{"id":2028,"date":"2013-08-31T15:38:13","date_gmt":"2013-08-31T21:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2013-09-04T09:15:47","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T15:15:47","slug":"exclusive-obama-refused-to-send-gas-masks-to-syrian-opposition-for-over-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/exclusive-obama-refused-to-send-gas-masks-to-syrian-opposition-for-over-a-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Obama Refused to Send Gas Masks to Syrian Opposition for Over a Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Josh Rogin, Daily Beast
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Syrian opposition groups have been asking for gas masks and chemical-weapons protection gear for more than a year\u2014and the Obama administration decided not to supply them, Josh Rogin reports exclusively.<\/h3>\n
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The Obama administration has refused to send gas masks and other chemical-weapons protection gear to Syrian opposition groups, despite numerous requests dating back more than a year and until the\u00a0reported chemical-weapons attack<\/a>\u00a0that struck the Damascus suburbs August 21.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The residents of the Qaboun neighborhood were forced to make primitive gas masks using household items. (Syrian opposition sources)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Following the harrowing attack that left more than 1,300 dead and more than 3,000 injured in East Ghouta and other Damascus suburbs, the Obama administration is contemplating a strike on the regime of Bashar al-Assad. But Syrian civilians are still trying to cope with the tragedy and treat the wounded, who include scores of children caught sleeping when the gas was dispersed. The attack zone has a fatal shortage of gas masks, chemical-weapons protection gear, and the nerve agent antidote atropine; civilians and activists have been forced to resort to crafting makeshift masks out of everyday household items.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More chemical-weapons attacks could come, and there is now an urgent demand in rebel-held areas for gas masks and other gear. But there is also anger and frustration among opposition leaders that despite more than a year of requests to the U.S. government, the Obama administration did not send any gas masks or chemical-weapons protection gear to opposition-controlled areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlmost three months ago, we received intelligence information that the regime forces may use chemical weapons in Homs,\u201d said Abo Saleem, the directing commission secretary of the Council of Homs Province and a member of the political bureau of the Revolutionary Council of Homs, in an interview with The Daily Beast. \u201cI forward the information to the State Department telling them we are afraid of the use of chemical weapons by the regime and we need gas masks and some training to prepare for such an attack. I got no response. Two weeks after that, the\u00a0regime used chemical weapons in the old city of Homs<\/a>, as we were expecting. We sent the State Department reports, but nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a June email to several administration officials, viewed by The Daily Beast, Saleem begged the U.S. to provide gas masks in advance of further chemical-weapons attacks and warned that without them, the civil war in Syria would only result in more casualties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe repeated use of chemical weapons by the Assad army is preventing achieving any balance on the ground, and as such, it is one of the factors that is preventing reaching a fair political solution,\u201d Saleem wrote. \u201cThe international community\u2019s quick intervention and with all possible methods to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons against his people is an ethical and legal duty. This is not possible until there is will by the international community, and therefore, there should be no more delays in providing means of preventing its effects.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Other activists on the ground in Syria told The Daily Beast that their requests to the Obama administration for gas masks date back more than a year and have been ignored or rejected at every turn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One former Obama-administration official said the national-security staff reviewed a list of nonlethal humanitarian and medical aid that the U.S. could provide to opposition groups more than a year ago and ruled out providing gas masks, though thousands sit in Defense Department warehouses all over the region, left over from the war in Iraq.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThere are a lot of gas-mask kits in excess supply. It was not an issue of availability,\u201d the former official said. \u201cIn the early days of the Syria conflict, even the smallest amount of aid to the Free Syrian Army was viewed with great concern. It was a lack of foresight by administration bureaucrats. Unfortunately, now we\u2019re seeing the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A senior Obama administration official confirmed to The Daily Beast on Wednesday that the White House did review the issue last year and determined it wouldn\u2019t provide any gas masks or other chemical-weapons protective gear to the Syria opposition because of fears the equipment could get into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe provision of protective gear for the opposition sounds like an easy idea, but we need consider the potential for misuse as well,\u201d the official said. \u201cSuch equipment requires proper training to be effective, and we need to be careful about how and to whom we provide it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That explanation is unlikely to satisfy several Capitol Hill offices that have been informally pressing the administration to provide the Syrian opposition with gas masks for several months. Regime-controlled areas have plenty of gas masks and are being resupplied from their allies, aides pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a disgrace,\u201d said one senior GOP Senate aide. \u201cEven North Korea is willing to send gas masks to the side they are backing. Meanwhile, innocent civilians requesting U.S. assistance are turned away and told to face Assad\u2019s chemical-weapons attacks on their own, defenseless. Does the administration truly believe that if al Nusra wanted to obtain gas masks for some nefarious purpose, they wouldn\u2019t have the resources or connections to do so?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To date, the administration\u00a0has provided only one tranche of nonlethal military supplies<\/a>\u00a0to the Free Syrian Army, a convoy of medical kits and Meals Ready to Eat in May that were set to expire shortly after delivery. Despite indicating in June that the U.S. would provide increased military assistance to the FSA to respond to previous chemical-weapons attacks, little or no military aid from the U.S. has reached the rebels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2018There are a lot of gas-mask kits in excess supply. It was not an issue of availability.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told The Daily Beast that decisions on assistance are based on what the administration believes is the best use of U.S. funding, take into account the priorities of the Syrian opposition, and are coordinated with international partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also provide significant resources to humanitarian and medical workers in Syria who have to protect themselves, respond safely, and provide care in the event of a chemical attack,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, many of those exposed on August 21 have been treated in clinics that have been trained by and are using supplies from the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the administration\u2019s position on not providing gas masks was becoming more and more untenable given the potential of further chemical attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe main line units wanted gas masks, but we didn\u2019t provide them. The people in the U.S. government are going to have to answer about these programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Josh Rogin, Daily Beast click here for original article Syrian opposition groups have been asking for gas masks and chemical-weapons protection gear for more than a year\u2014and the Obama administration decided not to supply them, Josh Rogin reports exclusively. The Obama administration has refused to send gas masks and other chemical-weapons protection gear to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[176],"class_list":["post-2028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-syria"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/1377765933661.cached.jpg?fit=276%2C335&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2031,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions\/2031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}