http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/08/experts-u-s-case-that-syrian-government-responsible-for-chemical-weapons-is-weak.html
( The reason for the rush to bomb by Kerry and Obama comes from knowledge that the case for bombing is suspect - and who other than the US wants egg on their faces after the fact ? And to face War crimes - if civilian casualties amount to crimes against humanity ? recall the recent scare at the NY airport where two postal workers were quickly assumed to have been exposed to nerve gas - then it was revealed to just be industrial products ? )
And here's why you don't rush to conclusions....
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/no-there-was-no-nerve-gas-found-jfk/68209/
and Russians clear their throats.........
http://rt.com/news/russia-us-syria-intelligence-236/
and....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-30/and-another-deserts-nato-says-obama-his-own
( Nato says no way , Jose .... )
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/30/2013 15:35 -0400
The regime speaks.....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-30/obama-speaks-behind-closed-doors-says-syria-action-will-be-limited-no-ground-troops
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/30/2013 14:28 -0400
If we don't know where Assad's chemical weapons are stored , ask what happens if we bomb a warehouse , release sarin or some other nerve agents stored there - and our bombing runs kill thousands ? And what happens if we later find out from the UN inspectors the toxin at issue on 8/21 wasn't sarin or nerve gas - but an industrial product anyone could have had access to ? Or what if we find the Rebels did the chemical weapon attack - or they simply screwed up as they have allegedly admitted ?
Experts: Don't bomb chemical weapon sites in Syria
Email this Story
Aug 30, 6:50 AM (ET)By SETH BORENSTEIN
"It's a classic case of the cure being worse than the disease," Kimball said. He said some of the suspected storage sites are in or near major Syrian cities like Damascus, Homs and Hama. Those cities have a combined population of well over 2 million people.
and....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-30/revelation-will-not-be-televised-white-house-declines-tv-networks-request-live-cover
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/30/2013 14:00 -0400
http://rt.com/news/syria-crisis-live-updates-047/
( Post - disclosure reactions , follow up .... )
17:36 GMT: A report released Friday says that US intelligence services have “high confidence” Syrian government forces used chemical weapons multiple times during the last year.
However, Washington cannot yet declare with 100 per cent certainty that President Bashar Assad’s regime was responsible for the poison gas attack on August 21 in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, the report said.
“Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the US intelligence community can take short of confirmation,” the report reads in part. “We will continue to seek additional information to close gaps in our understanding of what took place.”
In the Ghouta attack 1,429 people died, including 426 children, the report stated.
17:10 GMT: UN investigators have finished gathering samples of evidence related to the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people in a Damascus suburb last week and are packing up to leave, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
The experts will be leaving Syria on Saturday, but will return later to investigate several other alleged poison gas attacks that have taken place in the country during its 2-1/2-year civil war, he added.
http://rt.com/news/syria-denies-us-intelligence-235/
http://www.infowars.com/rebels-admit-responsibility-for-chemical-weapons-attack/
( So , the Rebels did it ? US Attack still on track ? This may be a bombshell - if this is investigated rather than ignored ! )
http://www.blacklistednews.com/US-Israeli_False_Flag_Gas_Attack_Unravels/28511/0/38/38/Y/M.html
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-30/hollande-undeterred-uk-shock-france-will-participate-it-ready-syrian-attack
( French vote - on September 4, 2013 , means US will be alone if they attack syria this weekend ! )
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/30/2013 08:34 -0400
http://www.debka.com/article/23238/White-House-ready-for-solo-strike-on-Syria-as-US-allies-and-influence-fade-
Nonetheless, the Syrian conflict after nearly three years continues to be covered in confusion, much of it generated by the Obama administration’s conflicting policies.
By voting for opposition Labor’s motion against UK involvement in military action in Syria, the British parliament not only shattered Obama’s multinational coalition for Syria; it struck at the heart of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), the historic bulwark of Western security since the last world war.
In the Middle East, Obama insisted that the US and the West stay out of the region’s affairs. While advising its leaders, including Israel’s, not to depend on America, he demanded their obedience at the same time.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is fond of saying his policies are “responsible and balanced.” This mostly translates into inaction or procrastination on such vital issues as Iran’s nuclear aspirations and Hizballah’s massive buildup of rockets.
But now, Khamenei, Assad and Nasrallah will be buoyed up by America’s loss of allied support and more likely than not make good on their threats, heard repeatedly in the past week, to destroy Israel once and for all. It won’t be enough to keep on intoning solemnly that Israel is not involved in the Syrian conflict – which no one believes anyway. Netanyahu will have to start looking squarely at the perils just around the corner and move proactively.
http://www.infowars.com/more-than-150-congress-members-demand-vote-on-syria/
( Why won't the US either wait for Congress to reconvene and have a vote on the Syria War or recall them back to a special session ? Are we less of a democracy than the UK and France - which have both allowed for actual Parliamentary action before any decision on War against Syria ? )
( The reason for the rush to bomb by Kerry and Obama comes from knowledge that the case for bombing is suspect - and who other than the US wants egg on their faces after the fact ? And to face War crimes - if civilian casualties amount to crimes against humanity ? recall the recent scare at the NY airport where two postal workers were quickly assumed to have been exposed to nerve gas - then it was revealed to just be industrial products ? )
Experts: U.S. Case that Syrian Government Responsible for Chemical Weapons Is Weak
Intelligence Experts Around the Globe Are Sounding the Alarm that the Justification for Intervention Is Far from Established
Huffington Post reports:
Intelligence experts around the globe are sounding the alarm that the justification for intervention is far from established.***One of the world’s leading experts on chemical weapons, Jean Pascal Zanders, on Friday told The Huffington Post UK that he has significant doubts about the identity of the chemical agent widely blamed for the deaths in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta.“We don’t know what the agent is,” said Zanders, who until recently served as senior research fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, an EU agency that scrutinizes defense and security issues. “Everyone is saying sarin. There is something clearly to do with a neurotoxicant [such as sarin], but not everything is pointing in that direction.”The agent used is a crucial piece of information, Zanders said, because the family of neurotoxicants that includes military weapons such as nerve agents also encompasses industrial products like those used to control rodents. Until the actual agent can be identified, any link to the Assad regime is tenuous, Zanders said.“If say, for example, a neurotoxicant was taken from a factory and used at [Ghouta], thenthe number of actors who might be responsible for that then increases,” he saidZanders’ caution was merely the latest bit of skepticism to emerge from the ranks of experienced experts now challenging the adequacy of the case for a strike in Syria.On Thursday, Lawrence Wilkerson, who reviewed the intelligence presented by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell as justification for the war in Iraq a decade ago, told HuffPost that the preparations for a Syria strike seem devoid of authority.Wilkerson [who largely drafted Powell's speech] likened the current debate to a repeat of the days he spent preparing for Powell’s since-debunked testimony, “with people telling me [former Iraq President] Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction with absolutely certainty.”He added: “It seems like the same thing again.”That pronouncement followed a striking caution from Hans Blix, who was chief United Nations arms inspector for Iraq in the run-up to the war. In an interview with Nathan Gardels, Blix said that while “indications are certainly in the direction of the use of chemical weapons” in Syria, those now contemplating military action should wait for U.N. inspectors now on the ground to complete their work.“As we’ve seen before, the political dynamics are running ahead of due process,” Blix said, adding that the dynamic was reminiscent of the way the Bush administration launched the war in Iraq.“I do not go along with the statement by the U.S. that ‘it is too late’ for Syria now to cooperate. That is a poor excuse for taking military action.”Most pointedly, Blix warned that missiles aimed at eradicating Assad’s chemical weapons capacities could exacerbate harm.“Attacking stockpiles with cruise missiles, as I understand it, has the disadvantage that is might spread chemical weapons in the vicinity of any attack,” Blix said.Zanders, the former EU chemical weapons expert, went even further, arguing thatoutsiders cannot conclude with confidence the extent or geographic location of the chemical weapons attack widely being blamed on the Assad regime.He singled out the images of victims convulsing in agony that have circulated widely on the Web, including on YouTube.“You do not know where they were taken,” he said. “You do not know when they were taken or even by whom they were taken. Or, whether they [are from] the same incident or from different incidents.”Zanders added: “It doesn’t tell me who would be responsible for it. It doesn’t tell me where the films were taken. It just tells me that something has happened, somewhere, at some point.”
Indeed, many experts on chemical weapons have expressed doubt that government-made chemicals were used. And – in a replay of the run up to the Iraq war – the U.S. has done everything it can to prevent U.N. weapons inspectors from doing their job.
And U.S. and British intelligence now that admit they don’t know whether it was the rebels or the Syrian government who carried out the attack.
And here's why you don't rush to conclusions....
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/no-there-was-no-nerve-gas-found-jfk/68209/
There was a brief scare Sunday afternoon after two workers became sick after opening a package in a mailroom at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Initial reports said the two men were exposed to a dangerous nerve gas, but thankfully that wasn't actually the case.
Two Customs agents were forced to seek medical treatment and the airport's central mail facility was locked down by the Port Authority officials, with an assist from the FBI "out of an abundance of caution," Sunday after opening a package from China. There was an initial scare after ABC News and the New York Daily News reported the package that caused two workers to get sick initially tested positive for a dangerous potential weapon. "The package from China tentatively tested positive for VX nerve gas, which can be used as a weapon of mass destruction, according to a law enforcement source," the Daily News reported, while ABC News was much more cautious: "Field tests showed an initial finding of nerve gas, though authorities believe it's a low likelihood that it's actually nerve gas," they said. Terrifying, right? Everyone's still on edge because of the terror threat situation, and this played right those fears.
But after the FBI performed more tests on the package, tension subsided when it was revealed there was no nerve gas at all. "There were initial reports that the package contained nerve gas, but officials have said it’s unlikely that the substance is the chemical weapon," CBS New York reports. It turns out what made the two men sick was actually organophosphate, an ingredient in soda pop. "Phosphoric acid is a colorless liquid with a syrupy consistency used as an acidifying agent to give colas their flavor," CNN explains. Newsday reports Port Authority officials dropped the package into a 55 gallon drum, just to be safe.
The two men are fine and receiving treatment at Franklin General Hospital. The other mail area employees are still being screened by the authorities to make sure they weren't infected, too. Soda pop is still delicious, nerve gas is still scary, and everything is alright with the world. And the good news: the scare didn't delay any flights.
and Russians clear their throats.........
http://rt.com/news/russia-us-syria-intelligence-236/
Washington’s statements threatening to use military force against Syria unilaterally are unacceptable, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
Given the lack of evidence, any unilateral military action bypassing the UN Security Council – “no matter how limited it is” – would be a direct violation of international law and would undermine the prospects for a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria and will lead to a new round of confrontation and victims, Lukashevich concludes.
“Instead of executing the decisions of G8’s summit in Lough Erne and subsequent agreements to submit comprehensive report from experts investigating possible cases of use of chemical weapons in Syria to the UN Security Council, in the absence of any evidence, we hear threats of a strike on Syria,” the statement reads.
Lukashevich emphasizes that even “US allies” are calling to wait for the completion of the UN chemical expert group “in order to get an unbiased picture of what really happened and decide on further steps in terms of the Syrian crisis.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council may have to wait as long as two weeks before reviewing the final results of an analysis of samples taken from where chemical weapons were used in Syria, diplomats told Reuters on Friday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon told representatives from China, Russia, the United States, Britain, and France, warning them of the time period on the eve of a possible US missile strike on the Syrian regime.
"The samples that have been collected will be taken to be analyzed in designated laboratories, and the intention of course is to expedite the analysis of that sampling that's been taken," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky. “This is not an electoral process, where you have exit polls and preliminary results."
“The only result that counts is the result of the analysis in laboratories and the analysis of the evidence that's been collected through witness statements and so on," Nesirky explained, adding that UN inspectors would return later to investigate several other sites of alleged chemical weapon attacks.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon meanwhile briefed representatives from China, Russia, the United States, Britain, and France on the ongoing investigation in Syria. Although the envoys of the Security Council’s permanent members did not comment on the details, two diplomats told Reuters that analysis of the samples could take up to two weeks, according to Ban.
and....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-30/and-another-deserts-nato-says-obama-his-own
( Nato says no way , Jose .... )
And Another Deserts As NATO Says Obama On His Own
They are falling like flies... following the British vote not to join Obama in his latest crusade, it s now NATO's turn as Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen tells Dutch TV2 that "NATO will have no role in any military action in Syria." Of course, there's still the French; and as Rasmussen notes, should any retaliatory action take place to endanger NATO member Turkey then the situation may well change. Quoted as urging a political resolution rather than military, and supportive of the UN inspectors, Rasmussen added "A sustainable solution is a political solution. But an international reaction is necessary."
NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, setting the stage for the defense alliance NATO will have no role in any military action in Syria...."I predict not a NATO role in what I here call an international reaction to the regime in Damascus, says Anders Fogh Rasmussen at a press conference in Vejle.However, it can change the situation if NATO member Turkey, which shares a border with Syria is attacked. At present, Nato keen rockets along the border in order to respond to any aggression.But even Fogh therefore does not foresee that NATO should play a role, so he believes that some form of military intervention would be important to give a clear message that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.- There is not a long-term military solution to this. A sustainable solution is a political solution. But an international response is needed, says Anders Fogh Rasmussen.He does not believe that there is no doubt that President Bashar al-Assad's regime used chemical weapons.- Everyone knows that there has been a chemical attack place. Everyone has seen the terrible pictures, so there's no discussion about that there has been a chemical attack place.- Then there is a discussion about who is behind. And when you look at who has stocks and capacity, it is the regime. There is not much to suggest that it is the opposition that is behind.- And it requires a cynicism beyond what is reasonable to believe that the opposition stand behind a chemical attack in an area they already largely control, says Anders Fogh Rasmussen.Fogh stresses, however, that NATO countries support the study by UN weapons inspectors is currently doing. Inspectors are expected to leave Syria Saturday.
The regime speaks.....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-30/obama-speaks-behind-closed-doors-says-syria-action-will-be-limited-no-ground-troops
Obama Speaks Behind Closed Doors, Says "Syria Action Will Be Limited, No Ground Troops"
The headlines come pouring in:
- OBAMA SPEAKS ON SYRIA DURING MEETING WITH BALTIC LEADERS
- OBAMA CALLS SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS ATTACK CHALLENGE TO WORLD
- OBAMA SAYS SYRIAN USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS THREATENS U.S.
- OBAMA SAYS HE'LL CONTINUE TO CONSULT WITH CONGRESS ON SYRIA
- OBAMA SAYS HE HASN'T MADE FINAL DECISION ON SYRIA ATTACK
- OBAMA SAYS SYRIA ACTION WILL BE LIMITED WITH NO GROUND TROOPS
So... he hasn't made a decision, but the action will be limited. Is this like the Schrodinger economy where everything is dead if one collapses the Fed's wave function.
But the punchline:
- OBAMA SAYS SYRIAN CHEMICAL ATTACK THREATENS OUR NATIONAL SECURITY
Uh....
If we don't know where Assad's chemical weapons are stored , ask what happens if we bomb a warehouse , release sarin or some other nerve agents stored there - and our bombing runs kill thousands ? And what happens if we later find out from the UN inspectors the toxin at issue on 8/21 wasn't sarin or nerve gas - but an industrial product anyone could have had access to ? Or what if we find the Rebels did the chemical weapon attack - or they simply screwed up as they have allegedly admitted ?
Experts: Don't bomb chemical weapon sites in Syria
Email this StoryAug 30, 6:50 AM (ET)By SETH BORENSTEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) - You simply can't safely bomb a chemical weapon storehouse into oblivion, experts say. That's why they say the United States is probably targeting something other than Syria's nerve agents.
But now there is concern that bombing other sites could accidentally release dangerous chemical weapons that the U.S. military didn't know were there because they've lost track of some of the suspected nerve agents.
Bombing stockpiles of chemical weapons - purposely or accidentally - would likely kill nearby civilians in an accidental nerve agent release, create a long-lasting environmental catastrophe or both, five experts told The Associated Press. That's because under ideal conditions - and conditions wouldn't be ideal in Syria - explosives would leave at least 20 to 30 percent of the poison in lethal form.
"If you drop a conventional munition on a storage facility containing unknown chemical agents - and we don't know exactly what is where in the Syrian arsenal - some of those agents will be neutralized and some will be spread," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a nonprofit that focuses on all types of weaponry. "You are not going to destroy all of them."
|
When asked if there is any way to ensure complete destruction of the nerve agents without going in with soldiers, seizing the chemicals and burning them in a special processing plant, Ralf Trapp, a French chemical weapons consultant and longtime expert in the field, said simply: "Not really."
Trapp said to incinerate the chemicals properly, temperatures have to get as hot as 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Experts also say weather factors - especially wind and heat - even time of day, what chemicals are stored, how much of it is around and how strong the building is all are factors in what kind of inadvertent damage could come from a bombing.
There is one precedent for bombing a chemical weapons storehouse. In 1991, during the first Persian Gulf War, the U.S. bombed Bunker 13 in Al Muthanna, Iraq. Officials figured it contained 2,500 artillery rockets filled with sarin, the same nerve gas suspected in Syria. More than two decades later the site is so contaminated no one goes near it even now.
That bunker is a special problem for inspectors because "an entry into the bunker would expose personnel to explosive, chemical and physical hazards," says a 2012 report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which implements the international chemical weapons convention.
Pentagon planners are also worried about accidentally triggering a nerve agent attack by hitting weapons stores that have been moved by the government to new locations.
Over the past six months, with shifting front lines and sketchy satellite and human intelligence coming out of Syria, the U.S. intelligence community has lost track of who controls some of the government's chemical weapons supplies, according to one senior U.S. intelligence official and three other U.S. officials briefed on the information presented by the White House as reason to strike Syria's military complex. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the briefings publicly.
That's a very real risk, said Susannah Sirkin, international policy director for the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been monitoring weapons of mass destruction for more than two decades.
"You would risk dispersing agents into the environment," she said. "Given that sarin is not seen or smelled, that's terror."
Another issue is that by bombing storage sites that are near contested areas in the civil war, the chemical weapons can fall into others' hands, including extremist rebels or pro-Assad militia, Kimball said.
"What we're looking at in Syria is an unprecedented situation," Kimball said.
and....
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-30/revelation-will-not-be-televised-white-house-declines-tv-networks-request-live-cover
The Revelation Will Not Be Televised: White House Declines Request For Network TV Coverage Of Obama 2:30pm Speech
http://rt.com/news/syria-crisis-live-updates-047/
( Post - disclosure reactions , follow up .... )
Friday, August 30
19:05 GMT: Turkey PM Tayyip Erdogan says any operation must follow the Kosovo model, and include a force on the ground. "We are not happy with a limited operation. It shouldn't just be a day or two of strikes, and then nothing. We need regime change in Syria."
18:40 GMT: Obama has stated that the US is still in the planning process regarding a response to the situation in Syria. He stated that his preference would have been for the international community to move forward.
He called the alleged chemical attack "a challenge to the world" and a threat to security interests. While the US President has made no final decision on a course of action, he stated that the government was contemplating a "limited narrow act."
18:23 GMT: The White House also released a map of Ghouta, displaying the areas affected by the alleged Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack.
18:23 GMT: The White House also released a map of Ghouta, displaying the areas affected by the alleged Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack.
17:36 GMT: A report released Friday says that US intelligence services have “high confidence” Syrian government forces used chemical weapons multiple times during the last year.
However, Washington cannot yet declare with 100 per cent certainty that President Bashar Assad’s regime was responsible for the poison gas attack on August 21 in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, the report said.
“Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the US intelligence community can take short of confirmation,” the report reads in part. “We will continue to seek additional information to close gaps in our understanding of what took place.”
In the Ghouta attack 1,429 people died, including 426 children, the report stated.
17:10 GMT: UN investigators have finished gathering samples of evidence related to the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people in a Damascus suburb last week and are packing up to leave, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
The experts will be leaving Syria on Saturday, but will return later to investigate several other alleged poison gas attacks that have taken place in the country during its 2-1/2-year civil war, he added.
and......
http://live.denverpost.com/Event/The_Syrian_conflict
reactions from Syria and Syrians....
http://live.denverpost.com/Event/The_Syrian_conflict
http://rt.com/news/syria-denies-us-intelligence-235/
The intelligence assessment the US administration presented as evidence that the Syrian government deployed chemical weapons on its own people is baseless and based on “terrorist lies” and “media exaggeration,” Syrian foreign ministry sources say.
A source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry told Sana, Syria’s state-owned news agency, that any American military action in Syria would only serve the political interests of the United States, despite pledges from US lawmakers that the action is meant to curb the use of chemical weapons against civilians.
“The Syrian government affirms that Kerry’s allegations that the Syrian Army knew about chemical weapons use three days prior to the incident are lies,” the source told Sana, “as proven by the fact that Syria requested the investigation committee to visit al-Bahaia area where Syrian Army soldiers were exposed to toxic gas, and the committee met the affected soldiers in the area.”
In the extracts of the classified US report released Friday, the American intelligence community to have been aware of an impending chemical weapon attack three days before the August 21 crisis. A White House spokesman, speaking with reporters Friday, refused to discuss whether that information had been shared with anyone including the Syrian opposition.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a speech Friday that US intelligence had determined with high confidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for killing hundreds of people in a chemical weapons attack last week.
While US officials cannot determine for certain that Assad forces launched the assault, Kerry did say it claimed the lives of 1,429 Syrians, including no less than 426 children.
“Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the US Intelligence Community can take short of confirmation,” a government report read in part. “We will continue to seek additional information to close gaps in our understanding of what took place.”
More than 100,000 people have been killed and over one million displaced since the Syrian civil war began over three years ago. United Nations investigators have spent the final days of August attempting to determine just what kind of weapons have been used on the streets of Damascus, where the Assad government has been trying to clear out opposition forces.
Guardian liveblog....
Islamists speak out....
Syrian voices: 'we believe US will shoot Islamic brigades'
The Guardian's Mona Mahmood (@monamood) has been conducting telephone and Skype interviews with people in Syria. Here she speaks with a fighter calling himself Abu Abdullah, attached to the LiwaelIslam brigade in Aleppo.
From an interview with the fighter Abu Abdullah:
As a Muslim, I can't tell if the US strike against Syria is good or bad, but it is highly possible that it is bad for us as Islamic jihadis. We know that the infidels work together whether Bashar's regime, or British and Americans. [...]
We believe that instead of striking the regime, the US forces will shoot the Islamic brigades bases in Syria, the most active brigades now if you compare it to other battalions fighting now. There are many Islamic brigades in Syria now, some of them are too extreme and some others are moderate and their main motive is to lift the injustice off the Syrian people and spread out equity among Muslims.
If the US administration is scared of the Islamic organizations, I want them to know that if we prevail, we will devote Syria economy and military force to help the Syrian people and any other people are under any sort of repression. Still, we know whatever we do, the West won't accept it unless we work in their satellite.
We know that the West won't liberate Syria of Bashar for nothing, but we are ready to work with anyone who would help us to get rid of Bashar without any conditions.
We would not accept to get rid of the Bashar occupation to fall into a new occupation. If the West really wants to help us, they need to send advanced weapons to the fighters. We have lots of fighters but we need weapons. Otherwise, they need to leave us fighting with Bashar alone.
– Interview by Mona Mahmood
(other interviews with fighters who believe the US will strike them here)
Syrian voices: 'whole world conspiring against Syria'
The Guardian's Mona Mahmood (@monamood) has been conducting telephone and Skype interviews with people in Syria. Here she speaks with a fighter calling himself Abu Usama, a commander of Anssar AlHaq brigade, an independent brigade that has bases in Damascus and Latikia.
Mona writes:
Abu Usama was a businessman and owner of a hotel in Sayda Zeinab district, in the southern suburbs of Damascus, before the war. His hotel was confiscated by a Shii'a militia fighting near the shrine of Sayda Zeinab, he said. He joined anti-regime demonstrations early on and then became a fighter. I talked to him by Skype.
From an interview with Abu Usama, anti-Assad fighter:
If the US strike is meant to debilitate the regime's ability to commit massacres against the civilians, it is most welcomed. But if the US forces want to polish off Syria infrastructure and FSA bases and fighters, we say one thousand times "No". It is highly possible that the US forces want to hit both Bashar and FSA for the sake of Israel.
I believe there is a big game afoot in Syria. If they really want to strike Bashar, they could have launched a strike earlier, not giving Bashar all this time to evacuate his positions and hide his tanks inside the schools and sending students home. Some of the schools have refugees, he kicked them out and hid his equipment inside. We as fighters are coordinating together and have set up a wonderful military plan in preparation of the strike.
I watched British Parliament yesterday on Jazeera TV, voting against striking Bashar, and I believe the whole world is conspiring against Syria and its people. The British claim that they do not want to repeat Iraq's war but I can assure them, if they leave Syria like that, Syria will be a hundred times worse than Iraq. Why did the same Parliament accept to go for the war against Iraq, though Iraq is massively destroyed, but refuse to go to help the Syrian people?
The Islamic organizations are spreading out in Syria like mushroom, soon they will form a very preposterous state that will affect all the neighbouring states as well as Europe. These Islamic fighters are confiscating more lands in Syria and are practising killing and scourges against Syrian people.
I think now the west started to feel the risk behind giving their back to Syria and the risk of chemical weapons falling in the hands of Jihadis. If they can at least support the Syrian fighters, we can do the job and topple Bashar.
– Interview by Mona Mahmood
Russia commentary.......
“Russia is working hard to avoid any scenario involving the use of force with regard to Syria,” Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said.From the state owned Ria Novosti news agency:
He [Ushakov] also said the United States has not handed Russia any “surveillance data” suggesting that Damascus has used chemical weapons, adding that Moscow does not believe claims that is had done so.“They [Americans] are citing the secrecy of some information,” Ushakov said.“We don’t have that evidence, and we don’t believe it,” he said.
http://www.infowars.com/rebels-admit-responsibility-for-chemical-weapons-attack/
( So , the Rebels did it ? US Attack still on track ? This may be a bombshell - if this is investigated rather than ignored ! )
Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack
Militants tell AP reporter they mishandled Saudi-supplied chemical weapons, causing accident
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
August 30, 2013
Infowars.com
August 30, 2013
Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press journalist Dale Gavlak that they were responsible for last week’s chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad’s forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.
Image: YouTube
“From numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families….many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the (deadly) gas attack,” writes Gavlak.
Rebels told Gavlak that they were not properly trained on how to handle the chemical weapons or even told what they were. It appears as though the weapons were initially supposed to be given to the Al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra.
“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,” one militant named ‘J’ told Gavlak.
His claims are echoed by another female fighter named ‘K’, who told Gavlak, “They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them. We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”
Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of an opposition rebel, also told Gavlak, “My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry,” describing them as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.” The father names the Saudi militant who provided the weapons as Abu Ayesha.
According to Abdel-Moneim, the weapons exploded inside a tunnel, killing 12 rebels.
“More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government,” writes Gavlak.
If accurate, this story could completely derail the United States’ rush to attack Syria which has been founded on the “undeniable” justification that Assad was behind the chemical weapons attack. Dale Gavlak’s credibility is very impressive. He has been a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press for two decades and has also worked for National Public Radio (NPR).
Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in providing rebels, whom they have vehemently backed at every turn, with chemical weapons, is no surprise given the revelations earlier this week that the Saudis threatened Russia with terror attacks at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi unless they abandoned support for the Syrian President.
“I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us,” Prince Bandar allegedly told Vladimir Putin, the Telegraph reports.
The Obama administration is set to present its intelligence findings today in an effort prove that Assad’s forces were behind last week’s attack, despite American officials admitting to the New York Times that there is no “smoking gun” that directly links President Assad to the attack.
US intelligence officials also told the Associated Press that the intelligence proving Assad’s culpability is “no slam dunk.”
As we reported earlier this week, intercepted intelligence revealed that the Syrian Defense Ministry was making “panicked” phone calls to Syria’s chemical weapons department demanding answers in the hours after the attack, suggesting that it was not ordered by Assad’s forces.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/08/syrians-in-ghouta-claim-saudi-supplied_29.html
Syrians in Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
This article is a collaboration between Dale Gavlak reporting for Mint Press News (also of the Associated Press) and Yahya Ababneh.
Ghouta, Syria — As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week’s chemical weapons attack, the U.S. and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.
Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.
The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad’s guilt was “a judgment … already clear to the world.”
However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the deadly gas attack.
“My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry,” said Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside of a tunnel used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.”
Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and the others died during the chemical weapons attack. That same day, the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked to al-Qaida, announced that it would similarly attack civilians in the Assad regime’s heartland of Latakia on Syria’s western coast, in purported retaliation.
“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”
“When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,” she warned. She, like other Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.
A well-known rebel leader in Ghouta named ‘J’ agreed. “Jabhat al-Nusra militants do not cooperate with other rebels, except with fighting on the ground. They do not share secret information. They merely used some ordinary rebels to carry and operate this material,” he said.
“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,” ‘J’ said.
Doctors who treated the chemical weapons attack victims cautioned interviewers to be careful about asking questions regarding who, exactly, was responsible for the deadly assault.
The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders added that health workers aiding 3,600 patients also reported experiencing similar symptoms, including frothing at the mouth, respiratory distress, convulsions and blurry vision. The group has not been able to independently verify the information.
More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government.
Saudi involvement
In a recent article for Business Insider, reporter Geoffrey Ingersoll highlighted Saudi Prince Bandar’s role in the two-and-a-half year Syrian civil war. Many observers believe Bandar, with his close ties to Washington, has been at the very heart of the push for war by the U.S. against Assad.
Ingersoll referred to an article in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph about secret Russian-Saudi talks alleging that Bandar offered Russian President Vladimir Putin cheap oil in exchange for dumping Assad.
“Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord,” Ingersoll wrote.
“I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us,” Bandar allegedly told the Russians.
“Along with Saudi officials, the U.S. allegedly gave the Saudi intelligence chief the thumbs up to conduct these talks with Russia, which comes as no surprise,” Ingersoll wrote.
“Bandar is American-educated, both military and collegiate, served as a highly influential Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., and the CIA totally loves this guy,” he added.
According to U.K.’s Independent newspaper, it was Prince Bandar’s intelligence agency that first brought allegations of the use of sarin gas by the regime to the attention of Western allies in February.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the CIA realized Saudi Arabia was “serious” about toppling Assadwhen the Saudi king named Prince Bandar to lead the effort.
“They believed that Prince Bandar, a veteran of the diplomatic intrigues of Washington and the Arab world, could deliver what the CIA couldn’t: planeloads of money and arms, and, as one U.S. diplomat put it, wasta, Arabic for under-the-table clout,” it said.
Bandar has been advancing Saudi Arabia’s top foreign policy goal, WSJ reported, of defeating Assad and his Iranian and Hezbollah allies.
To that aim, Bandar worked Washington to back a program to arm and train rebels out of a planned military base in Jordan.
The newspaper reports that he met with the “uneasy Jordanians about such a base”:
His meetings in Amman with Jordan’s King Abdullah sometimes ran to eight hours in a single sitting. “The king would joke: ‘Oh, Bandar’s coming again? Let’s clear two days for the meeting,’ ” said a person familiar with the meetings.
Jordan’s financial dependence on Saudi Arabia may have given the Saudis strong leverage. An operations center in Jordan started going online in the summer of 2012, including an airstrip and warehouses for arms. Saudi-procured AK-47s and ammunition arrived, WSJ reported, citing Arab officials.
Although Saudi Arabia has officially maintained that it supported more moderate rebels, the newspaper reported that “funds and arms were being funneled to radicals on the side, simply to counter the influence of rival Islamists backed by Qatar.”
But rebels interviewed said Prince Bandar is referred to as “al-Habib” or ‘the lover’ by al-Qaida militants fighting in Syria.
Peter Oborne, writing in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, has issued a word of caution about Washington’s rush to punish the Assad regime with so-called ‘limited’ strikes not meant to overthrow the Syrian leader but diminish his capacity to use chemical weapons:
Consider this: the only beneficiaries from the atrocity were the rebels, previously losing the war, who now have Britain and America ready to intervene on their side. While there seems to be little doubt that chemical weapons were used, there is doubt about who deployed them.
It is important to remember that Assad has been accused of using poison gas against civilians before. But on that occasion, Carla del Ponte, a U.N. commissioner on Syria, concluded that the rebels, not Assad, were probably responsible.
Some information in this article could not be independently verified. Mint Press News will continue to provide further information and updates .
Dale Gavlak is a Middle East correspondent for Mint Press News and the Associated Press. Gavlak has been stationed in Amman, Jordan for the Associated Press for over two decades. An expert in Middle Eastern Affairs, Gavlak currently covers the Levant region of the Middle East for AP, National Public Radio and Mint Press News, writing on topics including politics, social issues and economic trends. Dale holds a M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago. Contact Dale at dgavlak@mintpressnews.com
Yahya Ababneh is a Jordanian freelance journalist and is currently working on a master’s degree in journalism, He has covered events in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Libya. His stories have appeared on Amman Net, Saraya News, Gerasa News and elsewhere.
By William Bowles, Information Clearing House
This is where it all started: The Israeli intelligence front the Debkafile, which is the source of the story that implicated the Assad government and/or its military in the gas attack on East Ghouta and now forms the basis for the war on Syria.
This is where it all started: The Israeli intelligence front the Debkafile, which is the source of the story that implicated the Assad government and/or its military in the gas attack on East Ghouta and now forms the basis for the war on Syria.
DEBKAfile’s military sources affirm that, just as the Assad brothers orchestrated the chemical shell attack on Syrian civilians, so too did Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah set in motion the rocket attack on Israel. – ‘The sarin shells fired on Damascus – by Syrian 4th Division’s 155th Brigade – were followed by rockets on Israel and car bombings in Lebanon‘, Debkafile, 24 August 2013
Let’s try sum up what we do know:
On the 21 August from a suburb of Damascus, Douma (or Duma) then under ‘rebel’ control, two missiles were fired at another ‘rebel’ controlled suburb of Damascus called East Ghouta, killing an unknown number of people, including children. It is assumed now that some kind of nerve gas or at least poison gas was used. The New York Times have documented this here, although they’ve moved some of the locations on the map. In this regard how does the NYT reconcile their take on the source of the missiles with the Mossad version, which makes them artillery shells fired from the mountains in the South ( see the Mossad version below, such as it is). This is confirmed by Pepe Escobar’s report of Russian satellite evidence.
Within hours, or even minutes, videos of the alleged effects of the attack were circulating on the Web and without a pause for a breath (let alone any evidence), led by the UK and followed closely by France, they were blaming the Assad government for the attack and pressing for an immediate attack on Syria, with or without authorisation from the UN Security Council.
For more on this see this Wiki, where details on the launch of the two missiles can be found. It’s not exactly a coherent presentation as it’s an assemblage of links and descriptions, but it looks like the missiles were launched from a Syrian Special Forces base in Douma (or Duma) then occupied by the ‘rebels’.
The ‘Evidence’
For several days, in fact until today, 28 August, there was no evidence offered in the mainstream media that confirmed the allegations made by the US, the UK and France. Then a story released by the Israeli Mossad intelligence service to the German magazine Focus on the 24 August got picked up by the MSM. Today the 28th a report in the London Guardiannewspaper tells us that the ‘evidence’ was from an Israeli source, specifically the 8200 intelligence unit of the Israeli Defence Forces,
“which specialises in electronic surveillance, intercepted a conversation between Syrian officials regarding the use of chemical weapons, an unnamed former Mossad official told Focus. The content of the conversation was relayed to the US, the ex-official said.” – The Guardian, 28 August 2013
A more complete article on the Israeli connection can be found in a Times of Israel article dated 27 August:
It was Brun, the IDF’s top intelligence analyst, who in April shocked the international community by declaring that the army was quite certain that Assad had used chemical weapons against rebel forces in Syria in March.This time, too, Israeli military intelligence has reportedly played a key role in providing evidence of Assad’s chemical weapons use. On Friday, Israel’s Channel 2 reported that the weapons were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, a division under the command of the Syrian president’s brother, Maher Assad. The nerve gas shells were fired from a military base in a mountain range to the west of Damascus, the TV report said.The report did not state the source of its information. But subsequently, Germany’s Focus magazine reported that an IDF intelligence unit was listening in on senior Syrian officials when they discussed the chemical attack. According to the Focus report Saturday, a squad specializing in wire-tapping within the IDF’s prestigious 8200 intelligence unit intercepted a conversation between high-ranking regime officials regarding the use of chemical agents at the time of the attack. The report, which cited an ex-Mossad official who insisted on remaining anonymous, said the intercepted conversation proved that Assad’s regime was responsible for the use of nonconventional weapons.Giora Inbar, the former head of the IDF’s liaison unit in southern Lebanon, said Tuesday that Israeli military intelligence made a priority of intelligence-gathering in Syria, was very well-informed, and was widely trusted. The United States was “aware of” Israel’s intelligence on the doings of the Syrian regime, he said in a Channel 2 interview, “and relies upon it.” – ‘Israeli intelligence seen as central to US case against Syria‘, Times of Israel (my emph. WB)
Here’s a Google translation of the relevant passage from the Focus article:
Mossad: “poison gas missile by Syrian government forces”According to the findings of Israeli intelligence community, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the gas attack in Damascus. One unit of the Military Intelligence Service Amam, which specializes in wireless spy “Unit 8200″, controlled (tapped?) at the time of the gas attack, the communication of the Syrian army. A former Mossad officer told FOCUS, the analysis has clearly shown that the bombardment with poison gas missiles was made by Syrian government forces. – ‘UN calls on Syria to allow access for poison gas inspectors‘, Focus magazine, 24 August 2013
I think what’s apparent here is that Mossad used a device that is quite common when governments/intelligence agencies want to plant a phoney story; release it through a relatively unknown publication and wait for it to be picked up by the MSM. After all, if the ‘crack’ 8200 Unit was actually listening in on the 21st August “at the time of the attack” to Syrian Army radio, why didn’t they immediately release the information to the world (even as it happened!)? Isn’t that what you or I would have done with that kind of war-starting information?
Then there was the panic on Saturday 24 August by the USUK to try and get the UN inspection team’s visit to Syria, cancelled. Now what was that all about? The USUK backed it up with talk about it ‘being too late’ and that the Assad regime had ‘cleaned up’ (this in an area then not controlled by the Syrian government). Too late to find out if hundreds of people had been gassed?
The sudden reversal and overt hostility toward the U.N. investigation, which coincides with indications that the administration is planning a major military strike against Syria in the coming days, suggests that the administration sees the U.N. as hindering its plans for an attack.Kerry asserted Monday that he had warned Syrian Foreign Minister Moallem last Thursday that Syria had to give the U.N. team immediate access to the site and stop the shelling there, which he said was “systematically destroying evidence”. He called the Syria-U.N. deal to allow investigators unrestricted access “too late to be credible”. – ‘In Rush to Strike Syria, U.S. Tried to Derail U.N. Probe‘, Gareth Porter, IPS, 28 August 2013
In yet another version of the Mossad-inspired story, in the Israeli Tikum Olam we read:
It [Ynet on the 27 August] says that three senior Israeli military-intelligence officers are currently in Washington briefing their U.S. counterparts on the Unit 8200 intercepts. The paper also claims that the primary evidence the west is using on which to base its charges of Syria government responsibility is the IDF secret intercepts. This makes me nervous for several reasons: one, because IDF claims are notoriously unreliable. This brings to mind the Mossad’s notoriously biased “evidence” offered regularly to the IAEA to “prove” Iran’s intent to develop nuclear weapons. Two, it makes me wonder what Israel’s ulterior motives may be in weighing in like this. – German Report That Israel’s NSA Affirms Syria Government Responsibility for Chemical Attacks, By Richard Silverstein, Tikum Olam, 26 August 2013
And what of the UN mandate that forbade the inspection team from apportioning blame, should it be able to do that? Everything looks set to fail except the option to bomb.
Why the rush to war?
And ultimately, why the rush to war without even falsified evidence to offer until this late stage? Surely, if on the day of the attack the Israelis had released the information of an alleged gas attack by the Syrian government, it would have given the US and the UN, every (albeit twisted) justification to attack instead of relying on “belief” and “common sense” as Hague and Kerry both asserted?
I never thought I’d see the private intelligence arm of the US state, Stratfor utter the following but I think it’s another indication of a false flag plot gone seriously amiss that only an immediate attack on Syria could have masked:
Stratfor’s job is to analyze the world as objectively as possible, and the situation in Syria is among the most difficult we have seen. The problem is we really don’t know what happened. The general consensus is Syrian President Bashar Assad ordered the use of chemical weapons against his enemies. The problem is trying to figure out why he would do it. He was not losing the civil war. In fact, he had achieved some limited military success recently. He knew that U.S. President Obama had said the use of chemical weapons would cross a red line. Yet Assad did it.Or did he? Could the rebels have staged the attack in order to draw in an attack on al-Assad? Could the pictures have been faked? Could a third party, hoping to bog the United States down in another war, have done it? The answers to these questions are important, because they guide the U.S. and its allies’ response. The official explanation could be absolutely true–or not. – Stratfor Email 28 August 2013
No wonder Stratfor is circumspect about the cause of the chemical attack. Worse, it’s even doubting the US government when it says, “The official explanation could be absolutely true–or not.”
If as Gareth Porter asserts, the US wanted the inspection team canceled because I assume, it didn’t want have to bomb them as well the unfortunate Syrians, then it follows that regardless of the evidence, the Empire had planned to rain death and destruction from afar on Syria, and had planned to do so since last year. And then it was presented with the perfect opportunity until those damn UN inspectors got in the way!
Waging war would avoid the embarrassing act of actually finding out what went on and as we know the victor writes the history. By the time cooler heads get to have a look at the facts, it’s all ‘history’.
and.......
( French vote - on September 4, 2013 , means US will be alone if they attack syria this weekend ! )
Hollande Undeterred By UK Shock: "France Will Participate. It Is Ready" For Syrian Attack
The Germans "haven't considered any military participation... and are still not doing so." The Brits unexpectedly voted 'not' to join Obama in an attack on Syria , with Cameron adding that he didn't think "it's a question of having to aplogize" to Obama. But Obama can rest assured as the French remains undeterred. After France refused to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but was quickly aided by the US in the military intervention against Islamist militants in Mali earlier this year, Hollande is vehement of the need to "punish" Damascus, "France will participate. It is ready." Sounds like a resounding 'we're in,' right? It seems Hollande is dead set on lower French unemployment... by making every jobless person a soldier in Syria(packing at least one backup white flag of surrender). But, don't get too excited since, with lukewarm public support, Hollande has said he will summon the French parliament to vote on the debate... on September 4th (no rush...).
France is prepared to take action against Syria despite the vote against military intervention by Britain, its closest European military ally, French president François Hollande has said.“The chemical massacre in Damascus cannot remain unpunished. If not, it would risk an escalation that would trivialise the use of these weapons and would threaten other countries,” said Mr Hollande.He said he did not favour a military operation to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad but a deterrent strike to punish “a monstrous violation of human rights”....Asked in an interview with Le Monde newspaper if France would go ahead without British involvement, he replied: “Yes, each country is sovereign (in deciding) whether or not to participate in an operation. That applies to the UK and for France.”...“France will participate. It is ready. It will decide its position in close liaison with its allies.”...Mr Hollande has summoned the French parliament to debate Syria on September 4. Although the French president does not require a parliamentary vote to take military action, he will be anxious to achieve as strong a political consensus as possible.Opinion polls in France have shown lukewarm public support for a strike on Syria
http://www.debka.com/article/23238/White-House-ready-for-solo-strike-on-Syria-as-US-allies-and-influence-fade-
The shock Thursday, Aug. 29, of Britain’s David Cameron parliamentary defeat – thereby knocking America’s foremost partner out of the coming strike against Syria – highlighted public opposition to the operation in America and criticism in the top US military command.
The White House hastened to stress that America, while still interested in engaging allies, was ready to act unilaterally without UN or allied support.
Nonetheless, the Syrian conflict after nearly three years continues to be covered in confusion, much of it generated by the Obama administration’s conflicting policies.
After resolute condemnation of the Assad regime’s “heinous crime” of using chemical weapons against its people, the president opted for a low-key, practically painless military strike against Syria. The Syria ruler would be able to wave his hands in a gesture of victory, followed by Vladmir Putin. Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would say, I told you so, the United States is a paper tiger and will never attack our nuclear program.
By voting for opposition Labor’s motion against UK involvement in military action in Syria, the British parliament not only shattered Obama’s multinational coalition for Syria; it struck at the heart of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), the historic bulwark of Western security since the last world war.
The alliance’s fortunes have faded progressively under the vacillating foreign and security polices of President Barack Obama.
In 2009, the US president announced a new policy direction that would henceforth hinge on a “tilt to the East.” It was followed by America’s untidy military exit from Iraq and fumbles in Afghanistan leaving both countries prey to the havoc of bloody sectarian warfare.
His refusal to acknowledge the menacing spread of al Qaeda was compounded by his muddled approach to the Arab Revolt : While endorsing the overthrow of two autocrats, Mubarak and Qadafi, he conducted a hands-off policy for the most bloodthirsty tyrant of the Arab world, Bashar Assad, and Iran’s hired terrorist chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
In the Middle East, Obama insisted that the US and the West stay out of the region’s affairs. While advising its leaders, including Israel’s, not to depend on America, he demanded their obedience at the same time.
In the Syrian crisis, Obama is reaping the harvest of his inconsistent foreign policies, which can no longer be papered over with fine speeches. The fall of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which he championed as the epitome of Islamic moderation, shattered US influence in the region and placed it at a hazardous crossroads, while his tepid military plans for Bashar Assad have resulted in the sounding NATO’s death knell.
The half-hearted military operation against Syria, due to be launched in the coming days, and its muddled objectives, may finally close the book on the current chapter of US history in the Middle East – even if it successful.
The world will be left rubbing its eyes in amazement at the achievement of one individual, president Barack Obama of the USA, in smashing American influence in this sensitive region and Europe in the space of a few short years.
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s political future is in grave doubt after the House of Commons withheld endorsement from the government’s policy of participation in a US-led strike on Syria. Parliament voted 285 in favor to 272 against, with 30 members of his own Conservative party and 9 of his coalition partner, the Liberals, crossing the line and voting with the Labor opposition against the government.
Cameron may be just the first victim among Western and Middle East leaders who opted to toe Obama’s wavering line and continually shift around their national interests.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is fond of saying his policies are “responsible and balanced.” This mostly translates into inaction or procrastination on such vital issues as Iran’s nuclear aspirations and Hizballah’s massive buildup of rockets.
But now, Khamenei, Assad and Nasrallah will be buoyed up by America’s loss of allied support and more likely than not make good on their threats, heard repeatedly in the past week, to destroy Israel once and for all. It won’t be enough to keep on intoning solemnly that Israel is not involved in the Syrian conflict – which no one believes anyway. Netanyahu will have to start looking squarely at the perils just around the corner and move proactively.
( Why won't the US either wait for Congress to reconvene and have a vote on the Syria War or recall them back to a special session ? Are we less of a democracy than the UK and France - which have both allowed for actual Parliamentary action before any decision on War against Syria ? )
More than 150 Congress Members Demand Vote on Syria
Washington’s Blog
August 30, 2013
August 30, 2013
Is Obama the President … or the “Concluder”?
Politico notes:
Already Thursday, more than 150 members of Congress have signaled their opposition to airstrikes on Syria without a congressional vote. House members circulated two separate letters circulated that were sent to the White House demanding a congressional role before military action takes place. One, authored by Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.), has more than 150 signatures from Democrats and Republicans. Another, started by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), is signed by 53 Democrats, though many of them also signed Rigell’s letter.
Quite a few Congress members have pointed out that launching a war without Congressional approval is unconstitutional.
Britain – which didn’t pass the Constitution – let its Parliament decide.
Congressman Amash said today:
After the vote, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) tweeted that such a motion “would fail in Congress, too.” He later tweeted: “UK Parliament votes on going to war. Congress votes on critical things, too, like renaming post offices.”
The American people are as opposed to a strike on Syria as the Brits.
But in the same way that Bush called himself the “Decider”, Obama is now acting like the “Concluder” regarding war with Syria.
Indeed, Obama – like Bush – has proven that he’s not very interested in following the Constitution.
and....
http://rt.com/news/syria-crisis-live-updates-047/
( updates for today..... )
Friday, August 30
11:38 GMT: The Obama administration is to release declassified intelligence on chemical weapons in Syria today, a top official told CBS News.
10:20 GMT: The German government has ruled out participation in any military action. It will not consider any "military participation and still aren't doing so," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.
09:58 GMT: Russia has said it will make all efforts to stave off any “military scenario” against Syria.
Moscow “does not understand” why UN team should leave Syria after investigating only one site of an alleged chemical attack, statement issued by the Kremlin reads.
Moscow “does not understand” why UN team should leave Syria after investigating only one site of an alleged chemical attack, statement issued by the Kremlin reads.
09:41 GMT: United Nations inspectors have headed to a hospital in central Damascus to meet local doctors, Reuters reports, citing a witness who added that team members “were not carrying body armor, indicating they would not cross into rebel-held territory.”
09:20 GMT: France says despite a British parliamentary vote against military action in Syria, it may take measures against the ruling regime for an apparent chemical weapons attack even without the UK’s involvement.
Speaking to French daily Le Monde, President Hollande did not rule out that military intervention in Syria may take place by Wednesday, when the parliament is to meet in an extraordinary session to discuss the issue.
08:42 GMT: Al Arabiya reports opposition claims that the Syrian government has relocated its political offices to schools and universities, to be safer in case a strike by the West takes place.
08:38 GMT: The Syrian army could possess the S-300 surface-to-air missiles in its arsenal – according to Al Arabiya.
08:30 GMT: There’s no public support for the Western military intervention in Syria as the surveys performed in the US and its allied states reveal that people object their country’s troops fighting in yet another the Middle Eastern war.
The poll performed by Huffington Post and YouGov showed that only 25 percent of the Americans believe that military response is required after the last week’s alleged chemical attack on civilians by the Syrian government of Bashar Assad.
Just 9 percent of Britons want to see their military taking part in the Syrian conflict, which has been underway since March 2011, with surveys in France and Germany also indicating public opposition towards Western intervention.
The poll performed by Huffington Post and YouGov showed that only 25 percent of the Americans believe that military response is required after the last week’s alleged chemical attack on civilians by the Syrian government of Bashar Assad.
Just 9 percent of Britons want to see their military taking part in the Syrian conflict, which has been underway since March 2011, with surveys in France and Germany also indicating public opposition towards Western intervention.
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