Truthout September 9, 2013; Also in Third World Network and
Blog.Transnational.org. This is an updated and expanded version
of “The US and Chemical Weapons: No Leg to Stand On,”
originally posted in Foreign Policy in Focus, May 2, 2013.
If, as alleged, the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, it would indeed be a serious development, constituting a breach of the Geneva Protocol of 1925… which banned the use of chemical weapons… Syria is one of only eight of the UN’s 193 member countries not party to the convention. However, U.S. policy regarding chemical weapons has been so inconsistent and politicized, that the U.S. is in no position to take leadership in response to any use of such weaponry by Syria…