Yearly Archives: 2013

U.S. Intelligence: Syrian Government Didn’t Launch Chemical Weapons

"We regret to inform you that some of our former co-workers are telling us, categorically, that contrary to the claims of your administration, the most reliable intelligence shows that Bashar al-Assad was NOT responsible for the chemical incident that killed and injured Syrian civilians on August 21, and that British intelligence officials also know this. In writing this brief report, we choose to assume that you have not been fully informed because your advisers decided to afford you the opportunity for what is commonly known as 'plausible denial.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Intelligence: Syrian Government Didn’t Launch Chemical Weapons

Kerry: Arab countries offered to pay for Syria invasion

"Secretary of State John Kerry said at Wednesday’s hearing that Arab counties have offered to pay for the entirety of unseating President Bashar al-Assad if the United States took the lead militarily. 'With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assess, the answer is profoundly yes,' Kerry said. 'They have. That offer is on the table.' Asked by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) about how much those countries would contribute, Kerry said they have offered to pay for all of a full invasion. 'In fact, some of them have said that if the United States is prepared to go do the whole thing the way we’ve done it previously in other places, they’ll carry that cost,' Kerry said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKerry: Arab countries offered to pay for Syria invasion

A few questions about Syria

"The government of the United States, the one elected to that office by a majority of the electorate, used weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, poisons, against it 'own people' in Waco, Texas. It murdered dozens of helpless, defenseless women and children. And innocent men too. How would the average American feel if the government of Syria (or China, or Russia, or Monaco, or Lichtenstein or Uruguay or Australia or Nigeria) drew a red line in the sand against such U.S. barbarism, and said that a penalty must be imposed somewhere between the Rio Grande and the Canadian border by use of tomahawk missiles. It would only be a limited surgical strike." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA few questions about Syria

House Staffer Tells Me What AIPAC Is Doing

"Israel has no problem with the Assad regime. Like their dearly departed fellow former strongman Hosni Mubarak, both Hafez and Bashir Assad scrupulously kept the peace with Israel since 1973. As for chemical weapons, Israel not only has used them in Gaza but is one of seven countries in the world (Syria is another one) that has not ratified the treaty banning their use. Additionally, any regime likely to succeed Assad’s is likely to be more militantly anti-Israel and more trigger happy than the current regime. The reason Israel (and its lobby) are going all out to push the United States to attack Syria is as a precedent for a much larger attack on Iran." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHouse Staffer Tells Me What AIPAC Is Doing

Listen to Patraeus?

"Remember General David Patraeus? The guy who claimed that as soon as his brilliant comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy (COIN) was implemented in Afghanistan the US would emerge victorious? The 'maverick savior of Iraq' as he was christened by neocon historian Viktor David Hanson? Anyone notice how Iraq and Afghanistan are doing these days? After two colossal failures, Patraeus has crawled out from under his rock of shame to again take up the cause of war-promotion. Heartily endorsing President Obama’s request for authorization to use force on Syria, Patraeus betrays the real prize in the sights of the Syria war-promoters: Iran." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingListen to Patraeus?

Turkish protester’s tear-gas death sparks angry new demonstrations in Istanbul

"Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic bullets at thousands of people who gathered in Istanbul Tuesday to protest the death of a 22-year-old demonstrator in southern Turkey. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people rallied on the outskirts of Taksim Square, scene of unprecedented mass anti-government protests in June, and shouted slogans including 'Taksim will be the graveyard of fascism', an AFP journalist witnessed. Police prevented the protesters from entering the square, before pushing them back using tear gas and plastic bullets. Ahmet Atakan died in hospital Monday night after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister during clashes between police and around 150 protesters." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTurkish protester’s tear-gas death sparks angry new demonstrations in Istanbul

Israel closes probe into Palestinian activist’s tear-gas death

"Israel’s army has decided to close an investigation into the killing of a Palestinian activist during a West Bank demonstration in 2009, an Israeli rights group said Tuesday. According to B’Tselem, the military’s prosecutor general had decided to close the case for lack of evidence. Bassem Abu Rahmeh, 30, who was struck in the chest by a tear-gas canister on April 17, 2009 at a protest in the village of Bilin, and died of his wounds. The army had decided to open an investigation into Abu Rahmeh’s death in 2010 after a team of international experts found its forces had fired the tear gas in violation of regulations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIsrael closes probe into Palestinian activist’s tear-gas death

CIA document from 1983 indicates Israel built chemical weapons stockpile

"Intelligence circles in Washington believe that Israel amassed a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons decades ago to complement its alleged nuclear arsenal, Foreign Policy reported Monday on its website. Information about Israel’s chemical weapons production appears in a secret 1983 CIA intelligence estimate obtained by Foreign Policy. American spy satellites in 1982 uncovered 'a probable CW (chemical weapon) nerve agent production facility and a storage facility… at the Dimona Sensitive Storage Area in the Negev Desert,' the CIA document reported. In 1992, the Israeli government signed but never ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans such weapons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA document from 1983 indicates Israel built chemical weapons stockpile

Interventionists Should Hang Their Heads in Shame

"Never mind the disastrous consequences of such notable post-World War II interventions as Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Korea. It’s clear, at least to interventionists, that Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is another Hitler who, unless punished for his purported use of chemical weapons, will begin conquering countries in the Middle East, work his way over to Europe, cross the Atlantic and invade Argentina, sweep northward through Central America and Mexico, and finally invade and conquer the United States, enabling Syrian officials to begin running the IRS, the DEA, the ICE, the public schools, the Interstate Highway System, and other attributes of America’s free way of life." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInterventionists Should Hang Their Heads in Shame