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Mounting evidence raises questions about Syrian chemical weapon attack Yossef Bodansky, Senior Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs There is a growing volume of new evidence from numerous sources in the Middle East — mostly affiliated with the Syrian opposition and its sponsors and supporters — which makes a very strong case, based on solid circumstantial evidence, that the Aug. 21 chemical strike in the Damascus suburbs was indeed a premeditated provocation by the Syrian opposition. The extent of U.S. foreknowledge of this provocation needs further investigation because available data puts the “horror” of the Barack Obama White House in a...

President Obama made the right and honorable decision to ask Congress before launching a missile attack on Syria. It was a surprising change, and impressive. The issue now turns to persuading Congress that hypothetical costs of not attacking exceed obvious risks of attacking – including those of a vengeful strike on Israel from Syria, Lebanon, and/or Gaza, which could get the U.S. deeply entangled. The centerpiece of the White House argument for a punitive strike on Assad is the unclassified “U.S. Government Assessment of the Syrian Government’s Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013.” This report claims more confidence...

Clarification: Dale Gavlak assisted in the research and writing process of this article, but was not on the ground in Syria. Reporter Yahya Ababneh, with whom the report was written in collaboration, was the correspondent on the ground in Ghouta who spoke directly with the rebels, their family members, victims of the chemical weapons attacks and local residents. Gavlak is a MintPress News Middle East correspondent who has been freelancing for the AP as a Amman, Jordan correspondent for nearly a decade. This report is not an Associated Press article; rather it is exclusive to MintPress News. Ghouta, Syria —...

President Vladimir Putin hopes to send a delegation of Russian lawmakers to the United States to discuss the situation in Syria with members of Congress, the Interfax news agency reported Monday. Russian legislators Valentina Matvienko and Sergei Naryshkin proposed that to Putin, saying polls have shown little support among Americans for armed intervention in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad's regime for an alleged chemical weapons attack. The lawmakers said maybe U.S. legislators can be persuaded to take a "balanced stance" on the issue....

Discussing chemical weapons, including Sarin and Mustard Gas.Featuring professors Rob Stockman and Martyn Poliakoff from the University of Nottingham. Extra footage will be at: http://youtu.be/lay6VoWBQek More chemistry at http://www.periodicvideos.com/Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/periodicvideosAnd on Twitter at http://twitter.com/periodicvideosFrom the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/chemistry... Periodic Videos films are by video journalist Brady Haran: http://www.bradyharan.com/ A run-down of Brady's channels: http://bit.ly/bradychannels

While it seems as if members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are aggressively calling for action to be taken against the Syrian government over its alleged use of chemical weapons on its own citizens, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin seems to be taking a position more in line with the founding fathers by calling for restraint. In a Facebook page Palin said regarding the country’s internal civil war that President Barack Obama should “let Allah sort it out.” “Our Nobel Peace Prize winning President needs to seek Congressional approval before taking us to war. It’s nonsense to...

Chemical Weapons (Sarin Gas)

After the stunning “no” vote in the UK Parliament, President Obama’s “coalition” partners have pretty much dwindled to … France. The British parliament voted late Thursday against military action in Syria, whittling down the core of the planned coalition to the United States and France. Italy and Germany have said they won’t take part in any military action.The British ‘no’ vote raised questions about France’s participation — and ratcheted up pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama, who is also facing domestic skepticism about military intervention in Syria.Amid the resistance, the U.S. administration shared intelligence with lawmakers Thursday aimed at convincing...

WASHINGTON - Russia has called for an immediate conference of the United Nations Security Council on the crisis unfolding in Syria for Thursday afternoon, following yesterday's inconclusive meeting on the matter. The meeting comes as multiple US government officials tell The Jerusalem Post that the United States believes any language put forth to the Security Council for a resolution on Syria is "dead on arrival." "We've seen two years of Russian intransigence" on Syria, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Thursday. "I don't know why we would expect a shift today." Harf said, however, that she expects US ambassador...

Is the President of the United States certain chemical weapons were used to kill innocent civilians in Damascus last week, and is he certain that the Assad regime was, in fact, responsible for the attack? Is the evidence clear and compelling? Will such evidence stand up in the court of public opinion? The U.S. administration thinks so, and will make the evidence public soon. We are told such evidence will include: Intercepted telephone calls between Assad regime officials and military leaders discussing the chemical attack, picked up by U.S. intelligence. Intercepted communications from the Syrian military picked up by Israeli...

Foreign Policy: Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's bravado is based on the myth of a U.S. defeat that never happened and a timid White House that let four Americans die in Libya. It might be time to set him and others straight. The fruits of President Obama's ever-shifting red line regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons might be ripening as U.S. warships and aircraft prepare for possible cruise-missile strikes on Syrian targets. Weakness, both real and perceived, invites conflict and emboldens enemies, and our impotence in Benghazi didn't support our warnings to Damascus. One of the reasons Syrian dictator al-Assad might...

AFP - The United States provided Iraq with intelligence on preparations for an Iranian offensive during the Iran-Iraq war even though it knew Baghdad would respond with chemical weapons, Foreign Policy magazine reported Monday. Citing declassified CIA documents and interviews with former officials, the magazine reviewed the US record as Washington weighs military action against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons near Damascus last week. The magazine said the US knew in 1983 that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would not hesitate to resort to shelling Iranian forces with sarin or mustard gas. "As Iraqi attacks continue and intensify...

President Obama is considering a strike on Syrian military targets involving sea-launched cruise missiles or possibly long-range bombers that would last no more than two days, according to senior administration officials and reported by Karen DeYoung and Anne Gearan of The Washington Post. Reuters reports that the West has told the opposition to expect a strike "within days." The limited strike would seemingly be a response to allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people before dawn on August 21. Hundreds were killed and thousands suffered "neurotoxic symptoms." The design of the potential attack implies sending...

Woah! Hold your horses, Barack. Before we go to war with Syria can we be absolutely surely sure that we've got our pretext right? Only we've made a horrible mistake about WMDs before… The official UK/US narrative on the conflict in Syria is this. Last year, we drew a red line in the sand: if the regime uses chemical weapons then it makes itself a legitimate target for military action. Last week, it apparently did just that – murdering hundreds of people, including children, in a suburb of Damascus. John Kerry described this slaughter as defying "any code of morality",...

Syria is guilty of war crimes. According to the U.S., Israel and other Western nations, it was Syrian President Bashar al-Assed who was behind the chemical attack that left hundreds dead last week.All signs point to armed intervention in Syria this week, even though UN inspectors (who incidentally came under sniper fire today) have yet to conclude their investigation.No matter, however. The die has been cast. There is a strong possibility that the Allies will respond, in force, in very short order.The only possibility to avoid conflict at this point is that Russia, which has made its support of...

A few days ago we did a report that a British based defence company, Britam Defence had been leaked and confidential files had been published online. Since then i have had time to start going over all the files and put together a basic draft of what is in there, who has been effected and any other important information. So here it is: Interesting Information Skip this to the bottom if you wish to know about single file/folder contents but its good to read it all to properly understand everything. The emails in this leak and files and information mainly...

Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the use of chemical weapons in attacks on civilians in Syria last week was undeniable and that the Obama administration would hold the Syrian government accountable for what he called a “moral obscenity” that had shocked the world’s conscience. In some of the most strident language used yet by the administration, Mr. Kerry accused the Syrian government of cynically seeking to cover up the use of the weapons and he rejected its denial of responsibility for what he called a “cowardly crime.” Mr. Kerry’s remarks, in a prepared statement he read at...

First the Jews were gassed, now it’s the Muslims. I am a Christian. I say the world must act.Under Hitler, it was the Jews who were gassed. Now under Assad it is the Muslims. I am a Christian. My conscience cannot bear the thought of any human being, regardless of their race, or religion, or nationality, suffer such evil. I say the world must act now. The lesson of Auschwitz: A regime that uses poison gas to murder must suffer the swift sword of justice by a unified world. If such a regime can be stopped before it uses weapons...

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the use of chemical weapons in attacks on civilians in Syria last week was undeniable and that the Obama administration would hold the Syrian government accountable for what he called a “moral obscenity” that had shocked the world’s conscience. In some of the most strident language used yet by the administration, Mr. Kerry accused the Syrian government of cynically seeking to cover up the use of the weapons, and he rejected its denial of responsibility for what he called a “cowardly crime.”

Secretary of State John Kerry says the use of chemical weapons in Syria is "undeniable" and that the U.S. is considering how to respond: