Saudi Supplied Syrian Rebels Chemical Weapons
 

http://www.mintpressnews.com/witness...eapons/168135/

Still researching names.
Any further insight?

Lots of rabbit holes. From a link, linked in a link, one of the sources is an allegedly leaked play-by-play of a Bandar-Putin meeting in July, with file photo from 6 years ago.

There is a pretty good amount of insinuation & innuendo in an effort to paint Bandar in a poor light using some pretty dated references when they serve the purpose. The alleged meeting transcript - leaked almost immediately - doesn't get Putin the PC-Award either.
The authors should perhaps get something a bit more coherent together in the sense of a factual timeline if they want to push their theory. I could be wrong but think Bandar is smarter than to allow himself to be directly attributed to handing over some chem agents to some rebels to be stored in a basement.

Perhaps someone in the administration has their panties in a wad over Putin's liver eater comment...

Considering the DOJ thru BATFE ran arms to the EVIL Mexican Drug Cartels and then the Administration began pushing the 90% myth and now we are reported to be supplying weapons to our nearly defeated and Mortal Enemy AQ in Syria......and considering that just about everything that has been pimped by the Administration has at best been half truths.


Just saying.......you can't trust them and nothing is off the table.

Until there is a positive ID on what was used and where it was manufactured, I will take a wait and see approach.

Well...

And, of course, since the GWB WH assessment of the situation in Iraq in 2002-2003, there will certainly be many skeptics out there to further 'muddy the waters' on this one.

Richard

Government Assessment of the Syrian Government’s Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013
Part 1 of 2

The United States Government assesses with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013. We further assess that the regime used a nerve agent in the attack. These all-source assessments are based on human, signals, and geospatial intelligence as well as a significant body of open source reporting.Our classified assessments have been shared with the U.S. Congress and key international partners. To protect sources and methods, we cannot publicly release all available intelligence – but what follows is an unclassified summary of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s analysis of what took place.

Syrian Government Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21

A large body of independent sources indicates that a chemical weapons attack took place in the Damascus suburbs on August 21. In addition to U.S. intelligence information, there are accounts from international and Syrian medical personnel; videos; witness accounts; thousands of social media reports from at least 12 different locations in the Damascus area; journalist accounts; and reports from highly credible nongovernmental organizations.

A preliminary U.S. government assessment determined that 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack, including at least 426 children, though this assessment will certainly evolve as we obtain more information.

We assess with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out the chemical weapons attack against opposition elements in the Damascus suburbs on August 21. We assess that the scenario in which the opposition executed the attack on August 21 is highly unlikely. The body of information used to make this assessment includes intelligence pertaining to the regime’s preparations for this attack and its means of delivery, multiple streams of intelligence about the attack itself and its effect, our post-attack observations, and the differences between the capabilities of the regime and the opposition. Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the U.S. Intelligence Community can take short of confirmation. We will continue to seek additional information to close gaps in our understanding of what took place.

Background:

The Syrian regime maintains a stockpile of numerous chemical agents, including mustard, sarin, and VX and has thousands of munitions that can be used to deliver chemical warfare agents.

Syrian President Bashar al-Asad is the ultimate decision maker for the chemical weapons program and members of the program are carefully vetted to ensure security and loyalty. The Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) – which is subordinate to the Syrian Ministry of Defense – manages Syria’s chemical weapons program.

We assess with high confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year, including in the Damascus suburbs. This assessment is based on multiple streams of information including reporting of Syrian officials planning and executing chemical weapons attacks and laboratory analysis of physiological samples obtained from a number of individuals, which revealed exposure to sarin. We assess that the opposition has not used chemical weapons.

The Syrian regime has the types of munitions that we assess were used to carry out the attack on August 21, and has the ability to strike simultaneously in multiple locations. We have seen no indication that the opposition has carried out a large-scale, coordinated rocket and artillery attack like the one that occurred on August 21.

We assess that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons over the last year primarily to gain the upper hand or break a stalemate in areas where it has struggled to seize and hold strategically valuable territory. In this regard, we continue to judge that the Syrian regime views chemical weapons as one of many tools in its arsenal, including air power and ballistic missiles, which they indiscriminately use against the opposition.

The Syrian regime has initiated an effort to rid the Damascus suburbs of opposition forces using the area as a base to stage attacks against regime targets in the capital. The regime has failed to clear dozens of Damascus neighborhoods of opposition elements, including neighborhoods targeted on August 21, despite employing nearly all of its conventional weapons systems. We assess that the regime’s frustration with its inability to secure large portions of Damascus may have contributed to its decision to use chemical weapons on August 21.

Preparation:

We have intelligence that leads us to assess that Syrian chemical weapons personnel – including personnel assessed to be associated with the SSRC – were preparing chemical munitions prior to the attack. In the three days prior to the attack, we collected streams of human, signals and geospatial intelligence that reveal regime activities that we assess were associated with preparations for a chemical weapons attack.

Syrian chemical weapons personnel were operating in the Damascus suburb of ‘Adra from Sunday, August 18 until early in the morning on Wednesday, August 21 near an area that the regime uses to mix chemical weapons, including sarin. On August 21, a Syrian regime element prepared for a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus area, including through the utilization of gas masks. Our intelligence sources in the Damascus area did not detect any indications in the days prior to the attack that opposition affiliates were planning to use chemical weapons.

(cont'd)

Government Assessment of the Syrian Government’s Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013
Part 2 of 2

The Attack:

Multiple streams of intelligence indicate that the regime executed a rocket and artillery attack against the Damascus suburbs in the early hours of August 21. Satellite detections corroborate that attacks from a regime-controlled area struck neighborhoods where the chemical attacks reportedly occurred – including Kafr Batna, Jawbar, ‘Ayn Tarma, Darayya, and Mu’addamiyah. This includes the detection of rocket launches from regime controlled territory early in the morning, approximately 90 minutes before the first report of a chemical attack appeared in social media. The lack of flight activity or missile launches also leads us to conclude that the regime used rockets in the attack.

Local social media reports of a chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs began at 2:30 a.m. local time on August 21. Within the next four hours there were thousands of social media reports on this attack from at least 12 different locations in the Damascus area. Multiple accounts described chemical-filled rockets impacting opposition-controlled areas.

Three hospitals in the Damascus area received approximately 3,600 patients displaying symptoms consistent with nerve agent exposure in less than three hours on the morning of August 21, according to a highly credible international humanitarian organization. The reported symptoms, and the epidemiological pattern of events – characterized by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers – were consistent with mass exposure to a nerve agent. We also received reports from international and Syrian medical personnel on the ground.

We have identified one hundred videos attributed to the attack, many of which show large numbers of bodies exhibiting physical signs consistent with, but not unique to, nerve agent exposure. The reported symptoms of victims included unconsciousness, foaming from the nose and mouth, constricted pupils, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty breathing. Several of the videos show what appear to be numerous fatalities with no visible injuries, which is consistent with death from chemical weapons, and inconsistent with death from small-arms, high-explosive munitions or blister agents. At least 12 locations are portrayed in the publicly available videos, and a sampling of those videos confirmed that some were shot at the general times and locations described in the footage.

We assess the Syrian opposition does not have the capability to fabricate all of the videos, physical symptoms verified by medical personnel and NGOs, and other information associated with this chemical attack.

We have a body of information, including past Syrian practice, that leads us to conclude that regime officials were witting of and directed the attack on August 21. We intercepted communications involving a senior official intimately familiar with the offensive who confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime on August 21 and was concerned with the U.N. inspectors obtaining evidence. On the afternoon of August 21, we have intelligence that Syrian chemical weapons personnel were directed to cease operations. At the same time, the regime intensified the artillery barrage targeting many of the neighborhoods where chemical attacks occurred. In the 24 hour period after the attack, we detected indications of artillery and rocket fire at a rate approximately four times higher than the ten preceding days. We continued to see indications of sustained shelling in the neighborhoods up until the morning of August 26.

To conclude, there is a substantial body of information that implicates the Syrian government’s responsibility in the chemical weapons attack that took place on August 21.As indicated, there is additional intelligence that remains classified because of sources and methods concerns that is being provided to Congress and international partners.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...pons-august-21

" The reported symptoms of victims included unconsciousness, foaming from the nose and mouth, constricted pupils, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty breathing"

My first slug of moonshine and cobra blood did the same thing to me...

Pipeline wars.
The path to European markets goes through Syria.

Whoever controls Syria determines whose pipelines get built.
Plenty of interested parties in the Middle East, and the rest of the world.

To paraphrase a famous Guerilla leader and my friends from Tech Escort: " There is nothing in the desert..."

I wonder if Fiction Writer/National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes assisted with the Syrian Assessment....

I see this comment popping up a lot in comments sections all over the place. And I never seen a good source to back up. Do you have one?

If someone really thinks this is a good idea, they must think that it is a good idea to give Israel and Iran a veto over whether Europe gets gas. Depending on your point of view I can see one or the other, but who on the planet earth wants to give both of those nations a veto?

And that is not even counting every small group with a grievance and some explosives.

Cobra blood???!! Please tell me you're kidding.:eek:

The Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline deal and the Arab Gas Pipeline.
One would serve the interests of Shiite governments and the other Sunni governments.

The Shiite interests tend to ally with Russia, the Sunni interests tend with the west.
Russia is a major exporter of gas, and the US will soon be a major exporter.

Plenty of interested parties racing to capture the European market.
Great place to start another world war.

Not trying to redirect but:

Anyone else out there think it strange that in one week , I'll repeat that - ONE WEEK - we have definitive and irrefutable proof that Asaad used chemical weapons on his own people.

One year later, I'll repeat that too - ONE YEAR LATER - Families are still asking how and why their loved ones died in Benghazi Libya ...
... sigh ...

My thoughts exactly, Al. Either the agencies responsible for determining the facts are lying or incompetent....perhaps both.

Or possibly that when the administration WANTS to discover the facts, they do, and if they don't, they procrastinate, redirect, misdirect, ignore, deny, etc.

Stobey- Cobra blood and moonshine was a rite of passage for first timers in Thailand. The Thai SF guys loved to watch the Americans barf.

The 'proof' that Jacques Kerry is speaking of is weapons grade Sarin...they are postulating that Assad could be the only source and that is BS.
My only hope is that Al Q uses the Saudi supplied Sarin and Assad uses his Soviet stash and we have a nice contained gas war in Syria.
Shia's Twelver's and Sunni AQ surrogates killing each other should only be encouraged.
Count on US to screw that wet dream up.

You forgetting all the chemical munitions Saddam Hussein stashed in Syria in 1990/91? :munchin

My guess would be that Assad never gave Iraq back the WMD's that they gave him for "safe keeping".......

Personally to make it fair for both sides I say we arm both sides with Chem weapons and launchers.......;)

Would be a good guess on some of Assad's stuff.
No launchers tho...chem hand grenades should do nicely.

For which war - Desert Shield/Storm (GHWB) or Iraqi Freedom (GWB)? I have never heard anyone say they didn't exist for the former.

Iraq’s Chemical Warfare Program
https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/...ap5.html#sect0

Richard

There are from way back in November 2010 and was in regards to the 2012 elections.....but Obama is still dealing with the same problems at home.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/0...onnect-voters/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_777013.html

You sir are obviously not watching the hand they want you to watch. Shame on you.

"WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?"
Hillary:rolleyes:

There's a lot of dead Iraqi civilians that would disagree..... Saddam gassed the hell out of his own people. And when we were coming he got rid of the chems, my guess was he sent truck loads of chem munitions to Syria. Why? Cause Syria provided a whole lot of weapons and ammo for Saddam's military.

With Russian help.....
A theory with legs but, not pursued by Bush (or anyone else) at the time.

Axelrod: Talk of Impeachment 'Virus that Needs to be Curbed"

Funny how things work out for Mr. Axelrod.

Syria and U.S. involvement
 

As we learned the hard way, to universally provide unlimited arms support to the oppressed can bite us in the ass. We provided virtually unlimited arms to the mujhadin in Afghanistan to oppose the Russian Bear. For the past 12 years, those weapons have killed/wounded thousands. Enough of history.

"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." We SHOULD provide almost universal doses of unliumited Atropine syrettes. There is no way for blowback and for any regret for our assistance. It gives the rebels an opportunity to survive future Sarin attacks. It also provides tangible evidence that the U.S. is providing humanitarian support.

The U.S. support of the rebels should be limited to humanitarian only.

Any and ALL combative support should be in conjunction with any coalition that is cobbled together. With the exception of being an oil terminous, Syria has minimal direct threat to U.S. interests in soil or populations. Therefore we should limit ourselves to areas of supporting the warfighter. We have the capabilities for: Medical; Logistics: Intelligence; air assets (as necessary) to include explosive stores.

J R sends
DOL
SOA 626
SFA 986

SIGINT vessels & muddy waters
 

The opposite of "just following orders"...?
Handelsblatt article and some rough "auf Englisch" snippets:

LINK to English Reuters reporting
Interesting that such SIGINT take makes its way from BND to the papers that quickly.

We're all on the same chess board, right?

No matter how much talk of impeachment there is, Obama has a guarantee "get out of impeachment free card"...it's call Joe Biden. :D

The Gary Busey of politics....

Interesting concept.

Yep: