Chaos in Libya; what’s going to happen to their chemical weapons? The Washington Times reports:
“U.S. military and intelligence officials are closely watching Libya’s stockpiles of mustard gas and their precursor chemicals as the North African country descends further into civil war.
Proliferation analysts generally assess that Libya has close to 14 tons of mustard gas that it has not destroyed despite the announcement in 2003 that it would dismantle its weapons of mass destruction program.
‘Obviously, the security of the Libyan stockpile of chemical weapons is a concern,’ a U.S. intelligence official told The Washington Times.
‘You could see a scenario where [Libyan dictator Moammar] Gadhafi takes troops away from these [stockpiles],’ a Senate aide monitoring the situation in Libya said. ‘He could be pulling his security forces off of his missions, and bring them to Tripoli and Benghazi and other towns he needs to secure to hold on to his regime and, as a result, these facilities will be unguarded.'”