Syrian Crisis Exposes Israeli Lobby; Israel Allied With Al Qaeda in Syria

• The reason Syria developed bio-weapons in the first place was for defense against Israeli nukes 

By Michael Collins Piper

Although Syria’s weapons of mass destruction—chemical weapons, in this instance—are now the focus of global media attention, what is largely suppressed in the mainstream media is the “back story” as to why Syria even has chemical weapons in the first place.

On April 17, 2003, veteran Washington Post correspondent Walter Pincus (who happens to be Jewish) acknowledged in a story relating to angry claims by the George W. Bush administration—relating to Syria’s alleged “weapons of mass destruction”—that Syria had built its arsenal as an “equalizer” and that “Israel’s arms spurred [Syria’s] fears.”

Although, at the time of Pincus’ story, Syria had asked for a United Nations resolution calling for nuclear arms inspections all across the Middle East—including Israel—few expected the United States would support Syria’s request. And, of course, the U.S. did not, despite its official position that, according to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, America wanted to see the entire region free of weapons of mass destruction.

Pincus’s article regarding Syria’s drive for a military arsenal designed to counter Israel’s nuclear weapons cache was instructive indeed. He wrote:

Syria’s current arsenal of chemical warheads and Scud missiles to deliver them was started more than 30 years ago to counter Israel’s development and possession of nuclear weapons, according to present and former U.S. intelligence officials.

“They have been developing chemical weapons as a force equalizer with the Israelis,” a former senior intelligence analyst said yesterday. “Hafez al-Assad, the present president’s father, saw chemicals as a way to threaten the Israelis and an equalizer for their nuclear program.”

 Assad knew, the former analyst said, that “military aid from the Soviets would never be able to match what Israel developed in the nuclear field and received from the U.S.”

Syria’s possession of chemical weapons was an important part of the Bush administration’s recent, week-long verbal offensive against Damascus. But it also has brought attention briefly to another highly sensitive issue: the impact that Israel’s nuclear arsenal has had on its enemies in the Middle East.

The consensus from Middle East experts is that almost every country in the region has pursued weapons of mass destruction programs—and they have done so primarily because of the arsenal that Israel has built up, said Joseph Cirincione, head of the nonproliferation program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“You can’t get rid of chemical or biological or nuclear programs in Arab countries unless you also address the elimination of Israel’s nuclear and chemical programs,” Cirincione said yesterday.

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