US Concerned About Libyan Chemical Weapons Stockpiles
Eli Lake at the Washington Times reports:
U.S. military and intelligence officials are closely watching Libya‘s stockpiles of mustard gas and their precursor chemicals as the North African country descends further into civil war.
Proliferation analysts generally assess that Libya has close to 14 tons of mustard gas that it has not destroyed despite the announcement in 2003 that it would dismantle its weapons of mass destruction program.
“Obviously, the security of the Libyan stockpile of chemical weapons is a concern, ” a U.S. intelligence official told The Washington Times.
“You could see a scenario where [Libyan dictator Moammar] Gadhafi takes troops away from these [stockpiles],” a Senate aide monitoring the situation in Libya said. “He could be pulling his security forces off of his missions, and bring them to Tripoli and Benghazi and other towns he needs to secure to hold on to his regime and, as a result, these facilities will be unguarded.”
On Wednesday, Libyans in the eastern part of the country celebrated their liberation from Col. Gadhafi and vowed to free the capital, Tripoli, where Gadhafi forces attacked protesters with heavy arms. In a rambling, nationally televised speech Tuesday, Col. Gadhafi vowed to die a “martyr.”
President Obama denounced the violence Wednesday and said he was dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Geneva on Monday to attend international talks on how to stop the carnage.
Mustard gas is a highly toxic sulfuric compound that can blister and burn exposed skin. First used in World War I, it can cause internal and external bleeding, and disrupt breathing and digestion. Its use in warfare is banned under the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
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