More chemical weapons attacks in the Syria

At National Review, Jim Geraghty reports,

Chemical-Weapon Warfare Rages in Syria; Everyone Shrugs

You would think this would be a bigger deal, the sort of thing regularly discussed by President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the Republican nominee.

It was midmorning on Sunday May 8 when the rockets began to fall on the abandoned town. At first there was the thud of the shells, followed by black and white smoke and an acrid smell. The police officers deployed in the deserted town later said they began to feel pains in their chests and their airways close up. They called for urgent medical help, and were evacuated to a hospital in the next town.

In interviews two days after the shelling, two police officials who were on the scene during the attack and a physician who treated the victims said the rockets contained chemical weapons, possibly sulfur mustard (so-called mustard gas) or chlorine. A police report obtained by TIME says that rockets fired by Islamic State militants on May 8 landed in Bashir, just south of the city of Kirkuk, releasing toxic gasses. The report also lists the names of 46 people wounded in the attack.

“Yeah, yeah, there goes Jim again, ranting about chemical weapons again.”

Depending on which list you use, since 2012 there have been 60 alleged chemical-weapons attacks in Syria; the Syrian-American Medical Society puts the number of confirmed attacks at 161 and another 133 alleged but unverified. The group calculates that nearly 1,500 people have been killed with chemical weapons.

And now we know they’re in the hands of ISIS: They made 600 people sick in Kirkuk in March.

Think back to President Obama’s address to the nation, September 10, 2013:

If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons. As the ban against these weapons erodes, other tyrants will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gas, and using them. Over time, our troops would again face the prospect of chemical warfare on the battlefield. And it could be easier for terrorist organizations to obtain these weapons, and to use them to attack civilians.

Hey, the man may not have done anything about it, but he was prescient!