Sarin Nerve Gas- A Weapon of Mass Destruction and a Growing National Security Threat

Is Sarin nerve gas a Weapon of Mass Destruction? (WMD)

by Carrie Dann, Political Reporter, NBC News

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that samples collected by first responders after the reported August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin.

What is Sarin nerve gas?  Is Sarin nerve gas a national security threat? 

It has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin

What is Sarin nerve gas?

Sarin is a type of nerve gas that was developed by the Germans in 1938 prior to World War II, originally for use as a pesticide.

Chemical nerve agents: A "very toxic and horrible way to die"

Dr. Bart Janssens...from Doctors Without Borders Medecins Sans Frontieres, said in an Aug. 24 statement. "This would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law, which absolutely prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons."

Sarin is classified as a nerve agent because of its poisonous effects on the body's central and peripheral nervous systems, explained biological weapons expert Dr. Kenneth Spaeth, director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y, in an interview with CBSNews.com.

In the event of an attack, the gas can also absorb through the skin or eyes and remain on clothing, the latter posing a risk to emergency responders rushing to treat the wounded.

Even with treatment, there may still be long-term effects for survivors of a nerve gas attack. Some of the thousands injured in a 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway still experience respiratory and neurological effects that linger to this day. 

Knowing all of the above, President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry must convince Americans that use of Sarin in Syria is a threat to our national security.  Well, Saddam Hussein was a national security threat because it was suspected he was harboring Weapons of Mass Destruction. Thousands of Americans and Iraqi civilians were killed trying to prove this false WMD assumption. So, what does the US do to another arrogant Middle Easter tyrant, President Bashar al Assad, who, in fact, used Sarin, a real Weapon of Mass Destruction?

According to President Obama, we'll to ask our US Congress for permission to do something.  

Okay. Right....our US Congress, with an approval rating of about 13 percent on a good day, will now decide how to respond to the massacre of thousands of innocent Syrians who are desperately waiting for somebody to save them from genocide. 

Although the Syrian genocide is an "in your face" by evil President Assad to President Obama and others who oppose him, retribution efforts are now complicated by Britain's Parliament having squashed a response proposed by Prime Minister David Cameron. 

So, in conclusion, it seems like Sarin will become the response of choice by evil dictators who want to put down rebellion.  Imagine if Egyptian ex-President Mubarak had used Sarin gas on Egyptinas?

Of course, President Assad will eventually face the consequences of people who simply won't tolerate his evil use of chemical warfare against his own citizens.  Somebody will eventually direct poison into his face.  But, until then, when nations like Great Britain and the US balk at a response, Sarin gas use will, most likely, continue until an international response is launched against the use of real Weapons of Mass Destruction.  

Yes, the fact is, Sarin is a Weapon of Mass Destruction and its use is a growing national security threat.