Call the Irony police! According to the pan-Arab daily newspaper Arsharq Al-Awsat, a spokesman for the Syrian opposition party is charging that the Assad regimes is shipping its chemical weapons "back" to Iraq, using the time provided by President Obama's dithering.

Free Syrian Army (FSA) spokesman Luai Al-Mekdad told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Assad regime is "preparing to transfer part of its [chemical] arsenal to Iraq under the supervision of Iran's Quds Force," noting that Damascus is "returning the Iraqi chemical arsenal, which Saddam Hussein had sent to Syria before the 2003 Iraq war."

Mekdad, who claimed to have received this information from special sources within the Syrian government, said that the "regime is waiting for technical circumstances" before it ships the chemicals to Baghdad, a step which will be taken "with the knowledge of the Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki and under the supervision of the pro-Assad [Iraqi] militias."  (snip)

Another likely destination for the weapons is Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Mekdad said "received the first batch of chemical weapons almost a year ago . . . and now is preparing to receive the second batch, which it will stockpile in areas along the border with Syria, as well as in Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley."

Of course, this may be disinformation. Take it with a grain of salt. But if it is correct, the implications are awful.  Having pulled US forces out of Iraq, President Obama is now handing WMDs to a regime quite cozy with the mullahs and Hezb'allah. If Hez gets the weapons, they will use them on Israel at a time of their choosing.

President Bush 42 is far too gracious a man to gloat, probably even privately, but the irony cannot have escaped him that this Obama guy, who thought he knew so much and that Bush was so stupid, is now getting played so publicly.  Imagine if the inspectors eventually get to Damascus and the rest of the war-torn country, and like their predecessors in conquered Iraq, find just little bits and pieces here and there.

If the lives of millions and perhaps the fate of humanity (not to mention the future of American diplomacy) were not at stake, it would be funny.  But events are spinning out of control of the United States, and the signal that sends to allies and friends alike is disastrous.

Hat tip: Karin McQuillan