A bad example of a failure

In his March 1 op-ed, “Chinese aid for Russia is a red line Biden must enforce,” Jim Geraghty made the misleading charge that President Barack Obama “did next to nothing” after Syria crossed his “red line” warning about the consequences of chemical weapons use.

Before Obama’s warning was issued, Syria was believed to have more chemical weapons in its active inventory than any country in the world, except perhaps North Korea. But the events set in motion after Syria’s use led to the elimination of Syria’s declared inventory of more than 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons precursors and agents, along with the associated facilities for production, storage and filling. And this was achieved with political pressure on Damascus from Syria’s powerful ally Russia and implementation assistance from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and other Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) statesparties.

An acknowledgment that Syria has fallen short of its full obligations under the CWC and has apparently retained a small portion of prohibited chemical weapons does not erase the impressive technical and political achievement of safely and nonviolently disarming one of the world’s last holders of nearly universally reviled weapons.

Moreover, it hardly merits Geraghty’s contention that Obama’s red-line threat “turned out badly.” If only other red-line warnings could be so successful!

Paul Walker, Washington The writer is vice chair of the Arms Control Association board of directors. Greg Thielmann, Washington The writer is a member of the Arms Control Association board of directors.