The coverage of the Spurious Claims of Chemical Attack by Syrian Army

international | anti-war / imperialism | feature

Tuesday August 27, 2013 08:58

by skeptical

The rebel terrorists have most to gain

Turn on your bullshit filter. You'll need it
forJohn Kerry’s “Colin Powell moment”

Today the mainstream media are claiming that there has been a chemical attack by the Syrian government near Damascus even whilst an UN inspection team arrives. The reports have been conflicting with the initial reports claiming 280 victims and then later up-ing it to over 1,300 killed.

However, the claims are predominantly coming from the so called Free Syrian Army who are backed and funded by some of the despotic Gulf States, as well as Saudi Arabia and by the Western powers principally France, USA and UK. This same group is made up mercenaries of all kinds including members of Al Qaeda who want to turn the country backwards and bring in Sharia Law and just back in May 2013 the UN accused the Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons.

What is most telling though is that it makes absolutely no sense for the Syrian government to do this. In recent months they have retaken areas held by rebels and seem to have repelled several attack campaigns in the past two year. And France in particular as well as the other powers have been consistently in the last year being trying to throw the mud of chemical weapons and then chemical weapon attacks in a clear effort to force public opinion to back no-fly zones and from there total demolition of the country and invasion followed later by a pliant regime. The end game is to clear the way for an attack on Iran which the crazies have been pushing hard for many years.

Update:: Mint Press News: EXCLUSIVE: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
Indymedia Links:
Saudi Rulers Pour Money Into Arming Militants In Region | Syria: One "humanitarian" intervention too far | Hacker unearths plot against Syria / Iran | Interview with Syrian Communist on conflict in Syria | Syrian TV reporter killed by rebel sniper near Qusair |
Other Links:
Syria: Chemical weapons used by rebels came from Turkey -Times of Israel -Apr 2013 | Putin claims proof Syrian rebels used chemical weapons -June 2013 -Refers to earlier chemical attack. | UN: Syrian Rebels Used Chemical Weapons - The nerve agent sarin was used by 'the rebels, not by the government authorities' -refers to earlier rebel chemical weapon attack |
John Kerry’s “Colin Powell moment” | Australian government backs US-led campaign against Syria | Lying About Syria | US Uses Past Crimes to Legalize Future Ones | Hypocrisy! - CIA helped Saddam gas Iran in ’88 | Syrian army finds chemicals in militants tunnels -Press TV | Syria: Another Western War Crime In The Making -

Going back to the May accusations against the rebels by the UN, their human rights investigator Carla del Ponte said at the time:

"According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas ...We still have to deepen our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings) through new witness testimony, but according to what we have established so far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas.."

Now step forward to today. It is clear the rebels themselves have sarin gas. The questions to ask now are:

1) Was there really an attack.
2) Who are the photographs of and are they from some other time period.
3) How many victims are there?
4) Did the chemical attack really take place where they said it did?
5) And who used the chemical weapons? -The Syria army or the so-called rebels who the word 'rebel' is not fitting because they have been shown to be a bunch of terrorists intent on killing and maiming hundreds of people which they have done many times?
6) And most importantly -who gains most from this ?

Meanwhile on RT.com http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-weapons-un-775/ carried the story and to their credit try to be balanced. However their RT Arabic correspondent managed to contact some locals who say they haven't witnessed any “poisonous attack” in the area. However, they point out that gunfire can be heard.

The Syrian government itself and naturally not surprisingly says: no truth whatsoever to the reports and their Dr. Abdulqader Azouz told RT’s Arabic channel Rossiya al-Yaum the Syrian army was “winning the battle against the rebels” and there was no need for chemical weapons.

“America has always put the pretext of using chemical weapons on the top of its agenda as a means of intervention in Syria,” Azouz told Rossiya al-Yaum. He went on to stress that the Syrian government has pledged “its commitment to full cooperation with the investigation committee and other specialized committees.”

Even more interesting is this as reported by RT.

The UN expert and the head of the current mission to Damascus, Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, told news agency TT that while he had only seen TV footage, the high number of casualties reported sounded suspicious.

But what is clear is that the use of chemical weapons is deplorable by whoever uses them but what is happening here in this high stakes geo-strategic game of politics is that the players are not interested in peoples lives and will gladly use and manipulate the natural outrage of the public to things like this to further their murderous war campaign agenda.

The RT article goes on to say that back in July, Russia submitted to the UN its analysis of samples taken west of Aleppo. Russia’s findings indicated that it was rebels behind the Khan al-Assal incident, in which more than 30 people died.

The US contradicted the Russian findings, stressing they had their own data which proved that the government forces were behind the attack. However, Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the UN commission’s inquiry into rights violations in Syria, said the evidence provided by the US did not meet required standards.

The RT article can be found at:
http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-weapons-un-775/

Syria: Another Western War Crime In The Making
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

The war criminals in Washington and other Western capitals are determined to maintain their lie that the Syrian government used chemical weapons. Having failed in efforts to intimidate the UN chemical inspectors in Syria, Washington has demanded that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon withdraw the chemical weapons inspectors before they can assess the evidence and make their report....

The US and UK governments have revealed none of the “conclusive evidence” they claim to have that the Syrian government used chemical weapons. Listening to their voices, observing their body language, and looking into their eyes, it is completely obvious that John Kerry and his British and German puppets are lying through their teeth. This is a far more shameful situation than the massive lies that former Secretary of State Colin Powell told the UN about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell claims that he was deceived by the White House and did not know that he was lying. Kerry and the British, French, and German puppets know full well that they are lying.

The face that the West presents to the world is the brazen face of a liar.

....Indeed, one reason for the rush to war is to prevent the UN inspection that Washington knows would disprove its claim and possibly implicate Washington in the false flag attack by the “rebels,” who assembled a large number of children into one area to be chemically murdered with the blame pinned by Washington on the Syrian government.

Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-another-western-war-crime-in-the-making/5347038

But there is more compelling evidence that the rebels already used the sarin nerve gas earlier in this year and if they used it then, then that makes a very strong case about they being the perpetrators today.

Reuters reported in their article, “U.N. has testimony that Syrian rebels used sarin gas: investigator,” that: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-unbre94409z-20130505,0,2453519.story

U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria’s civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte.

“Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,” Del Ponte said in an interview with Swiss-Italian television.

And this is expanded on in the article: https://landdestroyer.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/in-wake-of-us-israeli-attack-on-syria-un-reveals-terrorists-not-government-used-sarin-gas/

Israeli also used white phosphorous in 2009 during “Operation Cast Lead”
Israeli used white phosphorous in 2009 during “Operation Cast Lead” (and perhaps subsequently). Israel ratified Protocol III of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (“Protocol III”) – which outlaws the use of incendiary devices in war – in 2007. So this was a war crime. Moreover, the 1925 Geneva Protocol (which is different from Protocol III) prohibits “the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases”. The use of White phosphorus (“WP”) may also be a war crime under other international treaties and domestic U.S. laws. For example, the Battle Book, published by the U.S. Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, contains the following sentence: “It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets.”

Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-u-s-britain-and-israel-have-used-chemical-weapons-within-the-last-10-years/5347073

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Comments (53 of 53)

Seymour Hersh article

by JoeMc

Tue Dec 10, 2013 14:51

At the time of the September attacks , articles such as this one questioned the war narrative being peddled by the western media and by much of the Western left , which said that the sarin attack had been ordered by Syria's President Asasad . The Syrian government said at the time that the attack was a false flag operation carried out by Syrian rebels to give America justification for launching outright war on Syria . Russia reached similar conclusions .

Investigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh in last weekend's London Review of Books cited information provided by current and former US intelligence and military officials saying that months before the Ghouta attack American intelligence agencies had already produced a series of highly classified reports which, had they been published at the time of the Ghouta attack , would have given credence to Syria's claims of innocence . The CIA's classified information established that the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity.” When the attack occurred in September al-Nusra should have been a suspect, but the administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad.”
Whose sarin?

Seymour M. Hersh

http://www.lrb.co.uk/2013/12/08/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin

Barry Grey writes on wsws today:
“Hersh’s revelations provide insider proof of what was already obvious to any impartial and moderately informed observer—that the war propaganda about a Syrian government gas attack was a tissue of lies intended to provide a pretext for military aggression and regime-change. “

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/12/10/pers-d10.html

Warmongers still itching for war in the worst of a way ...

by W. Finnerty

Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:15

=== === ===

"Lavrov: US pressuring Russia into passing UN resolution on Syria allowing military force"

“Our American partners are starting to blackmail us: ‘If Russia does not support a resolution under Chapter 7, then we will withdraw our support for Syria’s entry into the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This is a complete departure from what I agreed with Secretary of State John Kerry',” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Channel 1's Sunday Time program.

“Our partners are blinded by an ideological mission for regime change,” said Lavrov. “They cannot admit they have made another mistake.”

“There’s only an attempt to grasp a straw, and turn a blind eye to the fact that the world is changing and becoming multipolar,” Lavrov concluded.

=== === ===

All of the above excerpts are from the following www location:
http://rt.com/news/us-russia-syria-resolution-pressure-202/
(Published time: September 22, 2013 09:48)

Related E-mail dated September 18th 2013 to Chief Justice Denham:
" ... global criminals gone berserk ..."
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/ChiefJusticeSusanDenh...l.htm

Sarin Gas shipped in from Turkey. Pentagon officials bragged about planning and executing Sarin Gas Attack

by T

Tue Sep 17, 2013 22:24

In a report from Press TV, they say there was:

Solid evidence from within the intelligence community confirms that the US, Britain and France knew of the August 21 Sarin attacks in advance. More evidence, including intercepted emails, show that top Pentagon intelligence officials were actively involved in planning the attacks.

It appears the leaked emails were obtained from Russian sources and the unredacted emails are available on the internet and they indicate this goes to the highest levels in the US army.

They also point out that Syria itself has it own leaked documents namely one from British Defense. Quoting from the report:

In January 2013, documents from Britain Defense, specifically from their Business Development Manager, David Goulding (dgoulding@britamdefense.com), outlined plans made in concert with the government of Qatar to launch false-flag chemical attacks and blame them on the Syrian government.

This is the text of the email, dated Christmas Day, 2012. It and thousands of others have been cleansed from the Internet and every attempt has been made to discredit them:

“Phil, We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear the idea is approved by Washington. We’ll have to deliver a CW (chemical weapon) to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.

Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea, but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?

Kind regards
David”

Goulding was communicating with Britam founder Phillip Leonard Doughty. (DOB 13 Aug 1953)

There is no proof Britam accepted the deal but, in light of recent events, those who claim the idea is a conspiracy theory must accept the fact that over 200 members of the US Congress believe the same thing.

But it gets worse because the same report also highlights changes in the nuclear command and that "two nuclear wings have been relocated and put directly under White House command while over 2000 nuclear weapons have been illegally moved, stored now in an old submarine base." These sort of moves are unprecedented because for the whole duration of the Cold War, the system of control for nuclear weapons was extremely tightly controlled.

The Press TV reports says: Few are aware, but the United States and Russia are on “high nuclear alert” since the “missile training” incident in the Mediterranean. -where the "missile training" incident refers to the one where a number of weeks ago Russia apparently intercepted a US missile fired at Syria. It is not clear whether it was a cruise missile or ballistic missile -the latter being very very difficult to shoot down. But the incident was a line in the sand for Russia, saying an attack on Syria is an attack on Russia.

So unknown to all of us the two Superpowers are actually are nuclear alert for the past few weeks -at DEFCON 3 apparently.

The Press TV article states:
Over 200 members of Congress acknowledge that our own government has been involved in false-flag terrorism. Even radio personalities from the extreme right now openly admit that we are supporting al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria.

Incidently the Press TV article was written by Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran, a combat infantryman, and Senior Editor at Veterans Today.

Full article at the link below

IAWM

Tue Sep 17, 2013 14:25

I've emailed the Irish Anti-War Movement regarding the disturbing link T provided. I sent a seperate email asking whether or not the group shares the assessment of Western governments in regard to Syrian responsibility for the attack .

"I'm contacting the IAWM steering committee to find out its views on last month's massacre at Ghouta - whether or not the committee believes the chemical attack was carried out by the Syrian regime. As I'm sure you know, there have been many claims ,including from the Russian government , that the attack was the work of opponents of the Assad regime attempting to bring about direct US military intervention .

"In opposing an attack on Syria ,the IAWM rightly asks us to « remember Iraq « . I remember that before the attack on Iraq in 2003 , the anti-war movement in Ireland rigouously opposed the lies told by Bush in support of war ,particularly the fabricated intelligence reports about mobile biological-weapons laboratories and yellow-cake uranium from Niger.The fact that the IAWM has not issued a statement on the propaganda that is blaming the Ghouta attack on the Syrian government gives the impression that it concurs with the Western assessment".

spurious claim shot down

Tue Sep 17, 2013 09:09

thanks for pointing out that discrepancy, FFS.

Sister Agnes Mariam of Syria Analyzes Goutha Videos Touted by Obama WhiteHouse, Finds Overwhelming Evidence of Fabrication & Fakery; Were Victims Alawites Children Kidnapped from Latakia in Early August Then Used as Grisly Props for War Provocation?

Tue Sep 17, 2013 00:15

This rushed translation of a report from the International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights (www.ipj.ch) is of a report into an independent investigated the chemical weapons attack in the town of East Ghouta on August 21, 2013, as well as the video media purporting to document these events.

The findings and evidence of ISTEAMS' initial report strongly refute the claims by US--UK--Saudi-- Turkish--Israeli and other Western interventionists. These claims are largely based on video evidence of this mass murder produced by Syrian insurgents and terrorists. For this reason, a rush translation of ISTEAMS' working document on the Ghouta massacre and related atrocities and child abductions in Latakia, Syria, has been produced to inform international public opinion and do justice to the innocent victims of these crimes. The draft report includes a Name List of abducted children and women (pp. 45--50) who may have been massacred by the Syrian insurgents who perpetrated the Ghouta outrage.

The FULL report is in the attached PDF file

In the image taken from the report, it shows a specific instance where a photo used by the CIA backed rebels claiming to be victims of the chemical attack is in fact the original photo of victims in the Adawiha Square in Cario, Egypt.

What the report is showing is that there has been all kinds of manipulations done and they and their backers have used the most sinister and morally disgusting techniques to utterly and callously distort the truth of whatever really happened and they have clearly killed people in the pursuit of their efforts

Full report documenting disturbing twisting of facts 15.59 Mb

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The coverage of the Spurious Claims of Chemical Attack by Syrian Army

Syria: Another Western War Crime In The Making

Israeli also used white phosphorous in 2009 during “Operation Cast Lead”

Comments (53 of 53)