Syria Watch URGENT! US Preps For Possible Cruise Missile Attack Syria! Accusations Continue, But Still No Evidence of a Syrian Military Gas Attack! NO ATTACK ON SYRIA! Call to Action! 1) Organize a peaceful protest, march, vigil at your local communities (city hall, federal building, etc.) anytime next week, call for "NO Attacks on Syria!" If US Begin Attacks Syria, Organize Local Actions Immediately Peaceful protest, vigil at your local communities (city hall, federal building, etc.) after the attack begins - 6 PM same day if the attacks begin during US day time (local Syria evening time) - Noon next day if the attacks begin during US evening time (local Syria day time) Send us your updates or schedule to: _siuhin@aol.com_ (mailto:siu...@aol.com) or _info@peacenowar.net_ (mailto:i...@peacenowar.net) Engineering Consent For US Attack On Syria? U S Preps For Possible Cruise Missile Attack An Syrian Gov't Forces Video Report By CBS News The Pentagon is making the initial preparations for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces. _http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35956.htm_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001j2qFdkmhvT8f8GkePkG6xTFBYj2mRVTyOdTm5AHYNhrWg7E3CVbA3Cn8jpre w6AYxcq4TlNEw9MhEU1eJViR3wvoX9fbt7e7eG6W9wIHF7qhGPtvk7xdJjhaWXEfWRAxM5yEgANu v2H1PzBNprroTOHFa6osDqmh) Agent Of Destruction Obama Opts For 'Tomahawk Diplomacy' By Anshel Pfeffer Since the first operational use of the Tomahawk in the opening stages of the Gulf War in January 1991, every U.S. president since, the two Bushes, Bill Clinton and Obama, have all ordered Tomahawk launches. _http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35961.htm_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001j2qFdkmhvT-sjAfglseMbXvBZw47yVjkirkVwdmvF_4x_wfE-qE-kUHhrN8i DlATuG1wc031Y6w5L6fuXlyX1klGvUGdT0jVSqrFC8Gt2muhjwS2hggwFkhm5iAvWaqxibcBD3LI mF6zmDl_l0Saw32jlbeV-n81) Accusations Continue, But Still No Evidence of a Syrian Military Gas Attack By Stephen Gowans Since this is decidedly against Damascus's interests, we should be skeptical of any claim that the Syrian government is defying Obama's red line. _http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35962.htm_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001j2qFdkmhvT_u1DLjh_-OvUiMkyPiC_u2K7AuAQ_WkH3FmACV7ei3HMwBUfgr z0b2uBialYqAHxofcrCLte8X1V_fjtckZ70LW-MKouzskd8E2-Ly9rObkUovCwp2xh2Wd4ATHsCa bAnoFg_NDAIFYllShcrHb5TE)
Syria Chemical Warfare Claims Aim To Provoke Western Intervention By Bill Van Auken http://www.countercurrents.org/auken220813.htm The unsubstantiated charges that the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad carried out a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus killing large numbers of civilians have all the hallmarks of a staged provocation aimed at provoking Western intervention Syria Gas Attack Story Has Whiff Of Saudi War Propaganda By William Engdahl http://www.countercurrents.org/engdahl220813.htm The reports of massive chemical attacks in Syria might become the “red line ” for the US for active military intervention. But even rudimentary analysis of the story shows it is too early to believe its credibility Syrian rebel attack may have been false flag. Doubts raised. Experts Doubt Syrian Chemical Weapons Claims http://www.washingtonsblog.com/ Preliminary Evidence Indicates that the Syrian Government Did NOT Launch a Chemical Weapon Attack Against Its People CBS News reports that the U.S. is finalizing plans for war against Syria – and positioning ships to launch cruise missiles against the Syrian government – based on the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people. The last time the U.S. blamed the Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack, that claim was was debunked. But is the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people true this time? It’s not surprising that Syria’s close ally – Russia – is expressing doubt. Agence France-Presse (AFP) notes: Russia, which has previously said it has proof of chemical weapons use by the rebels, expressed deep scepticism about the opposition’s claims. The foreign ministry said the timing of the allegations as UN inspectors began their work “makes us think that we are once again dealing with a premeditated provocation.” But Russia isn’t the only doubter. AFP reports: “At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators,” said Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. “In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms.” John Hart, head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use. “Of the videos that I’ve seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils… this would indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents,” he said. Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles. “We’re not seeing reports that doctors and nurses… are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that the toxicity of it isn’t what we would consider military sarin. It may well be that it is a lower-grade,” Winfield told AFP. Haaretz reports: Western experts on chemical warfare who have examined at least part of the footage are skeptical that weapons-grade chemical substances were used, although they all emphasize that serious conclusions cannot be reached without thorough on-site examination. Dan Kaszeta, a former officer of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps and a leading private consultant, pointed out a number of details absent from the footage so far: “None of the people treating the casualties or photographing them are wearing any sort of chemical-warfare protective gear,” he says, “and despite that, none of them seem to be harmed.” This would seem to rule out most types of military-grade chemical weapons, including the vast majority of nerve gases, since these substances would not evaporate immediately, especially if they were used in sufficient quantities to kill hundreds of people, but rather leave a level of contamination on clothes and bodies which would harm anyone coming in unprotected contact with them in the hours after an attack. In addition, he says that “there are none of the other signs you would expect to see in the aftermath of a chemical attack, such as intermediate levels of casualties, severe visual problems, vomiting and loss of bowel control.” Steve Johnson, a leading researcher on the effects of hazardous material exposure at England’s Cranfield University who has worked with Britain’s Ministry of Defense on chemical warfare issues, agrees that “from the details we have seen so far, a large number of casualties over a wide area would mean quite a pervasive dispersal. With that level of chemical agent, you would expect to see a lot of contamination on the casualties coming in, and it would affect those treating them who are not properly protected. We are not seeing that here.” Additional questions also remain unanswered, especially regarding the timing of the attack, being that it occurred on the exact same day that a team of UN inspectors was in Damascus to investigate earlier claims of chemical weapons use. It is also unclear what tactical goal the Syrian army would have been trying to achieve, when over the last few weeks it has managed to push back the rebels who were encroaching on central areas of the capital. But if this was not a chemical weapons attack, what then caused the deaths of so many people without any external signs of trauma? *** The Syrian rebels (and perhaps other players in the region) have a clear interest in presenting this as the largest chemical attack by the army loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad to date, even if the cause was otherwise, especially while the UN inspectors are in the country. It is also in their interest to do so whilst U.S. President Barack Obama remains reluctant to commit any military support to the rebels, when only the crossing of a “red line” could convince him to change his policy. The rebels and the doctors on the scene may indeed believe that chemical weapons were used, since they fear such an attack, but they may not have the necessary knowledge and means to make such a diagnosis. The European Union demanded Wednesday that the UN inspectors be granted access to the new sites of alleged chemical attacks, but since this is not within the team’s mandate, it is unlikely that the Syrian government will do so. Stephen Johnson, an expert in weapons and chemical explosives at Cranfield Forensic Institute, said that the video footage looked suspect: There are, within some of the videos, examples which seem a little hyper-real, and almost as if they’ve been set up. Which is not to say that they are fake but it does cause some concern. Some of the people with foaming, the foam seems to be too white, too pure, and not consistent with the sort of internal injury you might expect to see, which you’d expect to be bloodier or yellower. Chemical and biological weapons researcher Jean Pascal Zanders said that the footage appears to show victims of asphyxiation, which is not consistent with the use of mustard gas or the nerve agents VX or sarin: I’m deliberately not using the term chemical weapons here,” he said, adding that the use of “industrial toxicants” was a more likely explanation. Michael Rivero asks: 1. Why would Syria’s Assad invite United Nations chemical weapons inspectors to Syria, then launch a chemical weapons attack against women and children on the very day they arrive, just miles from where they are staying? 2. If Assad were going to use chemical weapons, wouldn’t he use them against the hired mercenary army trying to oust him? What does he gain attacking women and children? Nothing! The gain is all on the side of the US Government desperate to get the war agenda going again. As I type these words, US trained and equipped forces are already across the border into Syria, and US naval forces are sailing into position to launch a massive cruise missile attack into Syria that will surely kill more Syrians than were claimed to have died in the chemical attack. - - - - Yahoo News: India US 'backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria, blame it on Assad govt': Report http://in.news.yahoo.com/us-backed-plan-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-syria- 045648224.html London, Jan 30 (ANI): The Obama administration gave green signal to a chemical weapons attack plan in Syria that could be blamed on President Bashar al Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country, leaked documents have shown. A new report, that contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence, showed a scheme 'approved by Washington'. As per the scheme 'Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons,' the Daily Mail reports. Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the U.S. would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people. According to Infowars.com, the December 25 email was sent from Britam's Business Development Director David Goulding to company founder Philip Doughty. The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resumes and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News. According to the paper, the U.S. State Department has declined to comment on the matter. (ANI) - - - - It seems that the chemical attack in Syria was filmed and uploaded by the "rebels" to YouTube a day before the attack allegedly took place on Wednesday, the 21st. Note the upload date on the YouTube video of the attack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO8_eZcZkNE&bpctr=1377314696 ============================================================================ == Peace NO War Network_ http://www.PeaceNOWar.net_ (http://www.peacenowar.net/) War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate Not in our Name! And another world is possible! Information for antiwar movements, news across the World, please visit:_ http://www.PeaceNoWar.net_ (http://www.peacenowar.net/) e-mail: _Info@PeaceNoWar.net_ (mailto:pe...@actionla.org) Tel: (213)403-0131 Please Join PeaceNoWar Listserv, send e-mail to: _peacenowar-subscribe@lists.riseup.net_ (mailto:peacenowar-subscr...@lists.riseup.net) Please Donate to Peace No War Network! 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