Former UN weapons inspector hails positive development on Syria issue

It is a "positive development" that initial efforts to place Syria's chemical weapons under international control are moving ahead on schedule, a former UN weapons inspector said Sunday. "So far, so good," former UN weapons inspector Charles Duelfer told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace in response to a question about the prompt response by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad's government on Friday met his first deadline in an initial submission of Syria's chemical weapons inventory, which the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama greeted as progress. In recent weeks, Obama threatened to strike Syria after an alleged chemical attack on Aug. 21 which the U.S. claimed to have killed more than 1,400 people in the suburbs of Syrian capital of Damascus. But the U.S. reached a deal with Russia on Sept. 14 to put Syria's chemical arms under international control so that they could be destroyed, saving Syria from a pending U.S. military strike. "And remember how far we have come in just two weeks. Two weeks ago the president was talking about a military strike, albeit limited, to address the problem of Syrian chemical weapons," Duelfer said. "It looks as though the Russians have moved the ball forward on this," he said, adding that he believes Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who initially proposed the weapons inspection plan, is the only one who could have cut the deal. But some critics are concerned whether Assad will continue to keep his words, citing reports that in the days when the U.S. was threatening a military strike, Syria was moving chemical weapons stockpiles out of known locations in a bid to shelter the arms. Asked if this could create difficulties in locating Syrian chemical arms caches, Duelfer replied that while inspectors will have to consider those possibilities, the key is getting the bureaucracy right, as bureaucratic bodies are set up to implement the process. "It will be key to watch for who is going to be the person to head this," Duelfer said. "When you see that person named and identified, you'll get a better idea of whether this is going to move forward smartly." Under the U.S.-Russia deal, the Assad government should submit list of its chemical weapons stockpiles within a week, and allow UN inspectors to inspect the sites in Syria by November. All those chemical weapons are to be destroyed by mid-2014. There remains questions over the possibility of Syrian cheating, Duelfer said. However, he added that any "blatant cheating" by Syria would embarrass its Russian allies.