horrifying.

  9. Sounds like great news. Every dead Syrian or Iranian weapons expert is a small step towards peace. as SF author Keith Laumer put it, “I totally support peace. And there’s nothing more peaceful than a dead troublemaker.”

  10. You would have thought that these bozos would have been wearing protective gear but, to each his own.
    At least chemicals that initially came from pre-WWII German research into insecticides finally got used on some insects.

  11. This story is obviously a lie. Otherwise one would have to assume that Assad was being less than truthful to both Nancy Pelosi and Dennis Kucinich. That couldn’t be right, now could it?
    /sarcasm.

  12. Just to clarify, the Keith Laumer quote was from one of his Retief books, not Keith Laumer himself. Though he probably does agree with the sentiment.

  13. Obviously they have no duty to refrain from using these weapons if they haven’t signed the treaties,
    There were no treaties forbidding Goering et al. from helping Hitler dispose of six million Jews. We rightly hanged them anyway.
    That Syria has not signed certain parchments does not change the fact that firing Sarin into Israeli villages, under present circumstances, would constitute a crime against humanity.

  14. Fortunately, weaponizing chemicals is no small task.
    And Arabs/Persian culture traditionally cuts corners (to put it mildly). If these people hadn’t found oil, they would all still be wandering around the desert, chasing goats.
    Makes me hope for the day when the Iranians Rube Goldberg nuclear program blows up in their faces.
    At which point of course they will blame the Isrealis and the United States for sabatoging their “energy” program. Which of course our ridiculously biased press will buy, but at that point, who really cares?

  15. I guess Dave Allen was right. God does indeed have a sense of humor. How many times did our Mother’s tell us, “don’t play with Sarin, or you can get hurt.”

  16. “At least chemicals that initially came from pre-WWII German research into insecticides finally got used on some insects.”
    Apparently these chemicals also were used on insects.

  17. This incident was a little like the battle of Stalingrad during WWII. But instead of Nazis and Communists slaughtering each other, we have Iranians and Syrians getting blown-up by their own WMD. Poetic justice if you ask me.

  18. NoDonkey:Makes me hope for the day when the Iranians Rube Goldberg nuclear program blows up in their faces. At which point of course they will blame the Isrealis and the United States for sabatoging their “energy” program. Which of course our ridiculously biased press will buy, but at that point, who really cares?
    No, that’s too EEEVIL. You aren’t saying they’ll do it themselves just to achieve their end, are you?

  19. Iraq may have borrowed a little sarin from Iran’s storage bunker, but they didn’t need to do so. They have had plenty of their own since they were a Soviet client.

  20. Question by “the fly-man/bong boy”
    The officials name was John Shaw who was undersecretary of defense until he was later fired, either for revealing classified information or being involved in a corrupted business relation.
    There was also several others who made this claim more than on this short list: a Syrian dissident Journalist whos name escapes me, a former X-KGB officer and defector named Ion Pacepa, an Israeli Inteligence director, an UNSCOM inspetor named Tierney, and an ISG inspector named Dave Gaubatz.

  21. “No, that’s too EEEVIL. You aren’t saying they’ll do it themselves just to achieve their end, are you?”
    No, the Iranian nuclear program will blow up because the Iranian “scientists” are incompetent bumblers. As are their government masters.
    In this I have faith.
    How’d those NORK missile tests work out? The NORKs have pretty much abandoned their nuke program and have come begging for coins, probably because it doesn’t work.
    Wouldn’t be surprised if the Iranians have a similar epiphany.

  22. Regarding this whole question of where Syria might have gotten that nerve gas, I found this article from Front Page Magazine on line. I’ve not been able to verify the credibility of its source, and I’ve sent the link to the Cap’n to see if he can make anything of it (anyone else care to have a go at it as well? My resources and time are rather limited for such things). It paints a very scary picture of Russian complicity in moving Iraqi WMD to Syria (remember those trucks?) and parts beyond.
    If true, this puts the WMD question into a terrifyingly broader context and seriously calls into question the ultimate fate of US-Russian relations.
    It also lends itself quite heavily to the idea that Israel may have just fired the opening shots in a much-belated and thrice-deserved reckoning for Assad’s regime. Apart from the intrinsic value of this, it would have the effect of putting the screws into Iran something fierce.

  23. Joseph Kempton, gracias beyond. I find it hard to believe that this guy worked for BAH and had a case of the loose lips. Anyway, thanks. We shall see where all of this goes.

  24. This is TOOO much! According the ‘Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran’ by Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar (1st edition – out now – new) They say that the IAF had destroyed nearly 80% of Hiz’B’allah’s missiles in about 90 minutes during the July August War. They hinted that Israel has top level agents either infiltrated or bought and paid for in either Syrian Military or HBA itself.
    Reckon this missile engaged in unIslamic activity like detonating in her work shed may have been sabotage?
    Notice that Syria (or the Sunni Arab League) hasn’t really made a big deal about the IAF strike?
    Reckon that the Arab League’s silence is sending a LOUD message that Syria’s Bros and Sistas in the AL don’t really mind the wicked Israelis’ putting paid to Bashar Al Assad’s Chemical Chicanery, indeed, maybe their spies collaborated with the Zionist Entity.
    It also shows that Syria is almost as isolated as Iran. Now, wouldn’t that be a hoot!

  25. Bennett, that’s an excellent post!
    I’m exporting it to explain, now, why affirmative action never worked. Because people can’t just title themselves with an ability to “punch above their class,” either. They’re just lightweights.
    Here? There are some dead ones. But no coronor’s report.
    I give Israel so much credit! They saw it developing. They let it ride in. And, then they rode it out.
    First, mishap on July 23rd; took care of the sarin and VX gas experiements. Then, on September 6th; after the russians were already paid for their anti-aircraft artillery; AND the electronic transfers went out when the Al-Hamed unloaded its nukes at port …
    To Ehud Barak’s “calling cards.”
    One dropped off in gazoo, for hamas. By a few “grocers” … using donkey carts.
    And, then? Well, September 6th remains a super-duper secret. And, Assad ain’t talking, either.
    NOT. TO. BE. BELIEVED.
    That’s why it worked.

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