Less than 90 days: how US will destroy Syria chemical weapons
A ship, two portable treatment plants and less than 90 days: that's the plan the Pentagon unveiled Thursday to destroy "hundreds of tons" of Syria's most dangerous chemical weapons.
After Albania refused to destroy the lethal "priority 1" chemical agents -- including mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve gas -- on its soil, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) turned to the United States.Under an international agreement brokered to avoid US military strikes on the Damascus regime, Syria's most dangerous chemical weapons have to be out of the country by a December 31 deadline.The US proposal aims to take the process off land altogether and into international waters.The Pentagon has already begun loading the necessary equipment on to the MV Cape Ray, a 650-foot (200-meter) cargo ship, part of a reserve fleet, at its Norfolk, Virginia naval base, although it has yet to receive formal orders to carry out the job.The "priority 1" chemical agents, which must be destroyed by April 2014, are on the order of "hundreds of tons" -- or around "150 shipping containers" -- according to a senior US defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
