Former intelligence specialist group agree with Russian explanation of Syrian Chem Attack

Consortium News ^ | April 11, 2017 | "Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)"

[rod5591]

"Our U.S. Army contacts in the area have told us...There was no Syrian “chemical weapons attack.” Instead, a Syrian aircraft bombed an al-Qaeda-in-Syria ammunition depot that turned out to be full of noxious chemicals and a strong wind blew the chemical-laden cloud over a nearby village where many consequently died.

This is what the Russians and Syrians have been saying and – more important –what they appear to believe happened."

[piasa]

We started watching VIPS here quite a while ago; one of their first appearances was through Powell aide Lawrence Wilkerson...and a story concocted by the far left Truthout.org and planted in Japan Today.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3423151/posts

Larry went on to be a Bernie Sanders advisor last election.

[BeauBo]

“conventional explosions do not lead to useful dispersal and tend to burn up or over-dilute the chemical components.”

A significant percentage of the IEDs in Iraq, contained chemical warfare agents (typically nerve agent), because they would just stick a few old artillery shells in a hole together, and most of the kids doing it could not even distinguish between a high explosive round and a chemical round (Saddam had mountains of chemical warfare munitions).

Like you say, there were seldom any significant effects from those chemical agents - incinerated by the blast.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

The peanut gallery loves to assume a lot before comprehending what a post means before they click most of the time.

Thanks for the info!

[piasa]

All these people run with John Kerry. Fedora wrote a few good articles here with info :

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1264816/posts

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the ping, and nice comments by both of your. Appreciate it.

[DoughtyOne]

Wow, that’s quite an extensive article there.

Thanks.

[BuddhaBrown]

“It has been going on for YEARS and it took the election of Trump to push the Tomahawk button”

Yes, it’s all clear now.

Electing the guy who promised the exact opposite behavior - yet knowing he’d flip on the subject - was actually a 4d chess move by the war-hungry electorate for sure.

[AlaskaErik]

Oops!

[DBrow]

” The two components will not mix properly in an uncontrolled blast.” If they were binary CW shells, yes. But if it was straight sarin, in shells or in a tank, then a conventional explosive could disperse it, even at low efficiency. All CW shells are not binary.

[DBrow]

There have been several nerve agent incidents in Afghanistan that are not reported in the USA, so it’s possible there could have been incidents. Have to wait and see.

[Ray76]

Reports are that victims had pinpoint pupils and suffered convulsions, which doesn’t fit the profile for phosgene.

https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/phosgene/basics/facts.asp

https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/phosgene-oxime/basics/facts.asp

There is no definitive proof either way. Assad may have done it, but it is possible that a conventional bomb struck a terrorist facility. See posts 24 through 29
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3543150/posts?page=24#24 Also 16 and 12 in the same thread for background.

[BeauBo]

There were significant reasons why the Assad regime would use nerve gas on this target.

Khan Sheikhoun is right on the main road (M5) of the Syrian heartland. It is the frontline for the Regime to push further North.

The main target in Khan Sheikhoun would be the munitions production facilities, which are inside of manmade caves, quarried into the solid rock, a bit like Cheyenne Mountain. Russian partisans sheltered in underground caves while fighting Nazi occupation, and have prepared similar cave-like military facilities in many of their client states. They tunneled out caves in Afghanistan that a whole Armored Battalion could comfortably park and live inside, with multiple entrances, in case some were bombed shut. 500lb aerial bombs or barrel bombs would not worry folks inside those caves, but they are open to the air outside the entrances - the wind just blows in for ventilation. The Syrian Army used these facilities for a long time before the rebels captured them, so they knew well that conventional bombing would be ineffective.

[lodi90]

Are you operating under the misapprehension that I am endorsing Ritter? I saw the list from this group and recognized his name, then looked him up and pasted his info here.

---

Yep. I saw the wall of text and thought you were the OP. Sorry.

[lodi90]

Good info, thanks.

[BeauBo]

“if it was straight sarin, in shells or in a tank, then a conventional explosive could disperse it, even at low efficiency.”

This is true - but, one of the “good” things about nerve agent, is that it pretty much either kills you, or it doesn’t. Blister agent, or chlorine, can horribly scar, blind or disable victims who survive. If you suffer non-fatal poisoning with nerve agent, you pretty much just recover. To get the high fatality rate they had in Khan Sheikhoun (87), and have had in other areas, which were clearly targets of the regime, you would need efficient dispersal.

I would also point out that chemical agents in Syria are unavoidably a major intelligence priority of Israel - they simply must be. I think it a safe bet that Israel has deep understanding of what is going on in Syria, regarding chemical weapons - they did not just fall off the turnip truck.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Ray McGovern can never be trusted. He is so filled with hate that it clouds any professional judgment he might have had. Works with Marxist/anti-intelligence groups and has since the late 1970’s. He might show up in “Counterspy” magazine (Philip KGB Agee operation). The same for David MacMichael (who has made a career of being an “intelligence expert” when some of his credentials and work has been criticized by many others.

Scott Ritter - personally I think he turned into a wackjob over Iraq.

Coleen Rowley, ex FBI agent. Spurned by Clinton’s FBI re her accurate warnings about potential Islamic terrorists before 9/11. Turned to the Left and never returned.

Ann Wright rings some bells.

Robert Parry - hardcore leftist writing since the 1970’s if I recall correctly. Occasionally has an accurate article but he is not to be trusted, ever.

What is important is to find out the real authors of this article using Parry’s name as a cover for it.

Also important to find out how old Clintonites and Obamites are in this list. Maybe some disillusioned Bushies too.

Don’t discount them because they are the “opposition”. Check their backgrounds, credibility, predictions/actual happenings, etc.

Then make up your minds whether to believe them wholly, partially or not at all.

[butterdezillion]

An article today had the administration saying that they have signals intel and samples from the victims.

But where would they get the samples from? From the convicted-terrorist “doctor” who took the video (which showed a guy smiling until he saw that the camera had panned over him and then he suddenly looked sad)? One article citing that “doctor” had him saying that they had samples. It seemed strange to me as soon as I saw it, because that doesn’t seem like something a doctor would say even as he is tending victims of a surprise attack.

[Socon-Econ]

Anyone want to prove Victor’s theory that the explosion would burn up the gas by standing by a warehouse of sarin cannisters while it is bombed?

[Fedora]

You beat me to it, thanks for saving me the work, lol.

[Fedora]

You nailed it, they’re an outgrowth of Agee and Marchetti’s old operation, which was linked to Hillary’s anti-intelligence lobbying efforts at Yale and the Pentagon Papers crowd.