Here is the third paper by Professor Emeritus Theodore "Ted" Postol on the alleged Syrian Government chemical weapons attack. To reiterate–there was no Syrian Government chemical weapon attack.
Video Evidence of False Claims Made in the White House Intelligence Report of April 11, 2017
Theodore A. Postol
Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This is my third report assessing the White House intelligence Report of April 11, 2017. My first report was titled A Quick Turnaround Assessment of the White House Intelligence Report Issued on April 11, 2017 about the Nerve Agent Attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria and my second report was an Addendum to the first report.
This report provides unambiguous evidence that the White House Intelligence Report (WHR) of April 11, 2017 contains false and misleading claims that could not possibly have been accepted in any professional review by impartial intelligence experts. The WHR was produced by the National Security Council under the oversight of the National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster.
This image was extracted from a video of a worker during midday (note shadows) on April 5, 2017 next to the crater where sarin was allegedly released according to the White House Intelligence Report (WHR) issued of April 11, 2017. The WHR asserts that it reviewed commercial video evidence and concluded that sarin came from the crater next to a man. Other video frames show unprotected workers in the crater showing no evidence of sarin poisoning at the same time the dead birds are being packaged. The URLs to this and a related video are contained in this report.
The evidence presented herein is from two selected videos which are part of a larger cache of videos that are available on YouTube. These videos were uploaded to YouTube in the time period between April 5, 2017 and April 7, 2017. Analysis of the videos shows that all of the scenes taken at the site where the WHR claims was the location of a sarin release indicate significant tampering with the site. Since these videos were available roughly one week before the White House report was issued on April 11, this indicates that the office of the WHR made no attempt to utilize the professional intelligence community to obtain accurate data in support of the findings in the report.
The video evidence shows workers at the site roughly 30 hours after the alleged attack that were wearing clothing with the logo “Idlib Health Directorate.” These individuals were photographed putting dead birds from a birdcage into plastic bags. The implication of these actions was that the birds had died after being placed in the alleged sarin crater. However, the video also shows the same workers inside and around the same crater with no protection of any kind against sarin poisoning.
These individuals were wearing honeycomb face masks and medical exam gloves. They were otherwise dressed in normal streetwear and had no protective clothing of any kind.
The honeycomb face masks would provide absolutely no protection against either sarin vapors or sarin aerosols. The masks are only designed to filter small particles from the air. If there were sarin vapor, it would be inhaled without attenuation by these individuals. If the sarin were in an aerosol form, the aerosol would have condensed into the pours in the masks, and would have evaporated into a highly lethal gas as the individuals inhaled through the mask. It is difficult to believe that such health workers, if they were health workers, would be so ignorant of these basic facts.
In addition, other people dressed as health workers were standing around the crater without any protection at all.
As noted in my earlier reports, the assumption in WHR that the site of the alleged sarin release had not been tampered with was totally unjustified and no competent intelligence analyst would have agreed that this assumption was valid. The implication of this observation is clear – the WHR was not reviewed and released by any competent intelligence experts unless they were motivated by factors other than concerns about the accuracy of the report.
The WHR also makes claims about “communications intercepts” which supposedly provide high confidence that the Syrian government was the source of the attack. There is no reason to believe that the veracity of this claim is any different from the now verified false claim that there was unambiguous evidence of a sarin release at the cited crater.
The relevant quotes from the WHR are collected below for purposes of reference:
- The United States is confident that the Syrian regime conducted a chemical weapons attack, using the nerve agent sarin, against its own people in the town of Khan Shaykhun in southern Idlib Province on April 4, 2017.
- We have confidence in our assessment because we have signals intelligence and geospatial intelligence, laboratory analysis of physiological samples collected from multiple victims, as well as a significant body of credible open source reporting
- We cannot publicly release all available intelligence on this attack due to the need to protect sources and methods, but the following includes an unclassified summary of the U.S. Intelligence Community's analysis of this attack.
- By 12:15 PM [April4, 2017] local time, broadcasted local videos included images of dead children of varying ages.
- … at 1:10 PM [April4, 2017] local … follow-on videos showing the bombing of a nearby hospital …
- Commercial satellite imagery from April 6 showed impact craters around the hospital that are consistent with open source reports of a conventional attack on the hospital after the chemical attack.
- Moscow has since claimed that the release of chemicals was caused by a regime airstrike on a terrorist ammunition depot in the eastern suburbs of Khan Shaykhun.
- An open source video also shows where we believe the chemical munition landed [Emphasis Added]—not on a facility filled with weapons, but in the middle of a street in the northern section of Khan Shaykhun. Commercial satellite imagery of that site from April 6, [Emphasis Added] after the allegation, shows a crater in the road that corresponds to the open source video.
- observed munition remnants at the crater and staining around the impact point are consistent with a munition that functioned, but structures nearest to the impact crater did not sustain damage that would be expected from a conventional high-explosive payload. Instead, the damage is more consistent with a chemical munition.
- Russia's allegations fit with a pattern of deflecting blame from the regime and attempting to undermine the credibility of its opponents.
Summary and Conclusions
It is now clear from video evidence that the WHR report was fabricated without input from the professional intelligence community.
The press reported on April 4 that a nerve agent attack had occurred in Khan Shaykhun, Syria during the early morning hours locally on that day. On April 7, The United States carried out a cruise missile attack on Syria ordered by President Trump. It now appears that the president ordered this cruise missile attack without any valid intelligence to support it.
In order to cover up the lack of intelligence to supporting the president’s action, the National Security Council produced a fraudulent intelligence report on April 11 four days later. The individual responsible for this report was Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, the National Security Advisor. The McMaster report is completely undermined by a significant body of video evidence taken after the alleged sarin attack and before the US cruise missile attack that unambiguously shows the claims in the WHR could not possibly be true. This cannot be explained as a simple error.
The National Security Council Intelligence Report clearly refers to evidence that it claims was obtained from commercial and open sources shortly after the alleged nerve agent attack (on April 5 and April 6). If such a collection of commercial evidence was done, it would have surely found the videos contained herein.
This unambiguously indicates a dedicated attempt to manufacture a false claim that intelligence actually supported the president’s decision to attack Syria, and of far more importance, to accuse Russia of being either complicit or a participant in an alleged atrocity.
The attack on the Syrian government threatened to undermine the relationship between Russia and the United States. Cooperation between Russia and the United States is critical to the defeat of the Islamic State. In addition, the false accusation that Russia knowingly engaged in an atrocity raises the most serious questions about a willful attempt to do damage relations with Russia for domestic political purposes.
We repeat here a quote from the WHR:
An open source video also shows where we believe the chemical munition landed—not on a facility filled with weapons, but in the middle of a street in the northern section of Khan Shaykhun [Emphasis Added]. Commercial satellite imagery of that site from April 6, after the allegation, shows a crater in the road that corresponds to the open source video.
The data provided in these videos make it clear that the WHR made no good-faith attempt to collect data that could have supported its “confident assessment.” that the Syrian government executed a sarin attack as indicated by the location and characteristics of the crater.
This very disturbing event is not a unique situation. President George W. Bush argued that he was misinformed about unambiguous evidence that Iraq was hiding a substantial store of weapons of mass destruction. This false intelligence led to a US attack on Iraq that started a process that ultimately led to the political disintegration in the Middle East, which through a series of unpredicted events then led to the rise of the Islamic State.
On August 30, 2013, the White House produced a similarly false report about the nerve agent attack on August 21, 2013 in Damascus. This report also contained numerous intelligence claims that could not be true. An interview with President Obama published in The Atlantic in April 2016 indicates that Obama was initially told that there was solid intelligence that the Syrian government was responsible for the nerve agent attack of August 21, 2013 in Ghouta, Syria. Obama reported that he was later told that the intelligence was not solid by the then Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.
Equally serious questions are raised about the abuse of intelligence findings by the incident in 2013. Questions that have not been answered about that incident is how the White House produced a false intelligence report with false claims that could obviously be identified by experts outside the White House and without access to classified information. There also needs to be an explanation of why this 2013 false report was not corrected. Secretary of State John Kerry emphatically testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee repeating information in this so-called un-equivocating report.
On August 30, 2013 Secretary of State Kerry made the following statement from the Treaty Room in the State Department:
Our intelligence community has carefully reviewed and re-reviewed information regarding this attack [Emphasis added], and I will tell you it has done so more than mindful of the Iraq experience. We will not repeat that moment. Accordingly, we have taken unprecedented steps to declassify and make facts available to people who can judge for themselves.
It is now obvious that this incident produced by the WHR, while just as serious in terms of the dangers it created for US security, was a clumsy and outright fabrication of a report that was certainly not supported by the intelligence community.
In this case, the president, supported by his staff, made a decision to launch 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. This action was accompanied by serious risks of creating a confrontation with Russia, and also undermining cooperative efforts to win the war against the Islamic State.
I therefore conclude that there needs to be a comprehensive investigation of these events that have either misled people in the White House White House, or worse yet, been perpetrated by people to protect themselves from domestic political criticisms for uninformed and ill-considered actions.
Sincerely yours, Theodore A. Postol
Professor Emeritus of Science,
Technology, and National Security Policy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Email: postol@mit.edu
Video Evidence That Reveals the White House Intelligence Report
Issued on April 11, 2017 Contains Demonstrably False Claims about a Sarin Dispersal Crater Allegedly Created
in the April 4, 2017 Attack in Khan Sheikoun, Syria
VIDEO #1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeosawyrgyo
Dead Birds Video
VIDEO #2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyFAl2gjZJQ
Idlib Health Directorate Tampering with Alleged Sarin Dispersal Site Video
This third paper by Theodore Postol referenced in the posting above can be downloaded in the pdf file format from the following url address, although it contains seven pages and Prof. Postol’s paper says it has eight pages–
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Video-Evidence-of-False-Claims-Made-in-the-White-House-Intelligence-Report-of-April-11-2017_April142017_.pdf
Sometimes page creation software will make an extra blank page when the page-breaking algorithm in the software says a new page should be made from the calculations about the existing bits and bytes. At this time I do not know if there is an eighth page that was left out of the file uploaded to the above Internet address.
Right on time we have a curveball-II type.
Brigadier-General Zaher al-Sakat.
The Telegraph writes that the BG claims
“Brigadier-General Zaher al-Sakat – who served as head of chemical warfare in the powerful 5th Division of the military until he defected in 2013 – told The Telegraph that Assad’s regime failed to declare large amounts [hundreds of tons in Article Title] of sarin precursor chemicals and other toxic materials.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/14/bashar-al-assad-still-has-hundreds-tonnes-chemical-weapons-former/
Said to have defected April 2013. Extracts from an interview of unknown provenance on
https://www.memri.org/reports/defecting-syrian-officer-brigadier-general-zaher-al-saket-i-was-ordered-use-chemical-weapons
“In the Amoud Horan battle in Busra Al-Harir, I was given an order to launch toxic agents into the trenches and caves to which the F.S.A. was heading. But, Allah be praised, I replaced this substance with liquid bleach, which I diluted with water and launched into the trenches.[…]
“I buried these substances with my own hands, so my commander would not find out and send me to prison.”
The Telegraph states that BG was weapons research chief.
Gird your loins.
Thank you for all the work in putting these facts in a logical order so that people like me can understand what is really going on. I keep talling others I know to read these reports. It’s discouraging to me that so few do.
Again, thank you.
BBC report, 14th April, headline-
“What does all this bombing tell us about Trump?”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39602782
“Mr Trump has had a good couple of weeks. He has shown a capacity to learn and adapt as a result. He has begun to understand what he doesn’t know and he has marginalised the more populist members of his team.”
Or more succinctly, “Welcome to the dark side, Mr President.”
“To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
The International Military Tribunal for Germany (1946-09-30), Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Trial of German Major War Criminals: The Nazi Regime in Germany
This blatant lie to legitimate an act of war of aggression shall result in a charge of high treason for each of the involved.
You quote memri.org as a credible source here? Are you insane?
Of course few do, PCD, why not? We’ve become a nation of dunces.
Watched the “bird” video. Impossible to discern where the birds died. They were dead in a cage. That the cage has been down the “crater” is not proven or clear at all from the vid.
The “crater” seems to me to be a diversion. It is unlikely the place where some chemical weapon was released.
Note – a significant part is missing in the “crater”. It was there on the April 4 early on and removed later that day. See the pics in this tweet issued on April 4.
https://twitter.com/Syricide/status/849302933439221760
It is one of the earliest pictures I saw that was posted on the Internets. There are no surgical gloves laying around. The picture must have been made earlier than the ones in Postol’s analysis. There is a round metal piece in the hole which I consider to be a backplate of an ammunition piece, probably of the mangled “pipe” or of an artillery grenade. That piece was removed in pictures posted later that day and beyond.
Can anyone here with some artillery background please tell us what that round metal plate could be? Ammo / projectile type?
b,
I’ve seen photos of that round piece in the pothole somewhere earlier. It was suggested it was the tail piece of a binary chemical artillery shell. A diagram showed how this tail piece screwed off the base of the shell. If this is what it actually is, it doesn’t help the narrative of an arial bomb. Could it be a self-inflicted 122 mm gas shell timed to coincide with a SAAF strike on the munitions warehouse? Since the jihadis may have gotten advanced notice of the warehouse strike from the “coalition” side, I can see that as a possibility. Another point is that the rocket pods on Syrian aircraft fire rockets that are smaller than 122 mm, closer to 80 mm I believe.
Well now that there is video maybe the MSM will get interested in the evidence. Not holding my breath.
it would be great if you could find that comparison again. (I know its difficult – took me a while to dig that linked tweet up again).
I have looked for pictures of the backside of arty shells but find no reasonably good ones.
I believe he/she described that reference as “an interview of unknown provenance”. I did not see anything that described it as a credible source. In fact, the subject’s effusive description of his altruistic acts coupled with the sketchiness of the source is very likely the point.
“Can anyone here with some artillery background please tell us what that round metal plate could be? Ammo / projectile type?”
Photo of leaking Iraqi 122mm Grad CW(Sarin) Rocket
Note that these rockets also have a flat nosepiece.
http://c7.alamy.com/comp/HHEYWA/122mm-rocket-destruction-sealing-for-destruction-handling-of-leaking-HHEYWA.jpg
East Ghouta
After the horror of this afternoon, buses bringing refugees from Foua-Kafraya being blown by VBIED in al-Rasheen Aleppo whilst awaiting for clearance to go through (100+ dead thus far), there are whispers that Saudi-backed rebels in Ghouta have handed out gas masks to their fighters ( another false flag in the works?)
With apologies to Monty Python:
CIA: ‘Ello, I wish to register a complaint. I wish to complain about this psy-op what I purchased not a fortnight ago from your very outfit.
Al Nusra: Oh yes, the, uh, the ‘Sarin Bullshit’ …What’s, uh… What’s wrong with it?
CIA: I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it, my lad. It’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it!
Al Nusra: No, no, it’s uh,…it’s resting.
CIA: Look, matey, I know a dead psy-op when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now.
Al Nusra: No no it’s not dead, it’s, it’s restin’! Remarkable psy-op, the ‘Sarin Bullshit’, idn’it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
CIA: The plumage don’t enter into it. You own bird-brain videos prove it to be false!
Al Nusra: Well, it’s…it’s, ah…probably pining for media attention.
CIA: It’s not pinin’! It’s passed on! This psy-op is no more! It has ceased to be! It’s exposed as false! It’s ability to be convincing is now ‘istory! It’s been debunked!! THIS IS AN EX-PSY-OP!!
Right! Stop that. Silly. Very silly, indeed.
Maybe I missed it, but
There were supposed to be circa 60 still living victims of the whatever-it-was transported to Turkey.
Why have I not seen interviews with these circa 60 people.
My only solace is that I have covered English and American literature as my career. Dunces have been among us for a long time. For example, I think of Pope’s “Dunciad.” I think more recently of Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces.” There are more I could name.
Somehow humans have not yet exterminated themselves over all the centuries since humans have existed, despite the prevalence of so many dunces.
But maybe that just means we’re sort of like lice or cockroaches.
PT
Frankly the White House Report is propaganda to support Donald Trump’s 180 degree turn to embrace neo-liberal-con policies and negate the 2016 election. There is no supporting science or facts to support the assertions. At its core the White House is saying that Russia aided Syria’s gassing of Idlib Sunnis and regime change in Damascus is back on.
.
The question is why? My take is that the American Empire is collapsing from external and internal pressures. The rise of the New Silk Road and the alliance between Russia, China and Iran is an existential threat to the ruling hegemon. The West’s actual rulers are never mentioned in corporate media and the fiction of democracy continues. But, the Empire is run by the top 10% of credentialed professionals who serve a very few very wealthy families including the Kochs and Waltons in the USA. They all have their money making schemes and conflicting interests such as the Gulf Monarchies and those with ties to Israel like the Kushners who are determined to keep the Shiite Crescent cut. Thomas Frank’s “What to Make of the Age of Trump” description of the Democratic Party is the best blueprint of the actual structure of the ruling elite that I have seen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPYlE72OzZA
The EU and the United States are splintering apart due to inequality, corruption, massive debt, austerity imposed on the little people and resource shortages. The new war with Russia funds the military contractors, provides a scapegoat to blame for the internal problems and Eurasia still has resources to loot. Unless control of western governments is wrestled away from the New Elite who have learned nothing and forgotten nothing, the outcome is bleak for mankind.
Exactly, there are several other risible comments such as the BG knows exactly where the WMD is. But they key point is that the MSM now have another quotable source, titles and all. Past history in place.
Nor had I ever heard during an inquest (or otherwise heard of one) in which the witnesses to Serbs’ atrocities in Kosovo testified.
But EU knew, just knew, that thousands of Albanians had been murdered.
You must admit that Trump, by bombing Syria, diffused all that innuendo about his relationship with the government of the Russian Federation; obfuscated his failure and his party’s failure in repealing Obamacare, and made the Gulfies, Turks, Europeans, and Israelis alleviate at the thought of a more robust US position against Iran.
And he achieved all of that with 59 missiles.
Russians, Iranians, and Syrians, in turn, beat their metaphorical chests and proceeded as per usual.
That he likely ruined the possibility of doing anything constructive with Russian Federation really does not matter; to do so he would have had to go against entrenched interests in the United States who consider there being a margin in Russ-American Enmity.
All in all, the usual game played in Washington DC, and as usual, to the determent of the United States (in the opinion of the Beige Barbarian).
How can Trump wallow in the praise of Bush and Clinton supporters? He is doing the very things that he expressed acid contempt for in the campaign.
And why, oh why, are the people who voted for him letting him off the hook? All I hear is that he is being picked on and not given a chance. Literally.
What is going on?
Are you kidding, they wouldn’t even mention any of reports by professor Postol l, I haven’t seen his name mentioned on any of US MSMs, and I don’t think we would hear any if this , as long as the Borg is not authorizing it to become national news. IMO, If and when the Borg’s media reports other views against the currant Assad did it narrative, it would be to harm the administration as incompetents.
Yeah, this guy has been rolled out just in time. Others have asked why he sat on the info for so long.
Seymour Hersh says: Hillary approved sending Libya’s Sarin to Syrian Rebels [Patricia Ramirez]:
http://www.inquisitr.com/3059683/hillary-clinton-pulitzer-prize-winning-journalist-says-presidential-candidate-approved-sending-sarin-gas-to-syrian-rebels/#xz1U8y5w0Y57qfIC.99
“Document:Seymour Hersh Says Hillary Approved Sending Libya’s Sarin to Syrian Rebels”
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:Seymour_Hersh_Says_Hillary_Approved_Sending_Libya’s_Sarin_to_Syrian_Rebels
Sees more. Harsh!
Can’t answer the 1st question, but the 2nd, I think is they are in denial.
@b
Do you mean these:
https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/status/849700538086305794
Geez.. let’s see… when Obama started doing things he campaigned against, the great majority of his liberal supporters similarly let him off the hook. Some of the progressive blogs spoke out against Obama when he did that, but by and large his supporters continued to support him. Same thing with George Bush, Clinton, etc.
What is going on here? Do you really not understand what is going on? Surely after so many years of voting for presidents that have disappointed you, you must have figured out what is going on by now. It’s not complicated.
Brilliant adaptation 🙂 Thanks for the laugh!
4/13/17 US announces March dry-run tests of dropping new [unarmed] nuke B61-12 gravity-bomb on Nevada desert:
https://nnsa.energy.gov/mediaroom/pressreleases/nnsa-air-force-complete-first-b61-12-life-extension-program-qualification
https://www.rt.com/usa/384786-nuclear-bomb-test-nevada/
Timing of announcement is weird. Why not keep it quiet?
Could be part of escalation of routine tests, but if I were N.K., I would consider it an in-your-face Sending A Message.
We Come In Peace. Ack ack ack ack.
MRW,
I think wisedupearly is highlighting this as “MEMRI tee-ing up the Curveball 2.0” type of warning.
Babak Makkinejad,
That innuendo is being held in reserve, ready to use again, if Trump needs a whack on the nose to remind him of his recent training.
Yes, he is alleged to have said he buried chemical weapons he was ordered to use ‘with his own hands’. And so of course he could lead western authorities straight to them. Badda-bing, badda-boom, Assad still has chemical weapons, here’s your proof.
They really want Assad’s scalp bad, and are prepared to construct any narrative – no matter how baldly self-interested or convenient – to get him. But the west is used to getting its own way and has so far not been getting it much in this conflict. That must be troubling. It’s certainly caused the west to abandon subtlety.
It will serve the immediate purpose to cause further obfuscation of the real events happening in Syria and to further drive the message the US must invade to protect the people. There will be a lot more false flags just watch and wait.
It is very similar to the testimony of the defected drug testing director from Russia which later turned out to be completely false and the scandalous test results were also negated, but the damage was done for the Russians in the Olympics. We will eventually see this guy’s testimony will be bought and paid for but it willl be way after the fact.
The US itself along with Russia verified the turn in of the chemical weapons and precursor chemicals so now they are claiming it was faked? Next they will claim the destruction never happened yet it was under US supervision and of course, it will once again be a Russian plot. Boris and Natascha perhaps? That is how comical this all appears. In a way these PSYOPS games are sophomoric and very unprofessional. I am embarrassed at the poor effort put into this. The White Hats must figure even crap like this will bear weight if pushed hard by the MSM and Trump administration.
Its Easter Sunday. Christ has arisen. Amid darkness, a light at Easter.
First Lady Melania Trump awarded the 2017 International Women of Courage Award to Sister Carolin Tahhan Fachakh of Syria during a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.
Sister Carolin had some decidedly awkward opinions of her own which she didn’t hesitate to express:
“Sister Carolin Tahhan Fachakh of the Salesian Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, who runs a nursery school in Damascus, Syria, told reporters Tuesday that she “likes” the Syrian strongman, and that he’s been very helpful and protective of Christians in the country…
Tahhan also said she believes there’s no truth to the reports that it was al-Assad who used Sarin gas to target a civilian population last week, an allegation which prompted the Trump administration to bomb a military base in Syria…
Tahhan described Trump’s decision to bomb the Shayrat Air Base, the alleged source of the chemical attack, as “a step back from peace.”
“Every time we say there is hope for peace, let’s move forward, something happens to set us back. The situation is ugly now…
Tahhan also said that she doubts al-Assad launched the chemical weapon attack in April because he knew the eyes of the world were on him and Syria, and that the threat of the U.S. or another country bombing as a response was real.
The sister regretted the fact that Syrian children are being raised in a “culture of war,” capable of distinguishing from their sound the difference between a cannon shot or a missile….
Therefore, together with other Franciscan sisters who run the school, they try to offer them a climate of peace and serenity, “where every child who is in need can play in the big courtyard and study.”
Asked about the international perception of al-Assad being a “monster” or a dictator, she responded: “I like our president. He’s very close to us, as is the first lady. They’re very close to the Church. Speak easily, call him a dictator, but to me, he’s not. We’re at ease.”…
Tahhan is not only defiantly against the portrait of al-Assad given in the West. She also challenges the perception that Muslims and Christians cannot coexist peacefully in Syria, saying that to this day, six years into the war, most still get along.
The problem, she said, is terrorism, not Islam.
Beyond the school for children, the Salesians in Baghdad also run a school to train women in sewing and tailoring. In the past 7 years, more than 500 woman have attended class.
“The majority are Muslims. If I said we would only choose Christians, then I would become a fanatic myself,” Tahhan said.
“When a missile falls or there’s an explosion,” she continued, “many Muslims knock on our door and ask, ‘Sister, are you OK? Do you need anything?’”
https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/04/12/syrian-nun-honored-us-says-assad-not-dictator/
Its good to know the spirit of Jesus is still alive in the East, however hard we work to eradicate it.
Well, what can the voters actually do until the next election? Have you ever tried to contact your Congressman or Senator. I have tried multiple times and I get a form letter in reply with verbiage having nothing to do with my communications. That has happened many times. They are deaf to the voters until it gets close to another election. Now I am an expatriate American and have no representation whatsoever in Congress and no ability to get any support other than weak support from our Embassy which is openly hostile to American citizens.
I recall back when I was trying hard to retire from active duty in 1997 (a period of relative peace) and was refused without reason 3 times. My Branch refused to say why I couldn’t retire yet I had 26 years of service. The IG refused to intercede citing needs of the Army and my Congressman also refused (I made an appointment and physically went to his office) stating he never interferes with the military on personnel matters and blew me off completely. I was flabbergasted. I waited another 2 years and it was approved. I had been offered a very lucrative civilian job at a nearby University which I had to turn down. But, after I retired I rolled right over to a GS-15 (after a brief 2 year period as a contractor) and stayed at my same job throughout being a prolific scientists with multiple funded projects. I only took the GS slot as the Principal Investigator rules changed and contractors could no longer be PI’s on their own funded projects. Only direct government employees could do that so I forced a Term GS-15 slot to open up. I was paying my own salary anyway through grants so a real no brainer as 45% of what I brought in went to command overhead. I was begged to stay as I once again had a great job offer. Staying was a poor decision and I regret it but we only live life once. So, my point is that Congress doesn’t answer nor care what citizens do or think.
Thanks TTG, Beaver, Mikey
though none of those seems to fit the “round plate in a hole”.
I am also not content with the theory of a chemical shell. The crater is too big for a soft-shell chem projectile to land. Postol’s theory is that someone blew up a chem projectile by an extra piece of explosives on the ground. The crater is, in my eyes, too big for that too.
This really needs a specialist with some experience in these issues. Surely the CIA or DIA would have such people available. But those were likely not asked.
The White House report is a sham – that’s for sure. It doesn’t fit to any plausible story of what really happened. None of the relevant agencies signed off on it.
The media will not pick up on it. They are too happy that Trump has now “moderated” (they actually used that word) from a more isolationist position towards their desired “kill more non-white people anywhere” position.
Two items, although mostly off topic.
First, president Trump on 6 April renewed a declaration of a “national emergency” as to Somalia, which was first declared by president Obama on 12 April 2010. A national emergency … Somalia?–
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/06/message-congress-regarding-continuation-national-emergency-respect
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1621
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1622
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/chapter-34
This apparently has resulted in “trainers” being sent to that country.
Second, an active duty Navy Seal, a/k/a Jay Voom, has been exposed as having performed in pornographic movies with his porn actress wife, and apparently a couple of others–
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/sd-me-seal-porn-20170414-story.html
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/15/active-navy-seal-investigated-staring-porn-movies-pay-bills/amp/
At some point, this activity was claimed to have been done to make extra money to deal with financial problems. Part of the financial difficulty the couple developed came from a real estate venture that went sour. I apologize in advance for making an obvious joke, but the sitting president, as a real estate operator, may be able to assist them with a few pointers, because, alas, it is a little late for them to attend “Trump University”–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1N_B6Y4ZQ
My apologies, wisedupearly.
Simple, liars leading liars in denial, equals: Sheeple wall to wall.
Tillerson in Moscow with a U.S. Cyber spook by his side, caused anger on the Russian side. The Russians knew exactly who she was and her career in cyber warfare against Russia. Lavarov refused to look at Tillerson during their press conference, and Putin refused to be photographed with Tillerson because Tillerson’s entourage choice.
“Thomas Frank’s “What to Make of the Age of Trump” description of the Democratic Party is the best blueprint of the actual structure of the ruling elite that I have seen”
It is also a brilliant demolition of neo-liberal economic prescriptions. I wish all progressives could be as forthright and as perceptive. There’s a lot of common ground there, though no one yet to occupy it, between the economically literate progressives and the deplorables. Frank’s presentation was for me the clearest and best articulation I have yet seen of the reasons for the rejection of the status quo by Trump/Sanders supporters. In that respect Frank is from much the same stable as Steve Bannon, though I think both would be dismayed by the comparison.
Unfortunately Frank sets out no concrete solutions for the economic plight of the middle and working classes that he sets out so clearly. I don’t see him examining the mass importation of cheap labour, either. It’s head in the clouds thinking not to acknowledge that the use of cheap labour, whether exploited in situ by out-sourcing or exploited by direct importation, is one of the main reasons for that economic plight. Trump got that more or less right in his election campaign. Thomas Frank doesn’t.
Your own comment indicates that you consider Trump’s reneging on his campaign commitments on foreign policy will be mirrored by a similar abandonment of his domestic/economic policy. I hope you’re wrong. You say that the US and the EU are splintering apart and I agree that that is self evident. But “there is a great deal of ruin in a nation” and it may be that we still have some way to go. The hope was that Trump would use what time is left to change course. If you’re right, and Trump is not going to use his time in the last chance saloon to any effect then the Trump movement will not merely have lost its leader. It will have lost its raison d’etre.
Jackrabbit
Do you have a email I can contact you with?
Kooshy,
“as long as the Borg is not authorizing it to become national news.”
It seems to me also, that there must be somewhere a centralized ‘clearinghouse’ of permissible and not permissible news. It is amazing how the media are led like cattle be a nose ring. This brings up the question who is behind it, how it is organized that there is around the clock watch, globally, because the European media are linked in the system. I wonder why the RT and the Chinese media have not picked up this video.
b
These pictures remind me of one from Iraq-Iran war days of an Iraqi chem warfare worker filling an aerial bomb warhead with what was said to be VX. He was wearing a painter’s mask, rubber gloves and was using a kitchen funnel. One drop of VX on the skin will kill you in about 60 seconds. We had our doubts about that picture as well.
Unless things have changed a lot since my departure, both DIA and CIA had technical intelligence departments quite capable of understanding this situation but perhaps unable to offer more than a mute hostility in opposition. For that reason this administration, like the last, has chosen to write a white paper full of assertions but little evidence. I did not a post a comment a few days ago that seemed to e clearly a message from someone I know in the WH. This message pathetically expressed surprise and dismay that I oppose the Borgist vision of the world. This person also asserted that the people I am posting are “not experts.” Is Dr. Postol not an expert? pl
Interesting… I wonder if it was Tillerson’s choice to bring her or if she was sent as a minder by the Borg. Trump was stupid the way he attacked the IC when he got into office (not that it wasn’t somewhat deserved). Good chance there has been payback for that behind the scenes (that we will never know the details of).
Do you have a link?
You answered your own question. It does no good to have a new nuclear weapon unless it is known that you have it. Notwithstanding all of the “the nuclear option is on the table” statements, nuclear weapons are a deterrent, and they cannot deter if they are kept secret.
Bush, Obama & Trump Middle East Policy is one in the same: http://wsenmw.blogspot.com/2017/04/bush-obama-trump-middle-east-policy-is.html
edit: “Beautiful plumage!” ==> “Beautiful umbrage!”*
typo: “You own bird-brain …” => “Your own bird-brain …”
* UMBRAGE is the CIA program for false attribution of cyber attacks
My email is available on the About page of my blog: http://jackrabbitnyc.wordpress.com
I made the ‘Dead Psy-op’ into a post (accompanied by graphic and explanation)
https://jackrabbitnyc.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/dead-psy-op/
EO
I always took Donald Trump’s economic promises with a grain of salt. Main Street doesn’t have a chance against the Multi-National Corporations who control western governments. It will take a revolt for a people’s government to reseize control of the water, air, education and health care and to provide jobs for food and shelter for all needy citizens. With foreign policy, I thought maybe that Donald Trump could restart detente. A war with Russia is inherently extremely dangerous. It will vaporize Wall Street along with everyone else. The sarin gas false flag, the “shove it in the face” attack of the Syrian Airbase shared with Russia and the White House Report show that the Trump Administration has been captured by the “crazies in the basement”. Since I was one of those kids who did duck and cover drills in grade school before Hydrogen Bombs made civil defense futile, I awake every day amazed that I am still here.
Vietnam Vet: the Trump Administration has been captured
Captured? Or, provided with an excuse (by controlled oppo) to go where they wanted to go?
People are still not cynical enough. Trump as part of the “crazies” that opposed Obama (‘birthers’ were only one group of many). These ‘crazies’ and Republican hard-liners were used as an EXCUSE for Obama to do things that a “Change You Can Believe In” Lefty President should not have been willing to do.
I know it will sound like ‘conspiracy theory’ but the duopoly/”War Party/Borg are very comfortable running controlled oppo schemes (ISIS is an extreme example).
Thank you very, very much for this.
John F, Your posting helped me through what has been the unhappiest Easter I can remember living through. On reflection I didn’t think my short thank you was enough, so I tried to think of a gift; this failing I ended up at Zenpundit to see how the blog’s resident poet/ mystic/ philosopher, Charles Cameron, was celebrating Easter this year.
With Bach:
Et Resurrexit, from the Credo, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, performed by Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under the baton of Daniel Reuss. Posted to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJnxYGSB47g
And so in trying to find a gift for another I found one for myself. Happy Easter!
fyi ICYMI a number of media reports, and other pieces of material that people may find of value:
April 5 (Reuters) White smoke signaled gas attack on Syrian town
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-attack-idUSKBN17723G
محمد سلوم العبد – Mohammed Salloum Al Abd, who may either be related to, or the same person identified in the Reuters article as Hussam Salloum, uploaded two videos to his You Tube page concerning the April 4 attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
For additional information about محمد سلوم العبد – Mohammed Salloum Al Abd:
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Media.mhamadsalomalabd/
About page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Media.mhamadsalomalabd/about/?ref=page_internal
Twitter page: https://twitter.com/mohamadsalomala
Not being fluent in Arabic, I have relied on Google to translate the title from Arabic to English for the first video:
Khan Shaykhun 4 4 2017 The moment Khan Sikhun was targeted by poisonous bombs by the Syrian Air Force – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYOMEDK_uVs&feature=youtu.be
The video is marked with the emblem of Haq News Agency.
Using the You tube data viewer as posted by Amnesty International found at http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/custom-scripts/citizenevidence/ and inserting the link for the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYOMEDK_uVs&feature=youtu.be we are informed
Video ID: MYOMEDK_uVs
Upload Date (YYYY/MM/DD): 2017-04-04
Upload Time (UTC): 04:59:28
This is relevant, because according to the You tube channel of محمد سلوم العبد – Mohammed Salloum Al Abd the video was “published on Apr 3, 2017.”
In a comment beneath the video محمد سلوم العبد – – Mohammed Salloum Al Abd writes:
“To anyone who asks about the reason of the date of publication on YouTube I preached video on 4-4-2017 after committing the massacre in half an hour after the confirmation of the chemical attack and after loading the video on YouTube almost an hour or less changed the date of publication by the YouTube to 3-4 2017 and with that I kept the video on the channel and in the publication on the year …… After taking the order that the video is published on 3-4-2017 contact with me the International Investigation Organization and asked me about this subject I told them what happened in the control and provided them The raw video that you filmed with my personal video to analyze the sound and image and make sure of the date of photography after less than Hour usually contact with me and I told the video is true there is no fraud or play the rest of the publication and do not delete it and I will swear on my part I swear by God Almighty I swear by God Almighty that I have on the morning of 4-4-2017 filming the raid that targeted The city of Khan Sheikhan with this video.”
People can find the original comment at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYOMEDK_uVs&lc=z131vtjwxl3ke3qzf04cifiintv4ffc4mp00k
(I have used Google to provide a very rough translation of the comment from Arabic to English.)
As an aside, according to an analysis posted on Bellingcat on April 5, the alleged point (s) of impact for the weapon(s) used to disperse a toxic chemical substance like sarin, which various people, including Theodore Postol, have examined in depth, does not match up with any of the four pillars of smoke in that video.
The Khan Sheikhoun Chemical Attack, The Evidence So Far
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/04/05/khan-sheikhoun-chemical-attack-evidence-far/
The other video posted by محمد سلوم العبد – – Mohammed Salloum Al Abd that is relevant?
Khan Shikhun 4 4 2017 The spread of toxic gases at low altitude above residential neighborhoods (translated using Arabic to English Google translate feature). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvDisOxJi0&feature=youtu.be
Using the You tube data viewer as posted by Amnesty International found at http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/custom-scripts/citizenevidence/ and inserting the link for the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvDisOxJi0&feature=youtu.be we are informed
Video ID: DWvDisOxJi0
Upload Date (YYYY/MM/DD): 2017-04-05
Upload Time (UTC): 16:25:03 (convert to local time)
On April 5 Kareem Shaheen was able to visit Khan SHeikhun. Follows is his exclusive report for the Guardian:
April 6 (the Guardian) ‘The dead were wherever you looked’: inside Syrian town after gas attack
Exclusive: Kareem Shaheen reports from Khan Sheikhun, where he was the first reporter from western media to reach the site of this week’s devastating atrocity https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/06/the-dead-were-wherever-you-looked-inside-syrian-town-after-chemical-attack?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Two additional posts from Bellingcat:
April 10 – The Khan Sheikhoun Chemical Attack — Who Bombed What and When?
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/04/10/khan-sheikhoun-chemical-attack-bombed/
April 13 Part 1 – Anatomy of a Sarin Bomb Explosion (Part I)
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/articles/2017/04/13/anatomy-sarin-bomb-explosion-part/
On Thursday, April 13, the Turkish Minister of Defense paid a visit to the Pentagon. Before sitting down:
Remarks by Secretary Mattis and Minister Isik at the Pentagon
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1151479/remarks-by-secretary-mattis-and-minister-isik-at-the-pentagon/
During the course of his remarks, Secretary Mattis stated:
“And I commend Turkey for its fast response to ensure the victims of the Assad regime’s hateful chloric gas attack received treatment in Turkish hospitals.”
Why did Secretary Mattis not state ‘hateful sarin gas attack?’
Some observations:
1. With respect to the analysis by Professor Postol of the “intelligence report” published by the White House on April 11, as the saying goes “truth is the first casualty in war.”
Russia and the United States are at war in Syria. The Russian and US military are aiding local forces to defeat ISIS. Meanwhile, the CIA has been participating in a covert war to overthrow the Syrian Government led by Bashir al-Assad. In turn, the Russian military has been aiding forces aligned with the Syrian Government to defeat this effort.
(I write “has been,” because despite an Al Jazeera report from April 3, (already linked in an earlier comment) it is not clear whether the CIA has resumed funding for “vetted” opposition groups in Northern Syria.
Does it therefore come as any surprise that Professor Postol has been able to raise issues with the WH report, along with some of the open source material which he believes were used to support the narrative in the WH document?
However, that begs the question. What was the purpose of the “intelligence report” published on April 11? To tell the public what the intelligence community actually believed happened, or to tell a story that the media could use to further the narrative about the “Syrian regime” and to counteract the narrative being pushed by Russia and her allies?
2. In the current environment, what will be the impact of using Russia Today (whether the main outlet or RT America) as the media outlet to disseminate the Postol report and for Professor Postol to go on Russia Today (America) and give an interview?
April 12 (updated April 14) White House claims on Syria chemical attack ‘obviously false’ – MIT professor (VIDEO)
https://www.rt.com/usa/384520-postol-report-sarin-syria/
April 14 (updated April 15)- MIT professor exposes ‘egregious error’ & evidence tampering in US report on Syria sarin incident
https://www.rt.com/usa/384800-syria-gas-professor-addendum/
Can we state that anyone who appears on RT and does not push the accepted media narrative of the day is now being painted as either working for the Kremlin or as a “useful idiot?”
Furthermore, according to a video that Mike Cernovich uploaded on April 12, (The Real Story on Jared Kushner – https://youtu.be/pkovYL4xcDo) he says that a seven figure PR contract has been let to push “the Syrian narrative.” Is that correct?
In turn does it come as a surprise that our host recently received an email from someone whom he knows who is currently working at the White House who expressed “surprise and dismay” at the stance he is taking, while asserting that the people he is posting are “not experts?” http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/04/video-evidence-of-false-claims-made-in-the-white-house-intelligence-report-of-april-11-2017-by-ted-p.html#comment-6a00d8341c72e153ef01bb09912adf970d
3. The Syrian Foreign Minister has admitted that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces did carry out an attack on Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. However, the time line of when the Syrian Government (as supported by the Russian Ministry of Defense) claims the attack took place does not match with the evidence as presented by those who were attacked. The discrepancy is significant.
The OPCW is currently in the midst of a fact finding mission to ascertain whether the residents of Khan Sheikhoun were exposed to one or more chemical weapons on April 4. If the fact finding mission makes a positive determination, which is highly likely, the next step, under the UN – OPCW joint investigative mechanism, is to ascertain responsibility for their use.
So, what are people seeking to achieve? To push back against the narrative that Bashir al-Assad is such an evil monster that he must be removed from power by force?
As an aside is Tunisia the only case where a government in the MENA was removed from power by force and the country did not fall into complete turmoil? Why is that? If Bashir al-Assad is forced out of office against his will, can the Syrian Government survive and what happens if it collapses?
Is it true that General McMaster has been quietly pushing the idea that the Assad Government must be removed from office by force, even though the President has said that is not what he wants?
Trump Said No to Troops in Syria. His Aides Aren’t So Sure. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-13/trump-said-no-to-troops-in-syria-his-aides-aren-t-so-sure
To raise questions about what is taking place at the NSC under the leadership of General McMaster and what advise he is giving the President?
Mr. Trump said he wants to be President of the United States, not President of the world. However, according to reports, are people like General McMaster pushing proposals which will result in the President forsaking that promise to the detriment of the American people?
To help rouse Congress from its slumber and tell the President, we will not continue to fund the CIA’s share of the covert war in northern Syria due to the ties of the vetted opposition with designated terrorist groups? Furthermore, inform the President he can not authorize the military to launch another attack on the Syrian Arab Armed Forces or the Syrian Government in response to a claimed chemical weapons attack without first seeking congressional approval? Lastly, advise the President he needs an updated authorization to use military force against ISIS and present one for his signature?
BREAKTHROUGH
Yahoo featuring this report:
MIT expert claims latest chemical weapons attack in Syria was staged
International Business Times
Tareq Haddad
April 17, 2017
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mit-expert-claims-latest-chemical-100819428.html
A leading weapons academic has claimed that the Khan Sheikhoun nerve agent attack in Syria was staged, raising questions about who was responsible.
Theodore Postol, a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), issued a series of three reports in response to the White House’s finding that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad perpetrated the attack on 4 April.
He concluded that the US government’s report does not provide any “concrete” evidence that Assad was responsible, adding it was more likely that the attack was perpetrated by players on the ground.
Postol said: “I have reviewed the [White House’s] document carefully, and I believe it can be shown, without doubt, that the document does not provide any evidence whatsoever that the US government has concrete knowledge that the government of Syria was the source of the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria at roughly 6am to 7am on 4 April, 2017.
“In fact, a main piece of evidence that is cited in the document point to an attack that was executed by individuals on the ground, not from an aircraft, on the morning of 4 April.
“This conclusion is based on an assumption made by the White House when it cited the source of the sarin release and the photographs of that source. My own assessment is that the source was very likely tampered with or staged, so no serious conclusion could be made from the photographs cited by the White House.”
[CHART SHOWING number of civilians killed and responsible group]
END REPORT
Crikey I was so excited Postol’s research was getting into the mainstream I missed the second half of it (after the chart). Haven’t done that for years. Here’s the rest:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mit-expert-claims-latest-chemical-100819428.html
START
The image Postol refers to is that of a crater containing a shell inside, which is said to have contained the sarin gas.
His analysis of the shell suggests that it could not have been dropped from an airplane as the damage of the casing is inconsistent from an aerial explosion. Instead, Postol said it was more likely that an explosive charge was laid upon the shell containing sarin, before being detonated.
[PHOTO OF CRATER]
“The explosive acted on the pipe as a blunt crushing mallet,” Postol said. “It drove the pipe into the ground while at the same time creating the crater.
“Since the pipe was filled with sarin, which is an incompressible fluid, as the pipe was flattened, the sarin acted on the walls and ends of the pipe causing a crack along the length of the pipe and also the failure of the cap on the back end.”
The implication of Postol’s analysis is that it was carried out by anti-government insurgents as Khan Sheikhoun is in militant-controlled territory of Syria.
Postol, formerly a scientific advisor at the Department of Defense (DoD), has previously outlined similar inconsistencies with US intelligence reports. Following the 2013 chemical weapons attack in eastern Ghouta, Postol again said the evidence did not suggest Assad was responsible – a finding that was later corroborated by the United Nations.
In his latest reports, Postol hit out at what he says is a “politicisation” of intelligence findings.
Postol said: “No competent analyst would miss the fact that the alleged sarin canister was forcefully crushed from above, rather than exploded by a munition within it.
“All of these highly amateurish mistakes indicate that this White House report, like the earlier Obama White House Report [from Ghouta in 2013], was not properly vetted by the intelligence community as claimed.
“I have worked with the intelligence community in the past, and I have grave concerns about the politicisation of intelligence that seems to be occurring with more frequency in recent times – but I know that the intelligence community has highly capable analysts in it.
“And if those analysts were properly consulted about the claims in the White House document they would have not approved the document going forward.”
Read Postol’s reports in full:
[END REPORT]
I don’t see the link to the full reports on the Yahoo page; it’s probably in the IBT original rpt.
”a seven figure PR contract has been let to push “the Syrian narrative.” Is that correct?”
I think it’s more than seven figures.
In a Parliamentary report on the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund published on 7 February 2017, the UK National Security Adviser stated that £60 million had been allocated for the previous year’s operations in Syria.
One of the contractors paid from this fund is Incostrat, founded by former British Army Lt-Col Paul Tilley. Tilley’s Linked-In page gives his base as Istanbul, and lists his most recent achievements:-
January 2017 – current. Refining the work developed in InCostrat to provide a more tailored product to both the public and private sector. July 2013-December 2016- Founder and COO of InCoStrat. Developed and managed the company for over two years building to a peak of over 80 staff working in five countries providing strategic communications and local insight in hard to reach areas that are in conflict or emerging from it. • 2012-current. Developed and Project managed several multi-million dollar media and communications projects that are at the leading edge of UK and US foreign and security policy objectives in the Middle East
InCoStrat appears to be a shell company with an address in Washington DC. The actual work appears to be done by another company named Innovation and Insight FZE ( iN2- Comms), based in Istanbul. The activities of iN2-Comms are described in words identical to the description on InCoStrat’s website.
One point of interest in Tilley’s description above is that he started running these operations in 2012, while he was still working for the Ministry of Defence, before the operation was privatized in September 2013 and the contract given to his start-up company. The Guardian reported in May 2016, having seen a copy of the contract, that Contractors hired by the Foreign Office but overseen by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) produce videos, photos, military reports, radio broadcasts, print products and social media posts branded with the logos of fighting groups, and effectively run a press office for opposition fighters.
The Tilley/Incostrat operation is one of three Syria-related information operations that have been outsourced to ex-Army officers: the other two are Le Mesurier/White Helments and Bretton-Gordon/SecureBio, which David Habakkuk discusses in his recent post.
fyi The full reports are linked in the IBT UK report by Tareq Haddad, (whose twitter feed can be found at @Tareq_Haddad):
MIT expert claims latest chemical weapons attack in Syria was staged
Theodore Postol of MIT says there is no concrete evidence linking Assad to the attack.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mit-expert-claims-latest-chemical-weapons-attack-syria-was-staged-1617267
Another crack in the wall of lies.
Bloomberg April 18.
“But that doesn’t mean the rest of us should accept its (White House) story. A thorough investigation by an international agency without a political ax to grind should be the only trigger for retaliatory action. ”
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-18/don-t-rush-to-judgment-on-war-crimes
Top scientist backs up Postol:
Re the source: while NJ.com is not exactly mainstream, see Wikipedia’s article about the website to appreciate its influence in the newspaper world including the mainstream press.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NJ.com
From NJ.com, “Bad intelligence: Donald Trump attacked Syria based on a report full of holes;” Paul Mulshine, April 16, 2017:
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/04/donald_trump_is_taxing_my_patience_he_got_taken_in.html
[…]
And [Postol] is among the most respected scientists in the field, said another highly respected scientist, Frank von Hippel of the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton.
Postol is no kooky conspiracy theorist, said von Hippel.
“He’s very good technically,” he told me. “Whatever he says has to be taken seriously.”
After reading the report and emailing back and forth with Postol, von Hippel concluded that there was plenty of time for Trump to have a thorough investigation before launching a retaliatory strike.
“There have been calls for independent investigations by groups like the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,” he said. “It would be in the interests of the Syrians to let them have access.”
Instead Trump took a “shoot first, ask questions later” stance.
[…]
***
Plenty more observations in Mulshine’s column, including his quote of this zinger (originally published at Antiwar.com):
[…]
Just a few days before, the U.S. had indicated a possible alliance with Syria against ISIS. Why on Earth would Assad risk that to kill a handful of civilians with gas when he could just as easily have killed them with conventional bombs?
Here’s an excellent examination of that possibility by Uri Avnery, a former member of the Israeli Knesset:
“The operation was an immense success. Overnight, the despised Trump became a national hero. Even liberals kissed his feet.
“But throughout, that question continued to nag my mind. Why did Assad do it? What did he have to gain?
“The simple answer is: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2017/04/14/the-syria-chemical-attack-cui-bono/
It’s been a week since Dr Postol published his first assessment. The IBT report on the assessment went mainstream yesterday when it was picked up by Yahoo. Noam Chomsky has mentioned the assessment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO7wK9OO07w
Chomsky’s discussion of the assessment starts at the 5:22 mark
(H/T SST “ISL” commenter at another thread, who noted that Chomsky also mentioned Col Lang.)
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/04/this-evacuation-was-attacked-by-aq-terrorists-not-isis.html#comments
From all this I don’t see how the NYT, WaPo, CNN, etc. can continue to keep the lid on Postol’s assessment.
AGREE!
Some thoughts valid or not at Easter Time!
1. Clearly voters do not know which politicians can be trusted.
2. Clearly official Washington does not know who to trust or when to trust them.
3. No one commenting on anything important ever thinks who pays them or how they are paid are important in evaluating their opinions.
4. Is it significant that retired Army Flag Ranks as opposed to Navy or Air Force seem to have led in holding policy positions under this President?
5. Do actions reflect policy or are they policy with nothing behind the actions?
6. What can be made of Clinton family failures to understand why Hillary lost?
7. It is clear to me that Boomer Presidents misteps including those of Trump will haunt American lives for decades?
8. Will Trump be the last of the Boomer Presidents?
9. The CIA has won its efforts to survive organizationally since 9/11/01!
10. President Trump, like many in the National Security apparatus assume that NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS can be bought off the shelf and does not require lifetimes of effort.
11. Nuclear theory requires redesign if the world is to avoid self-destruction by nuclear powers.
12. Chemical warfare is back to stay permanently.
Thank you for taking the time to post this response.
For how the MSM, in particular the NYT,
is busy denying any alternative to their view on this, see
NYT Mocks Skepticism on Syria-Sarin Claims
by Robert Parry, 2017-04-18
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/18/nyt-mocks-skepticism-on-syria-sarin-claims/
For an earlier NYT “Fact Check”,
which offered arguments against the non-MSM narrative, see
Syria Conspiracy Theories Flourish, at Both Ends of the Spectrum
By LINDA QIU, 2017-04-11
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/us/politics/factcheck-syria-strike-conspiracy-theories.html
If SST readers can offer specific rebuttals to Linda Qui’s “Fact Check”,
I think that would be highly valuable.
on April 18 on the John Batchelor Show, Russia expert Stephen F. Cohen discussed Theodore Postol’s critique of the ‘intelligence’ report that the White House used to rationalize a missile strike against a Syrian air base on the night of April 6 Washington time.
Steve’s specific mention of Postol’s critique starts at the 15:14 minute mark on the podcast of the discussion, although the segue to the discussion starts at 13:00.
https://audioboom.com/posts/5832527-tales-of-the-new-cold-war-false-narratives-phony-trump-dossiers-demon-putin-stephen-f-cohen-nuyu-princeton-eastwestaccord-com
Steve Cohen weighing in on Postol’s assessment of both the chemical incident and the White House report on the incident is big news. The news will get even bigger later today when The Nation publishes James Cardin’s interview with Postol — an interview, Steve told John, that will also translate the technical parts of Postol’s critique into layman’s terms.