Exclusive: Even as The New York Times leads the charge against the Syrian government for this week’s alleged chemical attack, it is quietly retreating on its earlier certainty about the 2013 Syria-sarin case, reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
The New York Times, which has never heard an allegation against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that it hasn’t immediately believed, has compiled a list of his alleged atrocities with a surprising omission: the Aug. 21, 2013 sarin gas attack outside Damascus.
A heart-rending propaganda image designed to justify a major U.S. military operation inside Syria against the Syrian military.
Why this omission is so surprising is that the sarin incident was the moment when the Western media and the Washington establishment piled on President Barack Obama for not enforcing his “red line” by launching military strikes against the Syrian government to retaliate for Assad “gassing his own people.”
The retaliation, which would have pummeled the Syrian military, was hotly desired by neoconservatives and liberal interventionists who were obsessed with achieving another Mideast “regime change” even if that risked turning Syria over to Al Qaeda and/or the Islamic State. The story of Obama’s supposed “red line” retreat has become a treasured groupthink of all the “important people” in D.C.
So, for the Times to compile a summary of alleged Assad atrocities, which included a separate section on “chemical attacks,” and to leave out the August 2013 case suggests that even The New York Times cannot sustain one of the most beloved myths of the Syrian war, that Assad was at fault for the sarin attack.
Previously, the Times backed away from one of its front-page reports – published about a month after the sarin attack – that used a “vector analysis” to place the site of the sarin missile launch at a Syrian military base about 9 kilometers from the two impact zones. That analysis was considered the slam-dunk proof of Assad’s guilt, but it collapsed when it turned out that one of the missiles contained no sarin and the other rocket, which did have sarin, had a range of only about 2 kilometers, placing the likely firing location in rebel-controlled territory.
Hersh’s Findings
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh further demolished the Assad-sarin myth in an article that traced the chemicals back to Turkish intelligence, but the mainstream U.S. media was so hostile to any dissenting view on the Assad-did-it groupthink that Hersh had to publish his findings in the London Review of Books. Later, Turkish police and opposition officials corroborated much of Hersh’s findings – and I’ve been told that U.S. intelligence analysts now agree, at least generally, with Hersh’s conclusions.
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh
But the Times never directly repudiated its earlier accusations against Assad’s military, thus allowing the groupthink to be sustained that Assad was responsible for the 2013 attack. That history became important again on Tuesday when another incident – also apparently involving sarin or a similar poison gas – claimed lives in an Al Qaeda-dominated area of northern Syria.
The U.S. mainstream media (along with President Trump and his top aides) immediately blamed Assad again, with Trump and his team threatening to launch a retaliatory military strike even without the approval of the United Nations Security Council. The 2013 case loomed large in the background with Trump implicitly referencing Obama’s presumed failure to enforce his “red line.”
Prominent U.S. news personalities, such as MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, also have cited the old Assad-was-guilty-in-2013 conventional wisdom to buttress their new rush to judgment over the Tuesday incident. Indeed, the 2013 sarin case has become a perfect example of how the major U.S. media often jumps to conclusions and then refuses to back down regardless of the ensuing evidence.
But now we have the Times’ list of alleged Assad atrocities, compiled by Russell Goldman, a senior staff editor on the International Desk, that doesn’t allege that Assad or his forces were responsible for the 2013 sarin attack.
Goldman reports: “In the latest attack on civilians, more than 100 people, including children, were believed to have been killed by chemical weapons in a rebel-held town in Idlib Province on Tuesday. A doctor there said the victims’ pupils were reduced to pinhole-size dots, a characteristic of nerve agents and other banned toxic substances.
“The United States put the blame for the attack on the Syrian government and its patrons, Russia and Iran, and suggested that the salvo was a war crime. While the attack was among the deadliest uses of chemical weapons in Syria in years, it was far from an isolated case.
“During the war, the Assad government has been accused of regularly using chlorine gas, which is less deadly than the agent used on Tuesday and is legal in its commercial form. According to the Violations Documentation Center, an antigovernment watchdog, more than 1,100 Syrians have been killed in chemical weapons and gas attacks.”
The reference to the anti-Assad group’s claim about the 1,100 Syrians allegedly killed by chemical weapons would presumably include the 2013 sarin incident, although local medical personnel put the death toll much lower, at perhaps several hundred. But note how the Times used a passive tense in describing those deaths – “more than 1,100 Syrians have been killed” – without attribution of who did the killing.
And nothing specific at all about the 2013 sarin case and who was responsible.
The Chlorine Cases
The chlorine-gas cases have resulted in only a few fatalities, which also undercuts the claims that the Assad government was responsible for them. Why would Assad risk more outside military intervention against his government by using a chemical weapon that has almost no military value, at least as allegedly deployed in Syria?
The controversial map developed by Human Rights Watch and embraced by the New York Times, supposedly showing the flight paths of two missiles from the Aug. 21, 2013 Sarin attack intersecting at a Syrian military base.
U.N. investigators – under intense pressure from the West to find something that could be pinned on Assad – agreed to blame him for a couple of the chlorine allegations coming from rebel forces and their civilian allies. But the U.N. team did not inspect the sites directly, relying instead of the testimony of Assad’s enemies.
In one of the chlorine cases, however, Syrian eyewitnesses came forward to testify that the rebels had staged the alleged attack so it could be blamed on the government. In that incident, the U.N. team reached no conclusion as to what had really happened, but neither did the investigators – now alerted to the rebels’ tactic of staging chemical attacks – apply any additional skepticism to the other cases.
In one case, the rebels and their supporters also claimed to know that an alleged “barrel bomb” contained a canister of chlorine because of the sound that it made while descending. There was no explanation for how that sort of detection was even possible.
Yet, despite the flaws in the rebels’ chlorine claims – and the collapse of the 2013 sarin case – the Times and other mainstream U.S. news outlets report the chlorine allegations as flat-fact, without reference to sourcing from the U.N. investigators whose careers largely depended on them coming up with conclusions that pleased the majority of the five-member Security Council – the U.S., Great Britain and France.
If this fuller history were understood, much greater skepticism would be warranted by the new allegations about Assad ordering a new sarin attack. While it’s conceivable that Assad’s military is guilty – although why Assad would take this risk at this moment is hard to fathom – it’s also conceivable that Al Qaeda’s jihadists – finding themselves facing impending defeat – chose to stage a sarin attack even if that meant killing some innocent civilians.
Al Qaeda’s goal would be to draw in the U.S. or Israeli military against the Syrian government, creating space for a jihadist counteroffensive. And, as we should all recall, it’s not as if Al Qaeda hasn’t killed many innocent civilians before.
[For more on the mysterious 2013 sarin case, see a memo from U.S. intelligence veterans, “A Call for Proof on Syrian-Sarin Attack.”]
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).
Anyone claiming to know who did it at this point does not care about the victims. They are exploiting the victims for their own political gains. Anyone who cares about the victims would want to take extra care to ensure the correct perpetrators are identified and that no mistakes are made in that regard. People making claims at this point don’t care about truth, but about placing blame where it suites them.
It is always necessary for aggressive nations like the U.S. to motivate their populations to hate someone enough to justify killing them. For many years the United States has characterized Russia as an evil empire; showing pictures of children suffering from an attack of nerve gas is certain to incite public anger, but it doesn’t resolve the issue of who is guilty. It is hard to say who is responsible, of course, but it is a fact that it is the U.S., not Russia, that maintains a concentration camp on a Caribbean Island that is in violation not only of international law but America’s own law, as well as the most fundamental moral laws of humanity. It is no longer possible for Americans, who are so completely brainwashed by their corporate/government media, to think rationally long enough to determine the truth.
Turkey
What continues to intrigue me about these incidents is how clear and apparently damaging videos and photos become available almost immediately, as if pre-prepared.. remember the videos of victims in the 2013 incident? Clear, well-shot video that appeared quickly, instead of the shaky, grainy mobile-taken videos you usually get.
In this latest one, good clear pictures of the bodies of undressed children in heaps appeared on Twitter again within hours – were these kids heaped/posed like that by someone in a mortuary, and why? How come they were all undressed? I realise that one can too quickly become a conspiracy theorist, but these two incidents have the smell of professional PR all over them…
Those acting and photojournalism classes are paying off for the rebels. I suppose we should be grateful – our tax dollars are paying the tuition.
https://youtu.be/2HMyPy94blk
Everyone can see that justice isn’t being sought after in Syria. Qatar is looking for a pipeline into Europe through Syria. Israel wants more land than the Golan Heights.
The only reasons I think Europe and the US have been holding back is because of all the refugees & attacks from Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan. All of the chaos they’ve caused is coming back to haunt them.
Was it a false flag attack?
Without an investigation, they did not know.
It was a legal lynching. A rush to judgement.
No investigation, no justification.
This is nothing but an act of war done by Donald Trump without due process.
Donald Trump needs to be impeached.
https://www.nytimes.com/…/isis-chemical-weapons-syria…
ISIS Used Chemical Arms at Least 52 Times in Syria and Iraq, Report Says
nytimes.com
The physiologic reactions of survivors in the April 2017, bombing Khan Sheikhoun in Syria described by witnesses – has nothing to do with sarin chemical actions on humans.
Difficult where to start. The arrogance of power and the ignorance of the Trump administration have have resulted in another inexcusable U.S. war crime. The U.S. does not have the right to decide which rulers they will accept and which they will remove by one means or another. For argument’s sake, assume Assad is a brutal dictator and should be removed for the good of his country. The stench of the rank hypocrisy here is revolting. The U.S.. administration is not only tolerating Egypt’s gen. Sissi but actively praising him.
Gen. Sissi is perhaps the most brutal of all reigning dictators, although all dictators are enemies of their countries. To actively support Egypt’s brutal dictatorship clearly points to U.S. policy of approving anyone and any crime if committed on behalf of Israel. As long as Egypt’s leader continues to support the existing peace treaty with Israel, the U.S. will accept any torture or murder. On the other hand, Israel most strongly desires the destruction of Syria, and expects the U.S. to do its bidding just as it did in Iraq.
Never in history has such a mighty empire been occupied so easily, without a fight, by a small enemy.
If this develops into a stand off between the US and Russia I think it is about time to get out on the streets again. I truly believe that the Kremlin is trying its best to avoid this stand off but the West is trying very hard. It’s like Jewish doctors in 1930s Germany, because they were helping people to get better, you prohibit them to practise, and then you can say, look at the Jews, they are doing nothing good for us. That is how the West is treating Russia. Many years ago Medvedev suggested a free-trade area from Vladivostok to Lisbon, the mistake he did was not to include North America. But I am certain, if the US and Canada had suggested to be included, he would have happily expanded the area to include North America. But instead, Washington’s alarm bells went off, they believe they can’t let this happen, The EU plus Russia, that wlll be serious competition. But why did they they not say, include us as well, then we are a very strong democratic liberal block and I am certain, the Kremlin had happily agreed to it. But now we got the opposite. Let’s get to streets, give peace a chance!
“And that the peace activists of Boston, San Francisco, New York, major cities get out on the street, regardless of presstitute coverage or not.”
Peace activism ain’t what it used to, once war became the pillar of the peace prize presidency.
“Humanitarian War” and the “Right to Protect” (corporate profits) are now in. Progressives are no longer against war, but personal “safe spaces” where reality can supposedly be kept at bay.
Peace Out.
Big Lies & WW3
https://jgiambrone.wordpress.com/2017/04/07/big-lies-and-world-war-3/
“The Kremlin will likely step back and say ‘we’re not going to risk nuclear war over Assad.’”
That is certainly the consensus of the neocons – Russia will do nothing.
But if they are worse than the neocons, as the neocons certainly believe, then they will have made the hubristic fatal mistake of every over ambitious military conqueror, that being aggressive is sufficient to cause others to roll over without a fight. When you go looking for a fight, you usually find one. Shock and awe only works the first time out, a Hitler learned about his blitzkriegs.
The NYT might retreat but apart from that, the unassessed judgement that “it was Assad” by ALL western media, incl. The Guardian or the German “Die Zeit” is just simply shocking. Not a single attempt is raised to investigate somehow what the truth might bear and they all choose eagerly to ignore the 2013 Syria-sarin case. This bias in western media is worse than a 1970s Pravda. Do we have to believe now Al-Qaida’s media output? Is that what we are facing here? Why not believing everything Goebbels said in the 1930s? I am wondering how much money do the editiors get from the gulf-emirates and absolute monarchies to write this propaganda.
If we haven’t learned to take these government claims with skepticism by now, we’ll never learn. The truth is that we do not fucking know who is responsible for this latest attack. That, however, hasn’t stopped the media and most pols from jumping to conclusions and laying the blame at the feet of Assad.
Caveat emptor………..
Cui bono…….
The NYT could have quite simply forgot! The attack Mr Parry refers to took place four years ago and Assad (and Putin!) have done lots of frightful things in the interim.
Yeah, comrade Kenny. The Syrian Arab Army has done lots of frightful things… like roll back the Western-backed Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorist assault on Syria.
And with every advance in the liberation of Syria from the terrorists, NATO poodles Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat have shrieked about “chemical” attacks. No actual evidence required. Just the terrorists’ claims, the requisite “shocking” YouTube videos, and pro-Al Qaeda PR flacks like Lindsey Graham and John McCain urging the President get tough (to the immense pleasure of their Israel Lobby paymasters).
And so have we……..
No, they haven’t. If they have, name them.
US attack based on “Superb analysis” via Twits
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/850288010625245184
“Strikes Aid Al Qaeda, Defend Terrorists’ Last Bastion in Syria
“The northern Syrian city of Idlib currently serves as the last significant stronghold of Al Qaeda in Syria. The eastern city of Raqqa serves as a sister city for the Islamic State. Despite claims that the two groups are ideologically and strategically opposed, they have coordinated their efforts in Syria for the entirety of the Syrian conflict.
“Despite Al Qaeda openly running the dysfunctional city – held together almost entirely by foreign aid – US policymakers have repeatedly called for it to be transformed into the defacto capital of an opposition government. Much like the decades-long terrorist capital of Benghazi in Libya was transformed into a front for US-backed regime change, Idlib would function as a political front as US, European, NATO, and Persian Gulf states dismembered the existing Syrian state.
“With the city facing imminent liberation by Syrian forces and their allies, the staged chemical weapons attack and the rushed unilateral US missile strike that followed it seeks to slow down or entirely reverse Syrian gains versus Al Qaeda’s stronghold in Idlib.
“Ironically, US President Donald Trump ran on a hardliner anti-terror platform in 2016 only to find himself presiding over a foreign policy aiding and abetting the literal perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. he predicated his immigration ban list’s creation on.
“‘Trump’s Policy’ is Merely Continuity of Agenda
“The use of US cruise missiles to strike at Syria’s air force is in no shape, form, or way ‘President Trump’s policy.’ Instead, it is merely the final execution of policy that sat on former US President Barack Obama’s desk since attempts at swift regime change failed against Syria in 2011.
“The use of ‘stand-off’ weapons like cruise missiles was tabled in 2013 after a staged chemical weapons attack near Damascus, and again in 2015 after Russia’s military intervention in Syria prevented more direct use of US military force within and above Syrian territory. The use of such weapons are required due to the nature of Syria’s air defense networks.”
US Missiles Strike Syrian Forces Fighting Al Qaeda
By Tony Cartalucci
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2017/04/us-missiles-strike-syrian-forces.html
Israel is a legitimate suspect in a possible false-flag chemical attack delivered by aircraft in Syria.
The alleged air attack may have involved Polish or Israeli operated Su-22 aircraft.
59 Raytheon Tomahawk land-attack missiles launched from US Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean targeted Al-Shayrat air base near Homs, Syria.
Israeli sources indicate that 14 of the Syrian Air Force’s approximately 40-strong fleet of Sukhoi Su-22M (export designation of the Su-17) aircraft were destroyed in the attack, with significant damage was caused to the air base’s two main runways.
According to US sources, Russia and Israel were notified about the attack shortly before the cruise missiles hit their targets.
The Su-22 was designed as a high speed, medium range, low level ground attack / recce aircraft. Very rugged, reliable, and easy to maintain, these aircraft are the main striking arm of the Syrian Air Force. Su-22 squadrons are based near Damascus, at T4 near Homs and at Shayrat.
Since the second half of 2012, Syrian Air Force Su-22s have been involved in combat operations against the Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist forces in Syria, that have been supplied mainly via NATO-member state Turkey.
NATO-member Poland is a major operator of Su-22 combat aircraft. Israel also possesses multiple Su-22 aircraft used for a variety of purposes.
Poland and Israel have extensive cooperation in developing upgrades package for the Su-22 largely based on Israeli avionics. Israel also developed and delivered ‘smart munitions’ for the Su-22.
Israel obtained operational nuclear weapons capability by 1967, with the mass production of nuclear warheads occurring immediately after the Six-Day War. The US Congress Office of Technology Assessment has recorded Israel as a country generally reported as having undeclared chemical warfare capabilities, and an offensive biological warfare program.
Israel signed but has not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). In 1983 a report by the CIA stated that Israel, “undertook a program of chemical warfare preparations in both offensive and protective areas… In late 1982 a probable CW nerve agent production facility and a storage facility were identified at the Dimona Sensitive Storage Area in the Negev Desert. Other CW agent production is believed to exist within a well-developed Israeli chemical industry.”
There are also speculations that a chemical weapons program might be located at the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) in Ness Ziona.
190 liters of dimethyl methylphosphonate, a CWC schedule 2 chemical used in the synthesis of sarin nerve gas, was discovered in the cargo of El Al Flight 1862 after it crashed in 1992 en route to Tel Aviv. Israel insisted the material was non-toxic, was to have been used to test filters that protect against chemical weapons, and that it had been clearly listed on the cargo manifest in accordance with international regulations. The shipment was from a U.S. chemical plant to the IIBR under a U.S. Department of Commerce license.
In 1993, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment WMD proliferation assessment recorded Israel as a country generally reported as having undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities. Former US deputy assistant secretary of defense responsible for chemical and biological defense Dr. Bill Richardson said in 1998 “I have no doubt that Israel has worked on both chemical and biological offensive things for a long time… There’s no doubt they’ve had stuff for years.”
Marine Le Pen has condemned the US strike on Syria.
Good. I wish I could vote for her, but I’m American, not French.
From what I saw in Wikileaks the Sarin & rocketry were purchased from America: “We met the enemy and he is us.” –Pogo
I think Kurt Vonnegut’s last book was “A Man Without A Country”. Hoping and meditating that there is world condemnation of the United States of Aggression. And that the peace activists of Boston, San Francisco, New York, major cities get out on the street, regardless of presstitute coverage or not.
Why would Assad risk more outside military intervention against his government by using a chemical weapon that has almost no military value, at least as allegedly deployed in Syria?
He wouldn’t. “Even” a cartoonist knows his readers are more logical than politicians and the news media assume.
And thus remarks Scott Adams:
“According to the mainstream media – that has been wrong about almost everything for a solid 18 months in a row – the Syrian government allegedly bombed its own people with a nerve agent.
The reason the Assad government would bomb its own people with a nerve agent right now is obvious. Syrian President Assad – who has been fighting for his life for several years, and is only lately feeling safer – suddenly decided to commit suicide-by-Trump. Because the best way to make that happen is to commit a war crime against your own people in exactly the way that would force President Trump to respond or else suffer humiliation at the hands of the mainstream media.
And how about those pictures coming in about the tragedy. Lots of visual imagery. Dead babies. It is almost as if someone designed this “tragedy” to be camera-ready for President Trump’s consumption. It pushed every one of his buttons. Hard. And right when things in Syria were heading in a positive direction.”
Read the rest at http://blog.dilbert.com/post/159264981001/the-syrian-gas-attack-persuasion
Rand Paul and Tulsi Gabbard will be Kuciniched. The evil warlords have prevailed. The whole thing looks to have been stage managed from campaign to today. Hillary out now to play her Trump card. It is a sad day indeed. Trump lied from the beginning. United States of Aggression.
Trump = Alzheimer’s (no memory of 2015-16)
This was a Crime against Americans… verdict before investigation / bombings before debate… (quick!) start the War before the Citizens get any say at all… I pumped Trump to my audience in Feb-2015… now, I feel like I was duped… America voted against John McCain + Lindsey Graham… yet look who’s celebrating… Sunni Jihadis, Saudi Arabia and Islamic Turkey are thrilled… the GOP is now forever dead, as well as their agenda… Rand Paul + Tulsi Gabbard in 2020
Maybe now someone from the West will finally suggest that the bodies of those allegedly killed by sarin gas be autopsied and chemical evidence of sarin gas anywhere in the nearby environment confirmed or discounted. Since there is so much video footage of the alleged atrocity and response to it by the “white helmets,” there should be a goldmine of evidence pointing one way or the other right there. It is nothing short of amazing that the care givers did not perish themselves by exposure through their bare flesh and lack of proper respiratory protection. Perhaps cannisters of sarin can even be found now at the site of the atrocity or at the airfield from which Trump insists it was delivered, which he has expediently destroyed. There is much to be ascertained belatedly that should have been determined BEFORE the act of war perpetrated by the United States. Or, doesn’t the world, and especially purportedly civilised Europe, care about such things any more?
Heartbreaking. Frightening.
I get all my news from shitty blogs like this one.
I get all my news from shitty blogs like this one.
https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/849694232394825729
Higgins and Kaszeta are shills for the government (also too big for their britches). Bellingcat is no place to get the truth.
Likely, this means Trump has signed on to “The Assad must go” movement which will be on display at the UN by Haley in the days ahead.
And So The Madness Begins: info at link below:
————————————————————————-
US missile strike against Syria Live updates
Published time: 7 Apr, 2017 03:09Edited time: 7 Apr, 2017 03:42
…
04:37 GMT
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who recently visited Syria on a fact-finding mission and introduced a bill intended to stop US from arming terrorists, condemned the airstrikes as strengthening Al-Qaeda.
“It angers and saddens me that President Trump has taken the advice of war hawks and escalated our illegal regime change war to overthrow the Syrian government,” Gabbard said in a statement.
“This escalation is short-sighted and will lead to more dead civilians, more refugees, the strengthening of al-Qaeda and other terrorists, and a possible nuclear war between the United States and Russia.”…
[read more at link below]
https://www.rt.com/news/383785-us-missiles-syrian-army/
One has to tip ones cap to the fascists in the US.
They obviously planned this false flag and attack on Syria to coincide with Xi’s visit. It will be interesting to see what sort of quiet strong arm tactic the US places on China today. No doubt an attack on N. Korea is in the offing. Xi will get an ultimatum today.
The problem is that Russia did not back down to fascist threats and attacks in the past. The US is banking that they will today. This attack on Syria is an attack on Russia and China, not to mention Iran. The choice they have is capitulation or all out war.
Just heard on RT that the strike destroyed 15 Syrian jet fighters, basically obliterated the air field and killed at least 4 people. If Russia were so inclined, it could have delivered its own cruise missiles right down the throat of the American ship that fired the tomahawks. I think they are still trying to delay the start of WWIII, but may not be successful. When America wants a war it usually gets it.
Brace yourself.
Those who voted Trump ( I was not one of them) have been vindicated tonight.
Trump one way or another delayed the neocon war with Syria for at least two months.
Only after being blackmailed by CIA he was put in leash and submit.
And all those on the phony left, touchy feely peace loving snowflakes who hate Bannon as reincarnated evil have been fatally discredited since it seems that Flynn and Bannon were the very few who opposed open war with Syria and Russia.
The air base in Homs that was attacked was also Russian training and Repair base for Syria aircraft, first causalities reported.
Are those first shots of WWIII?
Unless it was reported inaccurately, the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917. We may have just started World War III on 6 April 2017. Why is that date so cursed? And exactly 100 years to the date.
OTOH, America has been at peace for how many single years since 1917 (following the FED privatization) ? In the 50s maybe ?
Assad didn’t do it then, he didn’t do it this time. The governments of England, Germany and Russia all determined that the U.S. supported Syrian used the sarin gas in 2013. It’s just a guess but I bet it was some terrorist faction this time also.
President Trump said this when launching 69 bgm109 Tomakawk missiles into Syrian Shayrat Air Force base, “Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered at this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.” So with that America is made great again. For once all 3 major cable networks are in agreement with each other. Brian Williams while showing missiles being launched from our U.S. Navy ships, was in awl of the beauty of those decks abroad our proud American naval vessels while firing those Tomahawks in rapid order to alert the evil Assad that there’s a new sheriff in town. Hannity is falling all over himself that Trump didn’t allow America to lead from behind anymore, and that Trump’s Red Line is one you don’t cross. Anderson Cooper had on more retired generals and admirals than Trump had in his War Room.
All this is being done without question to what is right. Here we go again on our noble quest to save the world. Might makes right, and since we are exceptional then how could we ever be wrong? Right is the reality we Americans make it.
With the flimsiest of evidence Assad has been judged guilty of a war crime. All this while still no one has answered how the White Helmet rescue barricade attends to sarin gas victims, mostly children shown on film being squirted down, while no White Helmet wears rubber gloves or any air respirators. There are even reports how this ammunition depot may not have even had stored any chemical weapons. I should also had, and I’m no science, but I read a report by a science who said that if a chemical weapons facility were hit with a aircraft missile the effects would be much different than described so far. Then I ask, shouldn’t the burden be on the rebels who had these illegal weapons of mass destruction?
No instead, America comes to the rescue, and forever should Evil governments live in fear of the Eagles claws.
Joe – my heart sunk today. I cannot believe that Trump would do this. Why? I am quite sure that this chemical weapons attack was a false flag – again! I’ve heard reports that the U.S. warned Russia and Syria that the missiles were coming, but who knows if that’s true. Someone also said that in order to get Gorsuch elected, he needed the help of McCain and Graham, and this is Trump paying them off. Who knows about that either. Gee, if that’s the case, what else is Trump going to have to do to get their votes in the future?
I just feel so sorry for the poor people of Syria and for Assad. ISIS was losing, they were on the ropes. Is this why the neocons wanted to get in there? Because they were losing? We all know that the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Israel, Turkey, NATO countries want Assad gone. I feel for Assad, watched many interviews of him. He appears to love his country. I do not think he would do this to his own citizens. It doesn’t add up. The guy is a doctor.
They tried the same false flag in 2013, but Obama didn’t fall for it. They tried it again a few days ago, and Trump fell for it. Perhaps a trap. It’ll probably be miraculously discovered a few days or weeks from now that this was a rebel-inflicted chemical attack, and then the MSM can go crazy on Trump and say that he should have waited. I can see the headlines: “Why didn’t President Trump wait like President Obama did?” or “President Trump is Too Impulsive.”
I am deeply disappointed.
I know how you have placed your hope in Trump backwardsevolution, and that’s the risk all of us take when we yearn for a better world. You weren’t hearing things when Trump continually kept saying how he wanted to talk with Putin. In fact all night long people are sending each other tweets from Trump where back in 2013 Trump urged a struggling with the Red Line President Obama not to bomb Syria. What you just witnessed backwardsevolution was another U.S. Presidential Candidate become an American President.
I’d leave links but you seem to know your way around the Internet, but there are a lot of people writing lots of different stuff about what is going on, so you should go surfing and find some of that literature to read. I will tell you this that by Putin telling Netanyahu that Russia will honor a Jewish capital in West Jerusalem is a curious piece of diplomacy to come about at such an even more curious time of it in Syria. Between the Brookings Institute, Tel Aviv, Erdogan the sneak, and dashing Jared, all cards are in play. All we need now is for Ivanka to come out with a new line of perfume, and we’re all in business.
Hang in there, and don’t beat yourself up too bad backwardsevolution.
And oh if you want to answer a riddle, then wonder why Hillary made her big debut today on the cable networks, and then ask yourself why today…coincidence right?
Joe – thanks for your kind words. Your post was excellent. We just have no idea what’s happening behind the scenes, do we? Except, of course, that Trump is obviously NOT in control, at all.
I did not like Orwell’s “1984”, not because it wasn’t a good book, but because of the content. I don’t like this either. When I talk to my family about what’s going on in the world, they look at me as if I’m from a foreign land, someone who is speaking a different language. I feel like Winston. I guess we all do.
About that family thing, you and I should see if we could get group rates with a therapist. Seriously my family isn’t on the same page either. Depending on where they source their news is what I find we all resemble in opinion. When I figure out the proper way to deal with this relative problem I will be sure to inform you. In the meantime continue your venting with us here on consortiumnews, because we’re all kind of in the same box so to speak…and I’m not including all, but some of us.
Here I am, reading a horror story, and you come out with…”All we need now is for Ivanka to come out with a new line of perfume, and we’re all in business.” Next thing I know, I’m choking with laughter! Joe, only you could come up with such a pearl!
Diana at times like this if I made you laught then that is good. I hope my humor doesn’t upset any of the readers who frequent this site due to the seriousness of this bombing attack. The real reality of having our country doing this kind of idiotic stuff is disheartening to say the least. So I hope everyone young and old keeps their cool, and that they don’t worry to much.
Lastly with all this bombing news, I wonder if beer sales will go up. I also wonder if Trump hotels are getting a lot of cancellations. I know this though, our ‘Owned Media the MSM’ is enjoying the ratings that this recent escalation will bring…and that’s the proof of where America is, and how sick our American society has become. I’m going to go calm my wife down, and play with this puppy who hasn’t a clue.
You have nice day Diana, maybe do something you have been putting off for awhile. And always keep smiling because that’s what we need more of. Take care…Joe
I’ll tell you what I BELIEVE. Al Qaeda faked the gas attack. Once again both the white helmets and the victims were all actors. The victims weren’t befouled with shit and puke as true sarin gas victims would be. The white helmets were handling them without gloves or proper respirators. Al Qaeda got away with the dramatic performance because it was ordered and approved by Washington to use as a pretext for striking Assad two days after putting both Syria and Russia off guard by formally saying that he really doesn’t have to go. The purported “strike” is rapidly used as a pretext for war before it can ever be methodically investigated by neutral observers trained in chemistry and toxicology. It’s not investigated and not even discussed in the UN Security Council. The United States had no authorization to go in and commit acts of war against Syria and potentially against Russia and Iran. The incident was not discussed or put up for a vote in the U.S. Congress. Not under the constitution which grants congress the sole authority to declare war and not even under the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act of 2001 which dodges that issue with a bunch of arm waving to embellish even further the imperial presidency and erode democracy (or whatever it is we think we have) under the separation of powers. I assert that all this is true, and I’ve just given you MORE evidence and analysis than Donald J. Trump or his entire government did in prelude to his unprovoked act of war against the people of Syria. Heaven help the world if his entire presidency is going to be run this way: a provocative act purportedly occurs by malefactors unknown, Donald Trump makes an instantaneous judgement with no evidence or analysis, he strikes immediately (in OUR name), killing an unknown number of humans, destroying millions of dollars of property, and expending similar millions of American taxpayer dollars. What’s he gonna do if the insane Ukies pull another of their false flag high jinks and the Donbass Russians respond defensively? Is he spontaneously gonna blame Putin and launch an attack on Russia? Would he have reflexively started World War III after the Malaysian jetliner was shot down by the Ukies and blamed on the Russians? I thought he was supposed to be the lesser evil compared to Hitlery. Right now, he seems like her clone.
Realist – “The victims weren’t befouled with shit and puke as true sarin gas victims would be. The white helmets were handling them without gloves or proper respirators.”
Such great observations. ISIS and the neocons would have been desperate over the fact they were losing. “Quick, do something. I know, let’s do another chemical weapons attack. Get some fake actors on the phone.”
The taking out of seven countries is still on. Trump is a fool.
You know Realist I said I was no scientist but then there you are. I’m nothing, but I’ve read through out the Net some interesting analogies today that fly in the face of what these attacks should have looked like and with casualties there of where none of these traits showed signs of existence. Even in my average secular brain it would appear that the results aren’t even close to being in, but when you are saving God’s children and bringing Liberty and freedom to a dictators world…well that’s enough for any red blooded American to stand tall for at the next SuperBowl when our Anthem is sung. Seriously we are all in trouble, but….
You raise a point about an unhinged Trump. In your wildest imagination would you seriously believe that if a certain few had encouraged and urged Trump to go bomb Syria’s Shayrat Air Base, that this notion was purposely done so as Commander in Chief Donald J Trump would give reason for his impeachment. I mean have we come to that strain of dastardliy that someone could have whispered into the bosses ear a good idea? Trump seems to me to be the type of boss whereas a understaffer would need to pitch they’re idea in away that the boss would think it was his/her’s idea? I knew executives who perfected this tricky to an art, so why not use it on the brilliant leader who’s currently in Mar-a-Lago?
What I want to learn more about now, is how do the Russians feel? Will Trump’s actions boost Russia’s anti-Americanism or be harsh with criticism of Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin? Is Tillerson’s Moscow meeting in early April still on? Will it be worth us starting to keep a careful eye on Jared Kuschner? Does Steve Bannon even matter? Are we seeing a President Trump under the influence of Russia hater McMasters? Does Assad continue to have the support of Russia, and what about Iran?
On hell let’s get it over with and light up N Korea, and chase the Russians out of Crimea. You know I’m kidding, but what about Washington?
The good news is tomorrow is another day….a good day to plant a flower.
Joe – “…that’s enough for any red blooded American to stand tall for at the next SuperBowl when our Anthem is sung” and “Oh hell let’s get it over with and light up N Korea” – thanks for the laugh!
Thank you. There’s no cover charge for the laugh…just enjoy! (Spoken like Rick Blaine would have said it)
Joe, I was just thinking the same thing as I took out the garbage about 10 minutes ago. Trump has NOW committed an impeachable offense. They’ve got him trapped.
Wow, Xi’s mind must now be racing at 100 mph. Here he is in the lair of the beast and it commits this atrocity even as it purports to speak sweet reason with him. How can he believe a thing that Trump utters without suspecting that it is a threat, blackmail or extortion? If Trump thinks that Xi will be intimidated because he has acted from a position of strength, he’d better guess again. More reason than ever for China to build up its defenses in the South China Sea.
Steve Bannon was probably ditched on orders from the Deep State. He was allowed to keep his position but not his influence to maintain face. In fact, they probably ordered Trump to keep him on as window dressing. Yes, Mattis and McMasters now run the show on all foreign policy.
Russia cannot afford to cut and run and retain its credibility in the world. It cannot admit, even if greatly pressed to do so by American military might, that it has been supporting war criminals (for which there is NO evidence). At the same time, it does NOT want to fight America and take losses. It will not pursue a strategy that forces it to surrender. It might make a secret deal if it feels threatened enough to perhaps not fight hard enough for Assad to win. It might come to a scenario like the game goes into extra innings, it’s now the 19th inning and no one has any pitchers left, neither team will be blamed for losing this one… like a stalemate in chess that both sides concede, if I understood chess. Assad finally shuffles off, having battled alongside Russia for 10-15 years, while the American MIC made billions of dollars on the deal and Russia still retains cred with Iran.
From time to time when Assad was winning is when this stuff happens. This time though Russia is more deeply involved. It’s anyone’s, and everybody, guess what comes next. I trust Turkey worst than I do Israel (who’s got us fighting their war), and then you got the Saudi head choppers. My guest is not much will come of this, but then what do I know?
My wife and I are suppose to take our grandchild to DC, so you can only imagine where the concern and conversation after this U.S. bombing attack is taking us. Should we go, or should we stay?
I would rather say, ” Right is the reality the Military/Industrial/Banker complex makes it to be.
JCLincoln you speak like a person who has read they’re bullet point list well. In fact on my bullet point list handed down to me by my Wizard of Oz handler I see that what you wrote in your comment is the number one bullet point on my evil list too.
All kidding aside I’m agreeing with you, and that’s the shame of it, is that you and I live inside of such a false society is that we now believe our own lies. This works for the habitual liar sociopath until it doesn’t, and that’s a fact. When everything becomes radioactive will Karl say he was wrong, and now he’s sorry like his pal Lee Atwater tried to do? I’m not that religious, but I sometimes think that if good triumphs over evil then some of these characters who run our humdrum lives will need to get theirs in the here after…and with that statement being made we get into that here after bull, and then we have Mike Pence.
JC good reaction to my previous comment…Joe
Thanks for this. In case someone is interested, I wrote a very detailed blog post, in which I examine the evidence about the recent chemical attack and compare the situation with what happened after the chemical attack in Ghouta in August 2013. I argue that, in that previous case, the media narrative had rapidly unravelled and that, for that reason, we should be extremely prudent about the recent attack and not jump to conclusions. It’s more than 5,000 words long and I provide a source for every single factual claim I make. I really believe it’s the most through discussion of the allegations against Assad with respect to his alleged use of chemical weapons out there. Please share it if you thought it was interesting.
Philippe Lemoine I enjoyed your writing. I look forward to reading more of what you write, so continue posting. Would like to hear your thoughts as time progresses in regard to Trump’s recent actions against Syria. I would also like to endorse your blog essay to everyone else who’s interested in reading something good….Joe
Thank you for your detailed discussion, Philippe.
As I have pointed out above, Higgins and Kaszeta of Bellingcat have been mainstream media go-to “experts” on the Khan Sheikhoun attack despite their consistent track record of factually inaccurate analyses of the 2013 Ghouta attack and other incidents. Bellingcat effectively functions as a NATO propaganda agency. Incidents are manufactured and shocking images are produced so that allegations can be shouted, not proven.
Philippe – really enjoyed your informative article. Thanks for posting it. Good luck to you. I also agree with your “Edit” comment.
Philippe ,
I haven’t read your article yet but am looking forward to doing so. I did read the “edit” comment and agree with that 100%.
FYI , you might be interested in this by Swedish Doctors for Human Rights :
http://theindicter.com/analysis-of-evidence-contradicts-allegations-on-syrian-gas-attacks/
Thank you, Philippe, for your very interesting article, and Marko for your equally interesting link.
Thank you all for the nice words. If you liked my post, please share it, we need people to know about these things. I plan to write more about this as soon as possible.
Get to that keyboard right now. Time is a wasting. Seriously Philippe this news is happening fast, and I’d love to read what you have to say. Joe
Hahaha, thanks. I wish I could, but I also have a dissertation to finish :-) In the meantime, you may be interested in my four-part series of posts about the Russia/Trump nonsense. The whole thing is approximately 16,000 words long and contains 137 hyperlinks, so it should keep you busy for a while! Here is the first part: http://necpluribusimpar.net/trump-russia-media-hacking-democratic-party-private-cybersecurity-companies-part-1/.
Sadam hussein in iraq was later exnoerated for faked hospital pictures of his gassed victims…2013 gas attacks mention above..were at 1 point linked to a saudi prince with poison gas signatures from westGermany..and now…..syrian government has Absolutely nothing to profit from this attack…..but remember gen. Paterous in jointchief of staff pentagon briefing…will take out 5-7 arab regimes in 5yrs….this latest attack is another effort to bring to ruin one of the modern moderate islamic nations….follow the mccains and grahams..nwo change agents…begging for a provoked incident with russia…last nation on that pentagon list?? Iran……Ukraine. .crimea…russia…any nation that wont bow to nwo agenda…..shame on you Donald….we hoped better from you
And Sadam only attacked Kuwait after an assistant to our Ambassador in Saudi Arabia told him that the U.S. wasn’t concerned with Kuwait. Then the U.S. Military/Industrial/Banker complex sprang into action with stories of newborn babies left to die on cold floors, so of course the U.S. had to go in and save the babies by killing a million Iraqis.
Boy, I love the smell of war in the morning. I really liked CN until people called Hillary. “Killary” . Why? Would Hillary Clinton try to do something? How do you know what she would have done? Is djt;s response more to your liking? Accelerating international tensions?
The Bannon philosophy, Destroy everything? I really want to be educated, what do you people want and expect?
“Hours before missile strikes, Hillary Clinton said the US should attack Assad’s airfields”
We seem to have gotten Hillary after all.
And djt said go to Iraq and get the oil. How is that better or different?
I’m really hoping that President Trump does not cave in the the neocons.
I guess you people did not the memo, USA 50 Airstrikes in Syria tonight by none other , our commander in chief
59 Tomahawk cruise missiles had hit Al Shayrat airfield in Syria.
John McCain and Lindsey Graham praised the strike in a statement and called for Mr. Trump to go further and to “take Assad’s air force — which is responsible not just for the latest chemical weapons attack, but countless atrocities against the Syrian people —completely out of the fight.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/world/middleeast/us-said-to-weigh-military-responses-to-syrian-chemical-attack.html
NO EVIDENCE NECESSARY
Manufactured by Raytheon, the Tomahawk cruise missile has a unit cost of US $1.59 million (FY2014 / Block IV).
Trump just dumped US $93.8 million of explosives on Syria to defend Al Qaeda headquarters in Idlib.
Our country is out of control.
RT is reporting that only 23 of those 59 missiles hit the Syrian air base.
https://www.rt.com/news/383858-syria-us-strike-inefficient/
Rachel Maddow opened her show tonight with a hearkening back to Ghouta, a real tearjerking lament of the civilians gassed by Assad, and vis a vis his “new” victims. Maybe she hasn’t read any of these things yet?
Anyway, only half through her monologue she was interrupted with the breaking news that cruise missiles had been launched from US warships on Homs airbase. Then Barry McCaffrey came on and actually said; “Well, we all love Tomahawks…”.
I want off this planet.
Maddow would have been a member of the SS in Hitler’s Germany. Either that or they would have lobotomized and sterilised a creature like her. What a loathsome piece of excrement.
Nicholas Kristoff just told Rachel Maddow he talked to Hillary Clinton who, he claimed, said she would have done what Trump just did. Before that Chris Matthews seemed to be enjoying this escalation in violence.
Well, the whole MSNBC team must now absolutely love Trump for embracing Hillary’s policies and basically declaring war on Russia.
Apparently, Trump don’t need no steenkin’ evidence on who released the poison gas (or if, in fact, there actually was such a release rather than some phony dramatization).
He don’t need no steenkin’ approval of the United Nations security council to effectively wage war on a country that has never attacked the United States. (Wage war = to kill human beings and destroy their property on a massive scale)
He don’t need no steenkin’ approval from the United States Congress to start a war with a foreign country in spite of what the consitution says. I should say yet ANOTHER war, because this time Russia and Iran will be directly involved as Syria’s allies.
He don’t even need no steenkin’ approval from Congress under the Use of Military Force Act of 2001 which even Obomber sought and failed to get on Syria.
Finally, he don’t even need to follow his own steenkin’ campaign remarks and promises on the matter of the conflict in Syria. He said he’d stay out, cooperate with Russia, wind it down. Yet he escalates it first chance he gets.
Yes sir, all the neocon converts at MSNBC must be in full orgasmic mode full time since Trump’s complete brain transplant a day or two ago. Or, are they still bellyaching about his being a puppet of Putin’s. More like he’s become a puppet of the CIA. All he’s good for now is standing in front of the TV cameras and reading what he’s handed.
the times is always ready to blame every one for war crimes, what about all the war crimes , this country have commited.
Also a “signal” to the North Koreans, Iran, and the visiting Chinese guy.
Maybe the Trumpies have proof positive the Syrians were the evildoers. If so, they’d better provide that proof.
Can’t help but notice how quickly this developed. There was no chance at all for we-the-people to get our congresscritters involved. The Imperial President did it all by himself after only two days.
I am hoping Xi Jinping’s visit to Florida might turn this in another direction, since China has big plans with the Silk Road Project and has expressed desire to help rebuild Syria because of its significance to the route. Also, Moon of Alabama reports tonight on a phone call from Putin to Netanyahu to warn him that judgment on the Syria attack without investigation is unwise. Very interesting if you read Moon of Alabama. (Putin is an intelligent leader among many hacks, recently spoke against geoengineering at a conference, calling it an “assault on nature” and would lead to unforeseen consequences.)
Trump has gone Full Hillary.
“U.S. attacks Syrian air base with dozens of missiles in response to chemical attack”
I have no idea what’s going to happen next, but it’s not likely to be pretty.
Here”s a great report from nimmo at newsbud on the history of attempted regime change by the VIA going back to the 50’s. Than God for real journalists and truth tellers like Robert Parry, Sibel Edmondson, Kurt Nimmo, James Corbett, William Engdahl, etc.
https://youtu.be/zGEc-CMsrQs
It’s looking extremely likely that the Zionist Power Configuration in America is going to get its regime change war in Syria. This is preposterous!
Israel’s always desired that Assad be removed as Syria’s leader. It’s looking like the ZPC has cajoled and browbeaten (and possibly blackmailed somehow?) the Trump admin into actually putting this outlandish war on the front burner. This is completely unacceptable.
For Washington to fight another regime change war on behalf of Israel is beyond belief! This is at a point in time when U.S. citizens are suffering under poor wages, strained public-sector budgets, drug addiction, a dental health care crisis, and un and underemployment.
It seems only Russia can stop this madness but Russia may very well see it as being too dangerous to stand in the way of a Washington-Tel Aviv hell bent on Mideast war. The Kremlin will likely step back and say ‘we’re not going to risk nuclear war over Assad.’ Perhaps the American public can once again save the day like in 2013 when they made it perfectly clear they would not countenance an Obama-Killary war on Syria. To his credit, Obama backed down.
Assad’s one of the last state leaders in the world who speaks up for Palestinian rights and criticizes Israeli human rights violations at almost every opportunity, he’s also an ally of Iran. These are the reasons he’s been totally vilified in the Western press and targeted for liquidation.
Can the insouciant American public return to its 2013 glory when it successfully beat back imperial Washington’s drive to obliterate Syria? We’re going to find out.
The first thought when reading your comment is: appeasement. Therefore, you may be right that: The Kremlin will likely step back and say ‘we’re not going to risk nuclear war over Assad.’
But apeasement did not work with Hitler, why would it work with Anglo-Zionist would be rulers of the World?
Great point Kiza.
Here comes war. I am expecting it to happen very soon. If a couple of cruise missiles are lobbed into Syria what happens if a couple of US ships get taken out in response.
MSDNC has been reporting 50 and 100 cruise missiles lobbed into Homs airport. 50 or 100 missiles to attack one installation? These people must be mad – or so incompetent they figured at least one or two might hit the target. For those of us who thought Trump might save us from Hillary Clinton, it looks like our choice was a lose-lose option.
Bob & Bill I would like to hear more of both of your opinions, but at this moment Hannity is declaring that Trump by his ordering that 50 to 60 BGM109-Tomahawk missiles be fired into Syria, that Trump is telling the world that you just don’t cross that Red Line in the Sand set by us anymore and that America is back. It’s at times like this that I would love to arm up Sean and send him into battle on the first wave. Shayrat Air Base is the target for these Tomshawks, and Trump wants the world to join us Americans in stopping the slaughter of innocents. In the pass all this chaos may have prompted me to pop off some popcorn and watch ‘The Longest Day’ movie, but now I’m completely recovered from that mental state of mind, and my rehabilitation was done totally using a secret organic method.
To add to our brain drain today Russia told Israel that it would recognize West Jerusalem to belong to Israel, and recognize East Jerusalem as belonging to the Palestintian’s. Go to moonofalabama and read what b has to say about this. The question is, is there any tie to Russia’s recognition of a West Jerusalem have anything to do with what’s happening in Syria?
Joe, please read my comment above – this bombing and the one in St Petersburg are the beginning of the regime-change operation in Russia. The Chinese are being soothed whilst this operation lasts. Putin is the angriest anyone has ever seen him.
KIza I read all your comments that you have posted here today, and I value your opinion more than you know. This whole charade over Syrian use of chemical weapons in my mind was predetermined by the U.S. and it’s corrupted allies long before Tuesday when the said chemical attack occurred. My reasoning is because this urgency seems not well thought out, but more like we’ll get Assad the first time he blinks. The media makes no mention of how in recent weeks Israel has struck Syrian air bases, or base, which ever you prefer. I read of one Israeli attack on a Syrian base, but there may have been more. Add this to our media’s no mention ever of the slime bucket Erdogon who is the original theft in the night, by just his standard practices alone.
I watched the Russia Deputy Ambassador to the UN Vladimir Safronkov lay it out pretty good. Safronkov brought up such details as we all here on this site have done in our comments. Like where is the innocent until proven guilty? Were these chemical weapons not stored under rebel occupation? What would motivate Assad while winning this terribly long war against the terrorist inside his embattled country, to do such a horrible crime using chemical weapons against his own people?
Of course as the day presses on America is not dwelling on what the Russian Ambassador so rightly pointed out. No instead there are people in Washington applauding President Trump today who were but yesterday seeking his very impeachment. No KIza my friend it may possibly be that America has such politicos as but the kind who think bombing people in other nations, is as American as apple pie and Chevrolets.
The question is, to how soon this Tomahawk missile ($569,000.xx each) war will turn into a full fledge war to go after Iran. How many more terrorist attacks inside of Russia will it take to weaken the most popular of Russian leaders maybe ever Vladimir Putin? Sadly Trump just by his publicly displayed nature appears to me to be the type of person who will never apologize or back down….let’s hope I’m wrong.
The promises Trump made before the election were just political theater, which he turned out to be good at. But once in office and having to face the tremendous pressures put on him, he caved in like a wet cardboard box with nothing inside it.
We are getting a lot of lessons these days in how all history is malleable – like beauty it seems to be in the eye of the beholder. The saying by Nietzsche that “there are no facts, only interpretations” is something to keep in mind these days. It’s not that some interpretations are not much closer to truth than others, but beware of people who confidently assure you that such and such is a “fact.” This is more of a conceit to strengthen the validity of their opinion than an unquestionable reality. Gullible people who have not learned to think deeply for themselves are easily persuaded when some well dressed seemingly authoritative person declares something a “fact.”
One of the reasons the Assad government jumped at the chance Russia offered to get rid of its chemical weapons was the growing possibility of the then advancing foreign-sponsored Da-‘esh terrorist forces “liberating” a Syrian military facility where the national chemical weapons were stored. That would, of course, have put chemical weapons into Da’esh hands, making use of them against Syrian forces, and civilians, inevitable (the wide-spread Da’esh employment of terrorist-tactics, bombings, massacres, etc. against civilians perceived ‘opponents’ proofs Da’esh willingness to slaughter civilians indiscriminately, using any means they may have available, or that their backers might make available).
For the Syrian government’s deliberate efforts to prevent chemical weapons introduction in the conflict being fought in their state, it is an irony, of the bitter sort, for the Syrian government and forces to be being cast as the introducers of the chemical weapons involved in the current release event.
The game, of premature and uninformed allegation and attempt to hype a hysteria on the premature and uninformed allegation allegation, being engaged in by the “Coalition” of external aggressors sponsoring Da’esh is, in terms of historical perspective, incredibly short-sighted and stupid: All reasoning and the initial evidences stand against the allegation, and have from the moment of the incident’s initiation. For the allegation starting off against initially available evidences and sense, the allegation is jaundiced at allegation. This means that in historical perspective the U.S. and “Coalition” position is going to be colored by the mad rush of the “Coalition” players to make a fight, instead of seek to discover and determine truth.
This ‘rushing to judgment’ and slavering to build a rushed judgment to a causus belli even as the settling of dust and learning of smoke (and gas) seems to be revealing, and affirming, evidence rebutting the rush, being not something new, nor startling or surprising, but, instead, a reprise of at least a half-dozen previous examples of the same panicking and rushing and posturing to justificate bellicosity, increases the proofs of the bellicosity being deliberate warmongering and aggressing.
And this, in this instance, by a United States administration that replaced a previous administration in part on grounds that administration rushed to judgments and mongered war. Donald Trump did, after all, claim to have been intelligent enough to have foreseen and recognized the building a case for war on hysteria and wrong information engaged in by George Bush a mistaken and tragically stupid rush to war, and did accuse Barack Obama of engaging in the same precipitate irrationality and hysteria-mongering in his escalations of U.S. sponsored war. In fact, Trump campaigned on promises to carry common sense to the United States government and end the nationally impoverishing and embarrassing endless foreign war and warmongering his predecessors had frustrated the electorate indulging in…
So now we have Trump following in the footsteps of the predecessors he disparaged, and diving headlong into the same swamp he promised to ‘drain’… We have another change of administration, elected on promises of ‘change’, again turning around, once in office, to continue the destructive policies The People have twice now changed administrations in desperate efforts to reverse and change…
Pray it’s just more of T’s macho bluster, The musical chairs in the USA State Security Council does not bode well.
USA citizens should be camping out on the grounds of these war propagating news outlets…..they are calling for your children to sacrifice their lives for a totally bull shit agenda…..OMG……but the sad part is the citizens do …..nothing……so , send your children off to war with a kiss……
Yes, the official newspaper of lies and perversion. They will now march us into WWIII. 82% of the American people believe Russia is an enemy of the US.
But here’s the infamous Michael Gordon of the NY Times very much implying that the 2013 sarin attack had to have been the work of the Assad regime. Gordon doesn’t quite come out and say it, but pretends it’s one of “Assad’s crimes”.
“The Obama administration prepared plans to strike Syrian targets with sea-launched cruise missiles after an August 2013 Syrian chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,400 civilians, including hundreds of children.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/world/middleeast/us-said-to-weigh-military-responses-to-syrian-chemical-attack.html
Just saying that the Times doesn’t appear to have learnt its lesson.
The chlorine gas claims always seemed real suspect, it’s gas pretty much anyone can make. Most households in the USA have the basic ingredients on hand. And it’s not real poisonous unless one is in a confined space–meaning indoors in a closed room.
Robert forgot to mention a very important point covered by Seymour Hersh in his articles. It turned out that the traces of the chemical footprint of the 2013 sarin attack near Damascus are completely different from the high quality sarin that was later removed from Syria by the United Nations, when Syria gave up all of it’s chemical weapons. Mr. Hersh calls the 2013 attack sarin used by the rebels, “kitchen” grade, probably made with simple lab equipment and precursors obtained through Turkey.
I would hope that someone can obtain a sample of the chemical used on Tuesday, and determine if in fact it even is sarin, and whether it is that same “kitchen” grade sarin used in 2013. If is the same 2013 sarin, it would prove that the rebels are guilty of a war crime.
The “brains” behind this attack may not be those of the rebels , rather those of the military or intel forces of the West or GCC countries , in which case the earlier mistake would be avoided if at all possible. It wouldn’t surprise me if a sarin batch had been delivered to the rebels that was custom-made to resemble Assad’s previous stockpile.
There’s no reason to believe that the sarin must have been cooked-up by the rebels themselves. Idlib is a stones-throw from the border with Turkey , which is notably porous to weapons and fighters of every sort.
The notorious short shelf life of sarin is a distraction as well. “Short” means weeks-to-months for the crappy stuff if kept in suitable containers. The good stuff lasts for years. The binary components , if kept separately , are stable , with shelf lives that are essentially indefinite.
That is the key – this is not a false flag of the “rebels”, this is a false-flag of the Western and GCC agencies. The rush to judgement in the media is the best proof, in other words: “We know that Assad did it, because we cooked it all up. Anyone interested in truth would do an investigation before accusing anyone, even the rebels. Even the Russians are speculating (defensively but wrongly) that an ammunitions dump contained poison gas. The whole thing may have been staged and neutral Syrian civilians brought to the bombing site to be executed by gas.
“The whole thing may have been staged and neutral Syrian civilisan brought to the bombing site….” I agree, and tho probably virtually impossible, it would be of great interest to determine who the victims were, where they came from, and why they were there.
How did reporters from nations supposedly not affiliated with the rebels get freedom of movement around the strike zone?
“Misreporting Iraq and Syria” by Patrick Cockburn – http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/02/03/90277/
Information Clearing House reported residents stated the victims were from the towns where 250 civilians were kidnapped last week.
While the victims in Idlib province are choking on the chemical agent that hit them, I’m choking on the rampant hypocrisy coming out of the establishment media, Congress, and the White House. Regardless of who is guilty the deaths and injuries in Idlib are deplorable, but where was the outrage out of these talking heads, presstitutes, and politicians when the Israeli military waged Operations Cast Lead and Protective Edge against the Palestinians in Gaza? There was no outrage. Instead, there were not only approving endorsements but also a rush to replace Israel’s expended ordnance made in the USA.
The victims in Idlib province can be measured in the dozens. In Gaza on both occasions the victims could be measured in the thousands that included hundreds of children.
Dr. King. You were right. America would eventually experience spiritual death. And just 50 years after your prediction. – https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/04/mlks-warning-of-americas-spiritual-death-3/
Last week a USA airstrike killed a confirmed 300 civilians sheltering in one building in Mosul,
The decision to newly attack Syria seems as though only a question of when, however distressing.
The “truth will set us free” but where can you find it? Enlightened public opinion is key to this country”s survival as a democracy and the publishing “assembly line” is renigging on its core responsibility of helping it’s readers be accurately and truthfully informed. Truth is not a “camel designed by a committee”; it has to be seen whole to be understood.
Unfortunately the US Govt & Mainstream fake news media is not interested in the Truth or retractions from published mistakes? Telling the truth is superfluous & must be suppressed as it doesn’t fit the psych-ops narrative being foisted on America minds? It’s becoming abundantly clear that it doesn’t matter who occupies the Whitehouse or what Party is in power? The Deepstate Neo-con Warmongers & Corporate elite rule America & they have decided that Assad must be removed just like Saddam Hussein & Gaddifi? The drumbeats to War are the same lies that they used to justify America going to War in Iraq? Who can forget Colin Powell’s corrupt vial display at the UN, now their applying the same lunacy to justify taking out Assad with the American Ambassador holding up these photo’s at the UN? America’s Imperialistic mentality is leading the World to thermonuclear War?Russia & Iran will not allow Assad’s Govt to be removed as they know they would be next on the US Deepstate’s hit list? Americans need to rise up & demand that their Leaders de- escalate this situation? We are talking Cuban missile crisis territory here & not some reality TV show, this is real life & people must realise & understand that the next World War will be the last one ever waged? If you don’t want to end up living in a nuclear wasteland you must rise up!
Read the comments on the NY Times article that shills this bogus Assad-did-it story. Many commenters express disbelief and call it a false flag attack. This false flag ain’t flyin’.
David Smith – that’s good to know.
It was really quite remarkable to read an overwhelming majority of comments which did not agree with the NYT. Even more remarkable that the NYT published them. Is there a rogue comment editor trying to be heard ?
irene – “rogue comment editor” – good one!
Normally, when investigating a crime, determining a suspect’s motivation is of paramount importance. Why does this not equally apply to the present case of poison-gas attack? With the Al Qaeda-controlled rebels on the run, it would seem that Assad had nothing to gain and everything to lose by carrying out this attack, while the rebels had everything to gain and nothing to lose by staging the attack…
Normally, when investigating a crime, determining a suspect’s motivation is of paramount importance. Why does this not equally apply to the present case of poison-gas attack?
The first case is conducted by law enforcement. The latter scenario is determined by politicians.
3rd possibility: 3rd party (S.A.S.? SEAL Team six?, French Foreign Legion special forces?…) pre-rigged a chemical weapon to be remotely exploded-by-electronic signal at “the right time”. Over on Globalresearch.ca is an article about how Pentagon equipped and trained “moderate” terrorists in the use of chemical weapons. They could have given them one rigged in this way, to trigger it during a Syrian airstrike…BTW, is it verifiable that there EVEN WAS a Syrian airstrike on this ammo dump at precisely the time when Trump and Xi of China are meeting (New Silk Road discussions?) while Tillerson goes next week to see Putin, his good friend (New Silk Road discussions?). Who benefits?…The Establishment of war criminals, Wall Street financiers, the MIC, the Intelligence community, the policies championed by The Western Empire of The City & The Street, Inc., THEIR status quo. Look how the war criminals in Congress are now applauding Trump’s “bold and necessary”
move.
Today, Eliot Higgins and Dan Kaszeta of Bellingcat blog are in the vanguard of propaganda about chemical attacks in Syria.
The BBC, UK Guardian, Time online, and public radio outlets generously provided media platforms for Higgins and Kaszeta.
Back in 2013 and 2014, Higgins and Kaszeta of Brown Moses blog were in the vanguard of propaganda about chemical attacks in Syria.
After the August 2013 chemical attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, US President Barack Obama was ready to launch an air strike to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons. Two days before the planned strike, Obama announced that he would seek congressional approval for the military intervention. The strike was subsequently cancelled when President Bashar al Assad offered to relinquish the Syrian Army’s chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia.
The Syrian government maintained that the gas which killed hundreds of Syrian civilians in Ghouta had been used by terrorist groups in the hope that the West would blame Assad and turn its strategic weapons against the regime. Russian sources stated that the chemicals had not been sold to Assad, but had come from stocks sold by Moscow to the former Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi.
On 17 April 2014, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published “The Red Line and the Rat Line” in the London Review of Books. Hersh reported that British intelligence had confirmed to the Americans that the gas used at Ghouta did not come from the Syrian Army’s chemical arsenal. According to Hersh’s information, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had allowed the Americans to ship a ‘rat line’ of weapons from Libya via Turkey to the Syrian militants.
On 22 April 2014, Higgins and Kaszeta published an article in the UK Guardian attacking Hersh. However, the technical claims of Higgins and Kaszeta’s were found to be either inaccurate or irrelevant.
In a 22 May 2014 letter to the London Review of Books, Richard Lloyd, a former United Nations weapons inspector, and Theodore Postol, a professor of science, technology and national security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology addressed the controversy.
Lloyd and Postol stated unequivocally that “Higgins, a blogger who, although he has been widely quoted as an expert in the American mainstream media, has changed his facts every time new technical information has challenged his conclusion that the Syrian government must have been responsible” for the attack. Postol later presented a detailed refutation of published statements in the media made by Kaszeta.
Nevertheless, the claims of Higgins and Kaszeta continue to be cited by governments and mainstream media.
Lloyd and Postol’s concluding remarks from 2014 remain relevant today:
“We do not claim to know who was actually behind the attack […]. But we can say for sure that neither do the people who claim to have clear evidence that it was the Syrian government. The mainstream American media have done a disservice to the public by allowing politically motivated individuals, governments, and non-government organisations to misrepresent facts that clearly point to serious breaches of the truth by the White House.
For a detailed rebuttal of all of Kaszeta’s claims regarding the 2013 Ghouta chemical attack:
http://whoghouta.blogspot.com/2013/11/response-to-dan-kaszetas-chemical.html
Accurate analysis of all primary and secondary evidence relating to the 21 August 2013 chemical attack at Ghouta indicate it was carried out by opposition forces. According to the most likely scenario, they used looted incendiary rockets, refilled them with sarin they manufactured themselves, and launched them from a rebel-held territory 2 km north of Zamalka.
The New York Times’ quiet retreat on its earlier certainty about the 2013 chemical attack will not prevent it from enthusiastically embracing new propaganda claims from the likes of Higgins and Kaszeta.
Dan Kaszeta repeats debunked claims on CNN today
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/05/middleeast/syria-sarin-chemical-weapons-explainer/
Dan Kaszeta repeats debunked claims on Popular Science today
http://www.popsci.com/how-syria-using-chemical-weapons-2017
Kazeta then Tweeted that he “liked helping”
Business Insider consults Bellingcat “experts” Eliot Higgins and Dan Kaszeta
http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-explanation-for-syria-chemical-weapons-attack-2017-4
Kaszeta also has a column at the Middle East Eye website that should caution readers to be skeptical of anything posted there.
I do not who the BBC America had on the news today, but I know they were reasonable compared to the BBC commentator who twisted the experts statements to promote attack on Syria and finished with blurb ” Autopsies show Damascus carried out Gas Attack” obviously a lie. I called my local radio station and told them the should get another news provider and drop the lying Warmongering BBC. Silence is complicity , we are looking at possibly hundreds of thousands murdered as in Iraq or perhaps many millions if the USA and its ally countries go nuke on Russia and China . Russia gate is a setup for this. Neocons and Democratic Humanistic Interventions may end the human race in the near future with a nuke aggressive illegal warbased on lies and a false flag operation.
The BBC was once a highly-respect organization, but as with so many other examples Margaret Thatcher set it on a U-turn. With Britain’s lurch to the right under Thatcher the once-highly-regarded magazine, The Economist, also went downhill peddling right-wing propaganda.
That’s why I quit reading the NYT a long time ago.
Will The Nukes be Produced? Armageddon coming?See Link Below:
——————————————————————————
Trump on Syria’s Assad: ‘Something should happen’
By Dana Bash, Jeremy Herb, Barbara Starr and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 5:39 PM ET, Thu April 6, 2017
…
Defense Secretary James Mattis will lead Trump through his available options, including what the potential consequences for military action could be….
[read more at link below]
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/donald-trump-syria-options/index.html
Maybe the “Gray Lady” just forgot to include it? She’s getting grayer by the day. Contact the White House (202-456-1111) or email them at whitehouse.gov to say there is no investigation and this is rush to judgement on Khan Sheikhoun, or whatever you want to say. Tillerson is now changing his previous stance of staying out of Syria, now saying Trump admin is weighing options. And hit hard! It’s time they know we’re disgusted with these neocon wars! And H. R. McMaster is a war criminal for his horrendous treatment of Iraqis in 2005 at a detainee war camp in Tal Afar; short article on antiwar.com. I’m going to bring that up, too. (When I typed “whitehouse.gov”, the CN spell check changed it to “whorehouse.gov”, three times before I corrected it! Well, maybe that’s appropriate.)
Given recent events , calling the White House on Friday is essential.
202-456-1111
Lots of four-letter words would be appropriate.
The media reporting on Syria is a disgrace. Propaganda is published as “news.”
Now it looks like Trump is intending to get involved militarily. Is World War Three Looming? See Link Below:
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/04/has-trump-become-chump-for-war-criminals.html
Yes, the article is again an essential “Parry” of the mass media “newspeak.”
Those who would like to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their senior editor may do so here:
https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
He may prefer to be independent, and there may be better polling websites, but pressure on the NYT to recognize the superior reporting of their opposition is a good thing. It is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition can demonstrate the concerns of a far larger number. I will repeat this post from time to time.
Media propaganda is really not an issue any more – this madness has developed way past the propaganda stage.
The real question is will the West conduct the usual shock & awe on Syria and when? What kind of military plan do the Russians have for the contingency of this shock & awe on Syria, when the Russians will certainly be killed. Are there plans for direct military cooperation between Russia and China in such situation? In other words, which Western targets will Russia hit in case of attack on the Russians in Syria? I presume that the Russian response will be strictly proportional to the Russian losses to encourage de-escalation and negotiations. But let us see if the West can cop it as well as they are always ready to dish it out to others. Maybe the time for those body bags that Morell and McCain were talking about has finally come, only a two-way exchange.
Just did.
Media propaganda is an issue because most of the MSM and both parties march in lock step with CIA/Pentagon propaganda nowadays, regardless of both truth and public opinion. That’s a super bad & dangerous destruction of democracy, and a form of attempted mass brainwashing. Independent journalists should try to figure out why it is happening. My view is that the owners and exec editors have a combination of financial incentives and secret allegiances to the Deep State that takes priority over both journalism and public service. Obviously I’m open to other theories, but that’s the best model I see to fit the data, present and historical.
Putin is spitting chips. After good six months of idiotic bull on how Russia hacked the US election, the US Deep State has finally launched a regime change in Russia with St Petersburg bombing and bombing of Syria. As if we should have expected any different.
I believe that Putin used CIA as a short name for the amalgam of the Western agencies, lead by Mossad, but also consisting of CIA, MI, BND, DGSE etc. All these agencies are being run by and for Zionist interests. These agencies, in turn, control all the Western media, although it is really a two-way interdependence between media owners and the Deep State.
Yes, I do believe that this is not only an attack on St Petersburg and Syria then an attempt at regime change in Russia. The Deep Zionist State has decided to bamboozle China whilst attacking Russia. This plan to go after Russia first and then China has been hatched much before the male Hillary Clinton got into the White House.
I expect a “historic” agreement between US and China, which the US will respect until Russia is taken off the enemy list and onto the asset ledger. Then China will get the same treatment. The Jews know very well how to appeal to Chinese greed.
This is just the link that CN kept refusing: http://www.unz.com/forum/putin-95-of-world-terrorist-attacks-are-orchestrated-by-the-cia/
Sorry, my comment above looks disjointed because I tried to post a link to an important article which CN refused about 15 times.
The governor of the Syrian Homs province which was attacked by US stated that at least two civilians living near the airport have been killed by the US attack, as published by RT. Cannot post a link, because the whole comment would disappear, please visit RT website if interested.
An interesting note – the Russian MoD claims that out of 59 cruise missiles, only 23 reached their apparent targets. Have the Russian S400 crews and Syrian S300 crews had some very good real-life targeting practice? The cruise missiles are relatively slow, but fly low, so they are not super easy to shoot-down unless you have a look-down radar on AWACS planes, which the Russians reportedly have in Syria. Have the Russians been testing the transfer of targeting data from their AWACS planes into the S400 and S300 systems?
If they shot down 36 US missiles, why did they let 23 through?
If shooting down of cruise missiles was the case, then the Russian military has significantly benefited from this US attack. Next time over Moscow, they could aim for 100% shoot-down rate of nuclear armed US cruise missiles.
We’ve been told told that these missiles fly at near supersonic speeds. That doesn’t sound ‘relatively slow’ to me. I cannot help wondering who came up with the idea of using exactly 59 missiles. Maybe it is one of Trump’s luck numbers?
The speed of sound is about 767 mph, the cruise missile fly at subsonic speeds (not at near sonic speeds) of around 500-600 mph, similar to the speeds of civilian airliners. The reason for such low speed is to achieve long range at low altitude (where the air density is high).
Cruise missiles were invented by the Germans in WW2, when they were known as V1. The British Spitfires fighter planes used to knock them off course by nudging then with the tips of their wings.
In a tactical sense, the US attack on the Syrian military airport Al Syairat appears to have “coincided with an Islamic State ground attack east of the airport“, according to b of moonofalabama and based on a report on Sputnik (no links, sorry). This would amplify the suspected coordination between US and ISIS, as the previous “mistaken” US attack on the nearby Deir Ezzor, which killed more than one hundred SAA defenders and coincided with another ISIS ground attack. Like the previous attack, this attack again improves the odds that ISIS will finally take from SAA the desperately defended Deir Ezzor.
In response, the Russian MoD appears to have terminated all military coordination with US in Syria.
My final comment on this topic, I saw the bipartisan clapping in Congress to this military action. Whenever I hear an announcement of the Chorus of Hebrew Slaves in Verdi’s opera Nabucco, I think of the US Congress and most of the US nation, all slaves of Hebrews. I know that this is a reversal of the Nabucco story, but the reversal is more relevant than the original.
I apologize for getting a bit off topic, but it’s really looking like the Trump admin is going to green light a regime change war on Damascus.
It’s looking extremely likely that the Zionist Power Configuration in America is going to get its regime change war in Syria. This is preposterous.
Israel’s always desired that Assad be removed as Syria’s leader. It’s looking like the ZPC has cajoled and browbeaten (and possibly blackmailed somehow?) the Trump admin into actually putting this outlandish war on the front burner. This is completely unacceptable.
For Washington to fight another regime change war on behalf of Israel is beyond belief! This is at a point in time when U.S. citizens are suffering under poor wages, strained public-sector budgets, drug addiction, a dental health care crisis, and un and underemployment.
It seems only Russia can stop this madness but Russia may very well see it as being too dangerous to stand in the way of a Washington-Tel Aviv hell bent on Mideast war. The Kremlin will likely step back and say ‘we’re not going to risk nuclear war over Assad.’ Perhaps the American public can once again save the day like in 2013 when they made it perfectly clear they would not countenance an Obama-Killary war on Syria. To his credit, Obama backed down.
Assad’s one of the last state leaders in the world who speaks up for Palestinian rights and criticizes Israeli human rights violations at almost every opportunity. This is the number one reason he’s been totally vilified in the Western press and targeted for liquidation.
A war for the ZPC this would be. Can the insouciant American public yet again stop this insane dash to essentially see another obliterated and failed state in the Maghreb and Middle East?