IT is heart-rending to know about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria. The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has explicitly claimed the use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

However, Russia and China don’t believe in American allegations, saying the West had not been able to provide concrete evidence of the use of chemical weapons.

The use of chemical weapons may be true or false accusation just like Saddam Hussein’s WMD as pictures of some patients in hospitals cannot be classified categorically as of those suffering from chemical reactions.

If the eyewitnesses claim is true, then the world should get corrective measures sanctioned only by the UN and not unilaterally sanctioned and acted upon by the US or its allies.

They were proved wrong in Iraq and could possibly be wrong again in Syria’s case too to misguide the world’s opinion for their vested political agenda.

Prior to the Iraq war, it was being propagated that Saddam had chemical weapons. Gen Colin Powell gave an interview on TV showing sites of nuclear facilities in Iraq that instigated the war against Iraq. But the US failed to find WMD in Iraq, proving American assessment wrong.

Although use of chemical weapons or WMD should not be permitted to save innocent lives, corrective measures should be taken only through the UN, avoiding full-scale war that may destabilise the area politically and economically for a long time.

MOHAMMAD ASHRAF
Winnipeg, Canada