Monday, December 9, 2013

US plans for destroying chemical weapons

http://rt.com/usa/us-destroy-chemical-weapons-498/

This article outlines the basics of the US' plan to destroy Syria's chemical weapon stash. The crux of the plan is to deploy the US' new technology that known as the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System (FDHS). It is a 15 man operated system that can neutralize 25 metric tons of chemicals into a non-usable state each day. This system has not yet been deployed in any real situation though and has only been used under controlled environments. The plan is to equip a large US naval ship with this system, load it with all chemical warheads found and neutralize them in international waters. A very large issue with this is retrieving the weapons and warheads themselves. The US only has one month left to meet its deadline of neutralizing the deadliest of the weapons such as mustard gas and sarin. This presents issues of involvement. The US currently is relying mainly on Syrian rebel forces to create access to the weapons and allow UN inspectors to find them and begin transporting them to the US ship. It may seem that the US is, once again, overstepping its bounds in foreign policy, however I believe it to be an extremely important issue to become involved in with the mass destructive capability of these chemical warheads. I also believe it is the US responsibility as one of the security council members of the UN to enforce such a violation of the Geneva Accords.

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