The attacks on the Syrian government are a usual thing here in America. Saying that Bashar Al-Assad is a crazy dictator that is killing and gassing his peoples.
Syria does have a unitary republic with the Al-Assad family having most of the political power. It is indeed an authoritarian regime, having a past of quite evil responses to protests. There is no concrete evidence, however, that the Syrian government ever used CW on civilians.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/22/syria-protests-forces-shoot
Chemical Attack 21 August, 2013
The first chemical attack that was indeed sarin gas that was used in Ghouta, America blamed this on the Syrian government. The Syrian government claims that the opposing rebels had used the sarin.
https://whowhatwhy.org/2014/12/01/really-used-chemical-weapons-syria/
This article is an amazing overview of both sides, though also showing distinctly the fact that US evidence was debunked many times.
The US claimed 1,429 deaths, all other sources were around 300–400 deaths roughly. It is also fishy that the rebel group followed US claims but when pushed by Associate Press for names of victims could only produce 395.
"Second, serious questions arose about the White House claim that the Sarin rockets were fired from the heart of Assad-controlled Damascus. The New York Times and Human Rights Watch analyses assumed that the rockets were fired from over nine kilometers away."
"They analyzed the data presented by the UN inspectors concerning the Sarin-laden rockets. They concluded that the rockets would have a maximum range of two kilometers. When asked about this issue at a press conference, Sellstrom concurred that the two kilometer range would be a “fair guess.” He later indicated the rockets could have been fired as close as one kilometer."
So, we have many groups creating false claims to prove the US claims of Syrian government involvement that was extremely easy to debunk. The report goes on…
"these “improvised artillery rockets” could have been constructed by the army or the rebels. “The indigenous chemical munition could be manufactured by anyone who has access to a machine shop with modest capabilities, that is, the claim is incorrect that only the Syrian government could manufacture the munition.” The New York Times wrote about the report and noted the much shorter range but never retracted its erroneous reports that the rockets must have been fired from the Mount Qasioun military complex."
This shows that the US was wrong when they said only the Syrian government had the capabilities of such an attack. Suggesting even more so that the Rebels are likely to have made the attack.
So, the US media was either lying to its citizens to push a narrative, or they were wrong but kept their bad info published. This is also another example of the fake news media keeping their terrible information out there to misinform people.
The Syrian version is mostly on point but has some discrepancies in it as well. Information given is very back and forth but the Syrians seem to be correct more than any one else.
"I spent some time in Damascus interviewing government officials and experts about the chemical-weapons issue. The Syrians presented a version of events sharply at odds with the U.S. government narrative."
"On March 19, 2013, rebels used Sarin against a pro-government neighborhood in the village of Khan Al Asal near Aleppo, according to Dr. Bassam Barakat, a medical doctor and pro-government political consultant. He told me that blood samples and other physical evidence were sent to Russia for analysis. Officials there wrote a 100-page report indicating rebel use of Sarin and delivered it to the United Nations, but neither party ever made it public. According to Barakat, the Russians confirmed that the Sarin had originally come from the chemical stockpiles of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who had been supplied by the old Soviet Union. Extremists in Libya shipped the Sarin chemical precursors to Turkey, where they were then smuggled across the border into Syria, according to Barakat. Assad officials were so confident that they could prove the rebels had used the poison chemicals, they allowed UN inspectors into Syria to investigate, but only after months of delay."
"The final UN chemical-weapons report confirmed a number of points in the Syrian government version. Rebels were shelling Khan Al Asal prior to the chemical attack. At about 7:00 a.m., a munition hit the area some 300 meters from a government checkpoint."
With this attack, it is just a question of if the Rebels are willing to kill civilians and their own people as well as the enemy. This is both political to blame it on Assad as well as military.
I am very certain that this group is more than willing to do such a thing, they are terrorists just like ISIS and we were funding them.
11 October 2013: Rebel forces in Syria killed as many as 190 civilians and seized more than 200 hostages during a military offensive in August, Human Rights Watch says.
17 April 2017: At least 68 children were among 126 people killed in Saturday’s bomb attack on buses carrying evacuees from besieged Syrian towns, activists say.
There are many more attacks like this carried out by the Rebels, using CW isn’t much of a step above these things.
Chemical Attack April 4th, 2017
This attack is still without an in depth investigation but there is still a lot of accusations toward the Syrian government. Assad, of course, has denied these accusations and seems to be right to do so.
There is no evidence at all of them having had any part in this attack, this doesn’t stop the US from throwing bombs their way.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-26/seymour-hersh-us-lied-about-syrian-chemical-attack-then-bombed-them-anyway
Hersh reports:
“The available intelligence made clear that the Syrians had targeted a jihadist meeting site on April 4 using a Russian-supplied guided bomb equipped with conventional explosives. Details of the attack, including information on its so-called high-value targets, had been provided by the Russians days in advance to American and allied military officials in Doha, whose mission is to coordinate all U.S., allied, Syrian and Russian Air Force operations in the region.”
“None of this makes any sense,” one officer reportedly told colleagues upon learning of the decision to bomb Syria, according to Hersh. “We KNOW that there was no chemical attack … the Russians are furious. Claiming we have the real intel and know the truth … I guess it didn’t matter whether we elected Clinton or Trump.”
This is talking about the airstrike the US blames for the chemical attack but they already had the intel showing it was not a chemical attack.
There is also the folly of Trump’s decision to bomb the airfield the airstrike came from. He did not do much damage and it did seem like a power play that did not amount to anything other than a slap on the wrist, but it was very Hawkish.
Hersh continues:
“A team from Médecins Sans Frontières, treating victims from Khan Sheikhoun at a clinic 60 miles to the north, reported that ‘eight patients showed symptoms — including constricted pupils, muscle spasms and involuntary defecation — which are consistent with exposure to a neurotoxic agent such as sarin gas or similar compounds.’ MSF also visited other hospitals that had received victims and found that patients there ‘smelled of bleach, suggesting that they had been exposed to chlorine.’ In other words, evidence suggested that there was more than one chemical responsible for the symptoms observed, which would not have been the case if the Syrian Air Force — as opposition activists insisted — had dropped a sarin bomb, which has no percussive or ignition power to trigger secondary explosions. The range of symptoms is, however, consistent with the release of a mixture of chemicals, including chlorine and the organophosphates used in many fertilizers, which can cause neurotoxic effects similar to those of sarin.”
This photo shows what the US says is the chemical bomb that was dropped by said airstrike.
Clearly though, as said in the report below, the pipe is caved in and looks pushed down. This would not happen with an air dropped bomb, another US incorrect explanation.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Vs2rjE9TdwR2F3NFFVWDExMnc/view
The data cited by the White House is more consistent with the possibility that the munition was placed on the ground rather than dropped from a plane. This conclusion assumes that the crater was not tampered with prior to the photographs. However, by referring to the munition in this crater, the White House is indicating that this is the erroneous source of the data it used to conclude that the munition came from a Syrian aircraft.
Analysis of the debris as shown in the photographs cited by the White House clearly indicates that the munition was almost certainly placed on the ground with an external detonating explosive on top of it that crushed the container so as to disperse the alleged load of sarin.
This analysis from Professor Emeritus of MIT seems pretty easy to make when you look at it closely, so either the US is incompetent or pushing a false narrative.
Ron Paul was saying the attack was a false flag attack to put blame on Assad and push the narrative against Assad and Russia. Stating that Assad had no reason what so ever to be using CW when he is on the eve of peace talks, winning the war, and pushing all fronts.
Ron Paul: So Assad, they claim, now went and released gas to kill a bunch of people. But, Daniel we might not have much of a job here today cuz I looked at the New York Times to find out, to get the explaination. It said Worst Chemical Attack in Years in Syria, US Blaims Assad. So, it’s all over and done with, but not quite so easy is it? What happened four years ago in 2013, you know this whole thing about crossing the red line. Ever since then the neo cons have been yelling and screaming, even part of the administration is still yelling and screaming about Assad using poison gasses on his people four years ago. Not quite true.
Daniel McAdams: Yeah, it was never proven, in fact and the UN official Carla Del Ponte said that attack was most likely done by the Rebels based on the evidence. But here you have Nikki Haley who is ambassador to the UN, almost as we speak literally at the UN security council saying “we know Assad has used chemical weapons before”. That’s not true, it has never been proven that he has, he may have, we do know that the rebels have used them, that has been proven.
Ron Paul: And who would benefit? It makes no sense even if you were totally separate from this and take no sides in this and you were just an analyst. It doesn’t make any sense for Assad in these conditions to all of a sudden use poison gasses. I think it is zero chance that he would have done this deliberately.
Daniel McAdams: The fact is as you point out, we are on the eve of peace talks, literally on the eve of peace talks. Assad has the upper hand in these talks, hes almost essentially with his Russian and Iranian allies wiped Al Qaeda and ISIS out of the country. So on the verge of this great victory that they have suffered for all these years, he decides I think I’m going to go out and kill some people with gas, you know. If he just wanted to kill people, there are a heck of a lot better ways of doing it than using gas. Which just guarantees that the entire world community, including your allies are going to turn against you. As you say he would have to be the most insane leader, probably in the history of the world.
More proof that the chemical used was not sarin is in the videos that were shown all over. The medical responders were without even gloves to protect themselves from the chemicals (sarin can go through the skin)
VIDEO VERY GRAPHIC
It is more than reasonable to conclude that Assad had nothing to do with these chemical attacks. The US data and analyses are wrong so many times it is confusing how anybody can believe them.
It seems very obvious to me that they have their own reasons to push the narrative against Assad just like the neo cons. When looked at closely it looks like a very deep plot against the Syrian government that has been going on for years.
The US has no reason to be involved in this war other than to fight terrorists and I applaud Trump for removing our CIA funding from the Syrian opposition fighters.