Did Syria Employ Chemical Weapons?

[Berzerker]

I've now read 2 articles claiming the gas attack didn't happen, that militants may have staged the attack, or a Syrian bombing run hit a gas weapon 'factory' where anti-Syrian forces were assembling bombs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ayed-donald-trump_us_58ea226fe4b058f0a02fca4d

https://www.rt.com/usa/384800-syria-gas-professor-addendum/

Now, I dont understand why Assad would risk the use of such weapons when they're not needed. But why did Trump act so quickly before the evidence could be analyzed? Did he need to for other reasons? For example, he can distance himself from Putin.

So he needed something to create that distance - like attacking Syria. But not in a way as to endanger Assad's control of the state or his relationship with Putin. He had to attack because he criticized Obama for not attacking after begging Obama not to attack back in 2013.

I still hear news people claiming Assad gassed people in 2013 but are these western fabrications to justify removing Assad? Whats going on here?

 

[Narz]

Who really knows. Americans like to attack first and make up the reasons why as we go along. As long as weapons manufacturers have a steady income. Story doesn't matter too much, just make something up about bad dudes, it gets easier each decade as the public grows dumber.

 

[Verbose]

Yes, well, especially if and when the Americans allow the Russians to make up the story for them. It has been noticed.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Its quite simple really. There are powerful interests which colide with the rule of international law and interests of the common folks in and outside of the US so confusion, false narrative and distractions are being created while covertly promoting hidden agenda by any means. Special interest groups has been trying to control Syria for many years if not decades. Needless to say it has nothing to do with democracy, rule of law, helping the needy etc.

 

[W|M]

Did Syria Employ Chemical Weapons?

Yes, you can google photos yourself /thread

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Yes, you can google photos yourself /thread

You can google photos of Syrian soldiers using chemical weapon ? Enough photos to make a slide show hat leaves no doubt who exactly used those weapons when and how ?

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Yes, you can google photos yourself /thread

Dont be silly/naive...

 

[Thorgalaeg]

If Assad used chemical weapons he is so dumb that should be bombed to the stone age for being so dumb.

 

[Kozmos]

Postol has a history of contrarianism against US/Israel and his prior work on Patriot missiles and 2013 attack analysis leaves a lot to be desired to say the least. Assad's grip on power is far from perfect and the decision to use chemical munitions might have been undertaken by a regional commander in need of eliminating a HVT in the area while lacking precision ordinance. Every once in a while you'll get hardliners in top positions and when the political control is weak and has given way to military enforcement, incidents like this can and do happen. Given the treatment of civilians and cistkas perpetrated by Syrian Army after a local victory the lack of restraint is not surprising either. The local hospital was also bombed on the same day which in my opinion lowers the probability of this being a random chemical storage that was just chanced upon by a bomb. According to Russian sources:

According to Konashenkov, on Tuesday “from 11.30 to 12.30, local time, [8.30 to 9.30 GMT] Syrian aircraft conducted an airstrike in the eastern outskirts of Khan Shaykhun on a large warehouse of ammunition of terrorists and the mass of military equipment”.


Konashenkov said that from this warehouse, chemical weapons’ ammunition was delivered to Iraq by militants.


Konashenkov added that there were workshops for manufacturing bombs, stuffed with poisonous substances, on the territory of this warehouse. He noted that these munitions with toxic substances were also used by militants in Syria’s Aleppo.

Let's ignore the small inconvenience of shuttling chemical weapons a decent length to Iraq across ISIS and government territory. The timing of certain government responses and their explanation more than point this was a hastily prepared cover story which given their specificity later really should not have looked like that at all. Let's also ignore that. Binary sarin struck by a bomb would have a very limited effect as shown by Iraqi militants attempt in 2004 when they got their hands on it and it resulted in mild casualties. Unary sarin if they had the skills or means to produce it would not produce the smell reported. Crude chlorine like gas argument seems weak in face of the scale and symptoms exhibited. Russian MOD frequently manipulated images and timestamps and have been caught doing so. Claiming a complicated conspiracy on the ground to wait for a Syrian artillery strike and/or airstrike to release the gas as a false flag on a perfect day between windy days seems incredibly laughable to me.

Given the relatively ineffective Tomahawk response on the airbase and the apparent standstill since then that indicates noone is really interested in continued military intervention, all I have to conclude is that Trump was swayed by his daughter into responding and his fragile ego. The military in coordination with the foreign policy blob was given a short time-table and thus performed a 'show of force' for everyone's benefit. Everything else will continue as usual. Only if the US keeps up the airstrikes will be any claims for a grand design be slightly plausible. If the aim was actual effect, that runway would be perforated by special bombs and the mission would be ran by a B2 likely, kind of like one of the last missions ran under Obama I believe.

 

[Kyriakos]

It isn't very plausible that the winning side would use chemical weapons, and give a nice excuse to 'Merca to bomb them.
That said, who cares. Assad=evil, is all you need to know. If you doubt it then maybe you yourself are an agent of Goldstein. Enjoy your one-way trip to Gitmo, scum

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Isnt that "funny" how the West knows the culprit before any proper investigation? Isnt that "funny" that while rebels has used chemical weapons on numerous occasions we hear no condemnation of it from our great western leaders and the MSM rarely talks about it?

 

[Kozmos]

Amazing. Tom Dugan, the journalist who in a quick lookup on google and duck appears only in this video and other news referencing this video claims civilian concrete structures are 'strong'.

If if I was a conspiracy minded fellow I'd say this was him sans the beard and hair, given the other Dugan's that come up are BMX riders and a long dead actor: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0240838/mediaviewer/rm463772160

Isn't it also funny how Russia vetoed the investigation into the attack:

The UN vote came shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov on Syria and other issues dividing their countries. Russia wants an international investigation of the chemical attack, Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, but the resolution offered by the U.S. and its allies was aimed “more at legitimizing the arguments against Damascus.”

The abstention by China, which usually sides with Russia in the Security Council, was praised by Trump at a White House news conference. “I think it is wonderful they abstained,” he said.

Russia objected to a paragraph that would have required Syria to provide investigators with flight plans and information about air operations on the day the attack was launched, as well as the names of helicopter squadron commander and immediate access to airbases where it may have been launched.

Maybe, just maybe their MODs consistently mismatching hours and dates provided would come to official record as opposed to having to be pieced together from multiple sources that theirs is usually the odd one out.

 

[Kyriakos]

 

[Bamspeedy]

Amazing. Tom Dugan, the journalist who in a quick lookup on google and duck appears only in this video and other news referencing this video claims civilian concrete structures are 'strong'.

If if I was a conspiracy minded fellow I'd say this was him sans the beard and hair, given the other Dugan's that come up are BMX riders and a long dead actor: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0240838/mediaviewer/rm463772160

He is a reporter. Not well known, and the truthfulness or bias of his reporting may be questionable. I can't find anything on him other than from the 'Sunday Wire' where he has repeatedly been a guest, and that goes back to at least August.

SUNDAY WIRE: ‘Neoliberal Hunger Games’ with guests Dady Chery, Tom Duggan
Editor / October 24, 2016


This week’s edition of THE SUNDAY WIRE is on the road broadcasting LIVE from the Valley of the Sun. This week host Patrick Henningsen covers this week’s top stories in the US and internationally. In the first hour we’re joined by Haitian born educator, writer, and activist, Dady Chery, editor of News Junkie Post and author of ‘We Have Dared to Be Free‘, for an in-depth look at the Clinton Family Foundation’s dark role in the economic and social breakdown in Haiti, as well as how US, UK media lied about the recent Hurricane Matthew. In the second hour we’ll connect with independent journalist Tom Duggan to hear an emotional report from the front lines in Syria and the battle to retake East Aleppo. In the final segment of overdrive, we’ll hear the unlikely story of Malik Obama, the brother of President Obama to learn why he says he’s voting for Donald Trump in November.

 

[Yeekim]

It isn't very plausible that the winning side would use chemical weapons, and give a nice excuse to 'Merca to bomb them.
That said, who cares. Assad=evil, is all you need to know. If you doubt it then maybe you yourself are an agent of Goldstein. Enjoy your one-way trip to Gitmo, scum

Well, "interventionist" Obama didn't react when they last used them, despite "drawing lines" earlier.
They might have hoped "non-interventionist" and "pro-Russian" Trump wouldn't either.

 

[Kozmos]

He is a reporter. Not well known, and the truthfulness or bias of his reporting may be questionable. I can't find anything on him other than from the 'Sunday Wire' where he has repeatedly been a guest, and that goes back to at least August.

Ah they misspelled his name with a single d. So revised info: A youtube channel that leads back at least 4 months of reports only, no descriptions on the channel, no links to any other site and reporting for some ASP of which I can also find no other information. From watching several videos briefly this looks like a sloppy active measure by some agency.

 

[Lexicus]

I've now read 2 articles claiming the gas attack didn't happen, that militants may have staged the attack, or a Syrian bombing run hit a gas weapon 'factory' where anti-Syrian forces were assembling bombs.

First article makes no such claim.

 

[El_Machinae]

There's a balance as to whether it was a useful terror tactic for Assad or whether it would outrage the international community slightly more than the bazillions of times it happened before. I find that I just can't seem to run the calculus; to me, it seems to be more downside than upside for Assad. But I also don't know enough.

 

[red_elk]

Well, "interventionist" Obama didn't react when they last used "used" them, despite "drawing lines" earlier.

FTFY

 

[Olleus]

It's all well and good to challenge orthodoxy and to think critically, but that doesn't mean that orthodoxy is always wrong.

A common statement is "Why would Assad use gas and bring on international condemnation when he was winning? Surely he's not so stupid to invite an airstrike on himself." There are many, many things wrong with that line of reasoning, but to give a few

• He isn't cool headed and purely rational
• He thought he would get away with it and nobody would know
• He thought nobody would attack him if they found out
• He hates the rebells and wants to punish them as brutally as possible
• He doesn't want rebells to flee and survive in another country where they could be a problem later
• He was getting ahead of himself and considered the war already won. He was thinking about to punish/secure his rule after the war is over

I'm baffled by those who think our governments in the west are weak and manipulated all the time, but that dictatorships in other parts of the world have everything ran according to some brilliant master plan.