PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Months after
diplomats declared that they had
come up with a plan and a timetable
to dispose of Syria’s lethal chemical
weapons — and with the Nobel Peace
Prize awarded to the weapons
inspectors — the centerpiece of the
mission, a workhorse American
military ship that will ferry the
weapons to sea for destruction,
remains here in port, waiting like a
sad bride for her groom.
The ship’s captain, Rick Jordan, does
not have his shipping orders, nor
does he know exactly which country
he is headed to. He has yet to be told
on which body of water the
unprecedented task of destroying 700
tons of lethal chemicals on his ship,
the Cape Ray, will occur.
But the ship — equipped with a
complex array of tanks and valves
worthy of Dr. Frankenstein — is
ready for its historic mission. “A year
ago, we were not in a position to do
this,” said Frank Kendall, a Defense
Department under secretary who
spoke to reporters who toured the
Cape Ray on Thursday. Now a team
of chemists, maritime experts and
others have worked with existing
technology and are ready to go.
Syria, however, is not. Late last
month, the United Nations and the
Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons , the group
charged with the removal efforts,
said in a joint statement that security
conditions in Syria had “constrained
planned movements” and that bad
weather had foiled plans to move the
weapons out by the target date of
Dec. 31. Among the biggest problems
is the highway that joins Damascus to
the coast, which has been recently
retaken by the government but
where rebel forces continue to be a
threat to vehicles and the fear of
ambush remains intense.
But getting the weapons out of the
country is “a Syrian responsibility,”
Mr. Kendall said.
Assuming that happens, the plan is
for numerous countries to transport
the chemicals — including tons of
sulfur mustard and materials used to
make sarin gas — from a dozen
storage sites across Syria to a port
town, most likely Latakia.
In the Syrian port, the materials are
to be fetched by Danish and
Norwegian ships, with support from
Finland and security provided by
Russia and China. “So a lot of people
are pitching in,” Marie Harf, a State
Department spokeswoman, told
reporters in Washington on
Thursday. The Cape Ray is to be
positioned in the port, take the
weapons on board and then head out
to sea.
Once there, the crew members are to
begin the daunting task of
neutralizing the weapons with a
system that heats the chemicals and
mixes them with water or sodium
hydroxide to degrade them. The
system, located midship, looks like a
bit of a science lab encased in a giant
igloo. Workers on the ship on
Thursday continued to fine-tune it.
The entire process, which officials
said they hoped would begin within
the next two weeks, would take
roughly 90 days to complete, allowing
for weather and other factors.
Various countries are capable of
storing the degraded chemical
weapons, many of which will be
considered hazardous waste. It is not
yet clear what countries might take
them.
While the technology has been tested,
conducting the process at sea is a
new venture that after considerable
review “quickly became the best
option,” Mr. Kendall said. Other
nations resisted the task because of
inherent political and perceived
safety risks. “Safety is our first order
of business,” Mr. Kendall said.
The 648-foot Cape Ray, built in 1977,
is no beauty, and is generally used to
transport vehicles to war zones from
the United States. Cavernous and
gray, it will be staffed by 35 crew
members, 63 additional workers for
the operation and also a security
team. “Far and away, weather is our
single biggest obstacle on this trip,”
Captain Jordan said.
It remains unclear where the process
would take place. The Mediterranean
would offer the calmest seas, while
the Atlantic could be choppier and
more difficult to manage, Captain
Jordan said, although it can be done
anywhere he is told to go.
Under an agreement made between
Russia and the United States, the
Syrian government under President
Bashar al-Assad has until mid-2014 to
destroy its chemical weapons
program, after the sarin gas attack
last August that Western officials
attributed to Mr. Assad’s forces.
diplomats declared that they had
come up with a plan and a timetable
to dispose of Syria’s lethal chemical
weapons — and with the Nobel Peace
Prize awarded to the weapons
inspectors — the centerpiece of the
mission, a workhorse American
military ship that will ferry the
weapons to sea for destruction,
remains here in port, waiting like a
sad bride for her groom.
The ship’s captain, Rick Jordan, does
not have his shipping orders, nor
does he know exactly which country
he is headed to. He has yet to be told
on which body of water the
unprecedented task of destroying 700
tons of lethal chemicals on his ship,
the Cape Ray, will occur.
But the ship — equipped with a
complex array of tanks and valves
worthy of Dr. Frankenstein — is
ready for its historic mission. “A year
ago, we were not in a position to do
this,” said Frank Kendall, a Defense
Department under secretary who
spoke to reporters who toured the
Cape Ray on Thursday. Now a team
of chemists, maritime experts and
others have worked with existing
technology and are ready to go.
Syria, however, is not. Late last
month, the United Nations and the
Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons , the group
charged with the removal efforts,
said in a joint statement that security
conditions in Syria had “constrained
planned movements” and that bad
weather had foiled plans to move the
weapons out by the target date of
Dec. 31. Among the biggest problems
is the highway that joins Damascus to
the coast, which has been recently
retaken by the government but
where rebel forces continue to be a
threat to vehicles and the fear of
ambush remains intense.
But getting the weapons out of the
country is “a Syrian responsibility,”
Mr. Kendall said.
Assuming that happens, the plan is
for numerous countries to transport
the chemicals — including tons of
sulfur mustard and materials used to
make sarin gas — from a dozen
storage sites across Syria to a port
town, most likely Latakia.
In the Syrian port, the materials are
to be fetched by Danish and
Norwegian ships, with support from
Finland and security provided by
Russia and China. “So a lot of people
are pitching in,” Marie Harf, a State
Department spokeswoman, told
reporters in Washington on
Thursday. The Cape Ray is to be
positioned in the port, take the
weapons on board and then head out
to sea.
Once there, the crew members are to
begin the daunting task of
neutralizing the weapons with a
system that heats the chemicals and
mixes them with water or sodium
hydroxide to degrade them. The
system, located midship, looks like a
bit of a science lab encased in a giant
igloo. Workers on the ship on
Thursday continued to fine-tune it.
The entire process, which officials
said they hoped would begin within
the next two weeks, would take
roughly 90 days to complete, allowing
for weather and other factors.
Various countries are capable of
storing the degraded chemical
weapons, many of which will be
considered hazardous waste. It is not
yet clear what countries might take
them.
While the technology has been tested,
conducting the process at sea is a
new venture that after considerable
review “quickly became the best
option,” Mr. Kendall said. Other
nations resisted the task because of
inherent political and perceived
safety risks. “Safety is our first order
of business,” Mr. Kendall said.
The 648-foot Cape Ray, built in 1977,
is no beauty, and is generally used to
transport vehicles to war zones from
the United States. Cavernous and
gray, it will be staffed by 35 crew
members, 63 additional workers for
the operation and also a security
team. “Far and away, weather is our
single biggest obstacle on this trip,”
Captain Jordan said.
It remains unclear where the process
would take place. The Mediterranean
would offer the calmest seas, while
the Atlantic could be choppier and
more difficult to manage, Captain
Jordan said, although it can be done
anywhere he is told to go.
Under an agreement made between
Russia and the United States, the
Syrian government under President
Bashar al-Assad has until mid-2014 to
destroy its chemical weapons
program, after the sarin gas attack
last August that Western officials
attributed to Mr. Assad’s forces.
Comments