The Pentagon is adamant that any effort to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons stockpile will not involve American troops.



Even if diplomats reach an agreement on destroying the arms, keeping them secure will be a job for Syria's military, Pentagon officials insist.



"No matter what, [Syria] has an obligation" to account for its chemical weapons, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said Friday.



ADVERTISEMENT

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad "owes this [much] to the international community," Little said.Fears that there will eventually be American “boots on the ground” in Syria has made it harder for President Obama to secure backing for military action against the country.Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in July told leaders of the Senate Armed Forces Committee that a significant deployment of groundresponsible for chemical weapons containment and security.



The last time U.S. forces were involved in a chemical weapons mission was during the early days of the Iraq War.



Thousands of American troops were tasked with finding and securing Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons caches, which were never found.



Most recently, U.S. officials had a particularly difficult time tracking and securing Libya's weapons stockpiles after the fall of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in March 2011.



U.S. and NATO forces were unprepared to secure Libya's stockpiles of shoulder-fired rockets.



At the time U.S. intelligence allegedly picked up "worrying indicators" that the missiles, similar to the famous Stinger anti-aircraft missile that the United States supplied to the Afghans to defeat the Soviets, had made their way to Islamic terror groups operating in the region.



Months after Gadhafi's ouster,