This afternoon I received a very nasty message from a member of this group. Just for the record, I don't support EITHER Assad or the stinking American-Israeli liars. As far as I'm concerned, a Plague on BOTH their houses!
----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Romi Elnagar <[email protected]> To: Cort Greene <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 8:14 PM Subject: Re: [LAAMN] Syria and sarin gas: US claims have a very familiar ring You have a lot of nerve to blame ME for "giving Assad cover." Why the hell do you say that? What did I EVER say on this list or anywhere else to give you that crummy idea? Don't write to me again if that is the sort of stupid accusation you think |about me! ________________________________ From: Cort Greene <[email protected]> To: Romi Elnagar <[email protected]>; laamn <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 6:11 PM Subject: Re: [LAAMN] Syria and sarin gas: US claims have a very familiar ring Romi just to let you know while you and the US give cover to Assad, Hagel said again today the US is not going to do anything to overthrow the regime. But Scud missiles, cluster bombs, bombs dropped from planes with insecticide and missiles have been used by the fascists and Assad also has a Air Force to use, so Romi what is the fucking difference!!! 1708 GMT: Chemical Weapon Attack. Some sources are reporting that the victims of today's attack have been moved to a hospital in Turkey. If this is the case, then blood and tissue samples may be taken. Two additional videos (video 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leNUr4GmVYk&feature=youtu.be, video 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4M6EXLdWWk&feature=youtu.be show the victims being treated by doctors. Video showing the effects of the gases in #Saraqeb#Idlib#Syriahttp://youtu.be/jC6levmnRoY?a We're trying to identify the canister found in the updates below. It does resemble other polymer sub-munitions used to disperse chemical weapons, but without a positive identification there is not enough information to conclusively prove the link between Assad submunitions and the claimed chemical attacks.... yet. Stay tuned. 1616 GMT: Chemical Weapons Attack. Eliot Higgins is very observant, and he has found evidence that may directly tie the evidence of today's claimed chemical weapons attack in Saraqib to the one in Sheikh Maghsoud, Aleppo. The canister that allegedly held the chemical weapon has been found at both claimed chemical weapons attacks. These canisters appear to have been dropped in a similar style as a cluster bombing. That means that there would be no large explosion, but gas could be distributed over a wide area. Chemical canisters falling from the sky? If this information holds up, this could be a major piece of evidence that indicates that the regime is behind both incidents. We're working to identify that canister right now. 1556 GMT: New Chemical Attack Reported in Idlib. Activists are reporting that there have been explosions in Saraqib, an opposition town in Idlib province, and some residents are experiencing effects from gases released from the bombs. Some in the opposition are clearly labeling this a chemical weapons attack. Here are some of the pictures and videos emerging: pic.twitter.com/HHIzVDCB1w One of the shells that landed in #Saraqib#Idlibtoday and led to cases of choking and difficulty breathing #Syriapic.twitter.com/c2Bs0apdpl The LCC has posted this video, reportedly showing the bombing but also the aftereffects. The video is disturbing. We're analyzing the footage now. 1528 GMT: Head of Hezbollah to Speak. Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah will make an unscheduled speech tomorrow: Nasrallah is just getting back from Iran, where he spoke with Supreme Leader Khamenei. The Daily Starreports: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah recently held talks in Tehran with Iran’s supreme leader, and is expected to tackle allegations about his party’s role in the Syrian conflict and Lebanon’s political crisis during a much anticipated speech on May 9. Sources close to Hezbollah told The Daily Star that Nasrallah held talks in recent weeks with Sayyed Ali Khamenei. Hezbollah has not issued an official statement about the meeting. Nasrallah also met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov over the weekend, and Syria was at the head of the agenda. Syria Today: The Debate Over Chemical Weapons (Continued) in Share Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 16:30 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran Dead animals in Khan Assal in Aleppo Province after an alleged chemical weapons attack last month (Photo: George Ourfalian/Reuters) See also Syria Feature: The Lesson of the Destruction of the Ummayad Mosque Middle East Today: Killing Off an "Independent" Egyptian News Site Saturday's Syria Today: A Chemical Weapons "Game-Changer"? ________________________________ 1515 GMT: Insurgent Leader on Chemical Weapons, Jabhat al-Nusra, and Prospect of Victory In an interview, General Salem Idriss, the head of the insurgent Joiot Military Command, has claimed that regime forces used "the kind of chemical weapons" that are "not so very well known" in the cities of Aleppo, Raqqa, and Homs --- thus indicating that the insurgents have not been able to identify the nature of the chemicals allegedly used. In the town of Khan al-Assal, allegedly attacked last month, Idriss said that the Syrian military had employed "some kinds of gases" and "phosphorus bombs" against civilians. Idriss said the importance of the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra --- which has been elevated by much of the media because of the exaggerated claim that it is linked to Al Qa'eada --- has been exaggerated: "The fighters in Jabhat al-Nusra are not more than 5,000 in all the country. Compare 5,000 to that, they [have] very few fighters in Syria." The commander added, "We don't coordinate with them, we don't have any plans to work with them in the future. They are a special group, and this group is not working under our command." Idriss claimed, "I]f we have enough weapons and ammunition we can put an end to the fight in Syria, we can fall the regime of Bashar al-Assad. In not more than two months. We can do that." 0925 GMT: Oil Watch Indian oil companies have said they are pulling out of operations in northern Syria following the capture of oilfields by insurgents. An Indian consortium held 33.33% to 37.5% interest in four production_sharing contracts covering 36 production fields, operated by Syria's Al Furat Petroleum Company. 0745 GMT: Hezbollah in Syria A Reuters article from northern Lebanon points to the involvement --- and casualties --- of the Lebanese organisation Hezbollah in the Syrian conflict: On Wednesday afternoon, machine gun fire rang out through Baalbek's narrow streets, signaling the arrival of another dead Hezbollah fighter from Syria, 12 km (7 miles) to the east. >Around 30 of his comrades quickly aligned in the street and straightened their >green berets, readying themselves to carry the corpse on their shoulders. >"We have one or two of these funerals every day in Baalbek," said a young >electronics shopkeeper, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity >of the issue. >A Hezbollah policeman in a polyester blue shirt told Reuters not to film the >public funeral. "There are five or six Hezbollah martyrs every day from >northern Lebanon," he said quietly, ushering the car away. 0635 GMT: Regime Attacks in Aleppo Human Rights Watch has put out another report charging that the regime with numerous civilian deaths in Aleppo city from air and missile attacks "without damaging any apparent opposition military targets". On seven-day mission to Aleppo, Human Rights Watch researchers documented five attacks between 18 March and 7 April in which at least 84 civilians, including 36 children. The organisation "visited the site of each attack, interviewed witnesses, and, where possible, examined the remnants of the munitions used". 0605 GMT: Casualties The Local Coordination Committees claim 152 people were killed on Saturday, including 60 in Damascus and its suburbs, 21 in Daraa Province, and 20 in Aleppo Province. The Violations Documentation Center puts the confirmed death toll at 58,408 since the conflict begin in March 2011, an increase of 125 from yesterday. Of those killed, 45,043 were civilians, a rise of 81 from yesterday. 0535 GMT: Chemical Weapons Heavy fighting continued in parts of Aleppo and around Damascus on Saturday, but the headlines continued to be dominated by the possibility of chemical weapons attacks by the regime last month. As we noted on Friday, that discussion --- important not only for establishing what happened in areas like al-Otaybah near in the capital and in Khan Assal in Aleppo Province, where 26 people died, but also for its implications for foreign support of the insurgency to stop the supposed threat --- has split EA staff. James Miller takes the line that the regime has attacked with chemical weapons, working with a strategic assessment by Joseph Holliday of the Institute for the Study of War: I am confident that two separate incidents, reported by independent groups, at the exact same time, cannot be a coincidence. There are also other incidences which do appear to similarly line up with the regime's goals. >Perhaps Holliday says it best. Perhaps the "wily Assad" has outfoxed Obama by >using small-scale chemical attacks to terrorize while still not giving the >Obama administration the evidence it needs, all the while blocking a UN >investigation and crying victim at the same time. Another EA analyst of Syria is not so certain: Holliday makes major assumptions. He has no idea whether this is Assad's strategy. He has no idea if chemical weapons were used --- or if they were used, what control Assad himself has over the use. >The situation is more fluid and chaotic than portrayed here. And Scott Lucas is still holding to his argument that, whether or not we ever know the "truth", it is the politics that matters here: While no one has been able to establish if chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian conflict, it is likely that the assertion of regime use will escalate --- not just over the specific issue, but to rationalise increased intervention by outside forces. On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 5:39 PM, Romi Elnagar <[email protected]> wrote: > >Syria and sarin gas: US claims have a very familiar ring >Reports of the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons are part of a retold >drama riddled with plot-holes >Robert Fisk > >Is there any way of escaping the theatre of chemical weapons? First, >Israeli "military intelligence" says that Bashar al-Assad's forces have >used/have probably used/might have used/could use chemical weapons. Then Chuck >Hagel, the US Defence Secretary, pops up in Israel to promise >even more firepower for Israel's over-armed military – avoiding any >mention of Israel's more than 200 nuclear warheads – and then imbibing >all the Israeli "intelligence" on Syria's use/probable use/possible use >of chemical weapons. >Then good ol' Chuck returns to Washington and tells the world that >"this is serious business. We need all the facts." The White House tells >Congress that US intelligence agencies, presumably the same as Israeli >intelligence agencies since the two usually waffle in tandem, have >"varying degrees of confidence" in the assessment. But Senator Dianne >Feinstein, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee – she who >managed to defend Israel's actions in 1996 after it massacred 105 >civilians, mostly children, at Qana in Lebanon – announces of Syria that "it >is clear that red lines have been crossed and action must be taken >to prevent larger-scale use". And the oldest of current White House >clichés – hitherto used exclusively on Iran's probable/possible >development of nuclear weapons – is then deployed: "All options are on >the table." >In any normal society the red lights would now be >flashing, especially in the world's newsrooms. But no. We scribes remind the >world that Obama said the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a "game >changer" – at least Americans admit it is a game – and our >reports confirm what no one has actually confirmed. Chemical arms used. >In two Canadian TV studios, I am approached by producers brandishing the same >headline. I tell them that on air I shall trash the "evidence" – >and suddenly the story is deleted from both programmes. Not because they don't >want to use it – they will later – but because they don't want >anyone suggesting it might be a load of old cobblers. >CNN has no >such inhibitions. Their reporter in Amman is asked what is known about >the use of chemical weapons by Syria and replies: "Not as much as the >world would want to know … the psyche of the Assad regime …." But has >anyone tried? Or simply asked an obvious question, posed to me by a >Syrian intelligence man in Damascus last week: if Syria can cause >infinitely worse damage with its MiG bombers (which it does) why would >it want to use chemicals? And since both the regime and its enemies have >accused each other of using such weapons, why isn't Chuck as fearful of the >rebels as he is of the Assad dictatorship? >It all comes back >to that most infantile cliché of all: that the US and Israel fear >Assad's chemical weapons "falling into the wrong hands". They are >frightened, in other words, that these chemicals might end up in the >armoury of the very same rebels, especially the Islamists, that >Washington, London, Paris, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are supporting. And if these >are the "wrong hands", then presumably the weapons in Assad's >armoury are in the "right hands". That was the case with Saddam >Hussein's chemical weapons – until he used them against the Kurds. >Now we know that there have been three specific incidents in which sarin >gas has supposedly been used in Syria: in Aleppo, where both sides >accused each other (the hospital videos in fact came from Syrian state >TV); in Homs, apparently on a very small scale; and in the outskirts of >Damascus. And, although the White House appears to have missed this, >three Syrian child refugees were brought to hospital in the northern >Lebanese city of Tripoli with deep and painful burns on their bodies. >But now for a few problems. Phosphorus shells can inflict deep burns, and >perhaps cause birth defects. But the Americans do not suggest that the >Syrian military might have used phosphorus (which is indeed a chemical); after >all, American troops used the very same weapon in the Iraqi city >of Fallujah, where there is indeed now an explosion of birth defects. I >suppose our hatred of the Assad regime might better be reflected by >horror at reports of the torture by Syrian secret policemen of the >regime's detainees. But there's a problem here, too: only 10 years ago, >the US was "renditioning" innocent men, including a Canadian citizen, to >Damascus to be interrogated and tortured by the very same secret >policemen. And if we mention Saddam's chemical weapons, there's another >glitch: because the components of these vile weapons were manufactured >by a factory in New Jersey and sent to Baghdad by the US. >That is >not the story in our newsrooms, of course. Walk into a TV studio and >they're all reading newspapers. Walk into a newspaper office and they're all >watching television. It's osmotic. And the headlines are all the >same: Syria uses chemical weapons. That's how the theatre works. >http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-and-sarin-gas-us-claims-have-a-very-familiar-ring-8591214.html > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > -- A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. (Also quoted as "The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.") Leon Trotsky Their Morals and Ours (1938) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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