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Sean Keeley of The American Interest noticed a curious statement from National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster when he briefed reporters on the Syrian strike. And the one thing that I will tell you though, there was an effort to minimize – to minimize risk to third-country nationals at that airport – I think you read Russians from that – but that – and we took great pains to try to avoid that. […] And then there were also measures put in place to avoid hitting what we believe is a storage of sarin gas, so that that would not be ignited...

PolitiFact has pulled a 2014 fact-check on remarks about Syria by former Secretary of State John Kerry after the claim the Obama administration “got ‘100 percent’ of chemical weapons out of Syria” turned out to be false. “Kerry said in a television interview that in Syria, ‘we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out.’ Syria had agreed in 2013 to an ambitious program to destroy its chemical stockpiles under international supervision, as part of a deal brokered by Russia,” they explained. “When Kerry spoke in July 2014, the process seemed far along. Based on reports from the Organization for...

I have mixed thoughts on the US cruise missile strike on the Syrian airfield last night. These thoughts are going to appear all over the map but given the situation in the Middle East, that seems unavoidable: • There can be no doubt that Syria’s armed forces launched the sarin attack that prompted the US cruise missile strike. The excuse that the Syrians and Russians gave that Al Nusra moved a sarin lab into the area and an air strike inadvertently released the chemicals is absurd. Sarin would burn off in such a strike and would not be dispersed in...

Back in January in an in interview with NPR, Obama national security adviser Susan Rice was still touting the Obama administration's success at removing chemical weapons in Syria: "We were able to find a solution that didn't necessitate the use of force that actually removed the chemical weapons that were known from Syria, in a way that the use of force would never have accomplished." Between her dubious public statements on Benghazi, the Bowe Bergdahl desertion, her recent denial that she knew anything about unmasking Trump officials' identities in intelligence reports, and now this—it would seem Rice has a real...

Reports of the first mass use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime began four years ago amid the country’s ongoing conflict. In March 2013, both sides in the Syrian Civil War traded accusations over a gas attack that killed dozens of people, including government soldiers, in Khan al-Assal, a district of Aleppo city in northern Syria. An investigation by the United Nations later concluded that sarin nerve gas was used in the attack, but the international body did not identify a culprit. ...In August 2013, Syrian government forces were accused of using chemical weapons against rebel-held suburbs...

Shortened title. Full title: Syria's government was supposed to have gotten rid of its chemical weapons in 2014. So what happened? There’s a mystery at the heart of an apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria this week: Syria’s government, suspected of carrying out the attack, was supposed to have gotten rid of all its chemical weapons in 2014. A year earlier, President Obama said Syria had crossed a “red line” by allegedly using sarin gas near Damascus and Aleppo, killing at least 100 to 150 people. But rather than take military action, Obama agreed to a Russian deal to dismantle...

The chemical weapon attack by the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad on the rebel-held town Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province on April 4 once again underscores what a foreign policy failure President Obama was and what a serial liar Susan Rice is. On January 16, 2017, Rice, who served as U.N. ambassador during Obama’s first term and was rewarded for her Benghazi lies with the post of National Security Advisor, where she could be compelled to testify before Congress, gave what amounted to an exit interview with NPR. During the interview she crowed about the Obama administration’s success in eliminating...

The great investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, in two previous articles in the London Review of Books («Whose Sarin?» and «The Red Line and the Rat Line») has reported that the Obama Administration falsely blamed the government of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad for the sarin gas attack that Obama was trying to use as an excuse to invade Syria; and Hersh pointed to a report from British intelligence saying that the sarin that was used didn’t come from Assad’s stockpiles. Hersh also said that a secret agreement in 2012 was reached between the Obama Administration and the leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, to set...

Despite being humiliated by backing down on his pledge to initiate military action against Syria if they used chemical weapons, Democrats celebrated the removal of WMD from Syria by Russia as a triumph for President Obama. What do you suppose they're thinking today, following the largest poison gas attack by Syria against civilians last week?

MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that the deadly gas contamination in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib was caused by the explosion of chemical weapons produced by the rebels. Media reports said about 70 people were killed with 200 others wounded Tuesday in a toxic gas attack by Syrian warplanes on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun. Syrian air force delivered a strike on the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun against a large ammunition depot and a cluster of military equipment belonging to terrorists, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement....

... The entire event looks like an horrific operation by anti-Assad forces trying to create assistance for their regime change efforts by killing their own people. Yes, they are that desperate; and yes, there are vested interests in the U.S., including the CIA, who would support such an objective. ...

[Original title too long: Erdogan Holding U.S. Tactical Nukes At Inkirlink Taking Control Of The Second Most Powerful Army In NATO And Is Hailed As Mahdi] Turkey, in less than 24 hours was occupied by ErdoganÂ’s pro Muslim Brotherhood militia and entered the U.S. base where tactical nukes at Incirlik are held. Period. Plain and Simple. Yet there are no headlines in any media that reveals this global catastrophe in this way. Why? Even the air base, which is used by NATO and stores US tactical nuclear weapons, has been invaded by ErdoganÂ’s militia. The militia entered the base in...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1330.htm December 17, 2008 HP-1330 Treasury Designates Bank Melli Front Company in New York City Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated ASSA CORP., a front company created and controlled by Iran's Bank Melli and domiciled in New York, and its parent organization, ASSA CO. LTD, located in the Channel Islands. "This scheme to use a front company set up by Bank Melli -- a known proliferator -- to funnel money from the United States to Iran is yet another example of Iran's duplicity," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial...

Authored by Marie DuMond via Beyond Parallel A Predata-Beyond Parallel prediction indicates there is a 43% chance of North Korean WMD activity taking place in the next 14 days. In the next 30 days, there is a 62% chance for North Korean WMD activity. Beyond Parallel defines WMD activity as nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches. As seen below, Predata’s North Korea WMD overview signal captured a notable spike in conversations beginning on March 4, just two days prior to North Korea’s March 6 missile launches, and the signal has remained elevated since. Further, the signal’s 30-day exponential moving average...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A disgruntled, former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist promised to build 40 nuclear weapons for Venezuela in 10 years and design a bomb targeted for New York City in exchange for "money and power," according to secret FBI recordings released Wednesday. In the recordings, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni tells an agent posing as a Venezuelan official that the bombs would prevent the United States from invading the oil-rich nation and brags to his wife that the passing of secrets would make him wealthy. "I'm going to be the boss with money and power," the naturalized U.S. citizen...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group the White House recently identified as a key surrogate in selling the Iran nuclear deal gave National Public Radio $100,000 last year to help it report on the pact and related issues, according to the group's annual report. It also funded reporters and partnerships with other news outlets. The Ploughshares Fund's mission is to "build a safe, secure world by developing and investing in initiatives to reduce and ultimately eliminate the world's nuclear stockpiles," one that dovetails with President Barack Obama's arms control efforts. But its behind-the-scenes role advocating for the Iran agreement got more...

WALLACE: ...in October of 2002 in which you authorized the use of force, you went further than the president ever did. Let's watch:(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)ROCKEFELLER: I do believe that Iraq poses an imminent threat, but I also believe that after September 11th that question is increasingly outdated.(END VIDEO CLIP)WALLACE: Now, the president never said that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat. As you saw, you did say that. If anyone hyped the intelligence, isn't it Jay Rockefeller?ROCKEFELLER: No. I mean, this question is asked a thousand times and I'll be happy to answer it a thousand times. I took a...

In August 2007, because certain intelligence agencies were not convinced of Israeli claims that President Bashar Assad was engaged in the construction of a nuclear weapons facility, Israel sent sent 12 members of the Sayeret Matkal commando unit into Syria in two helicopters to collect soil samples outside the site in question. Needless to say, this was a highly dangerous operation. And it very nearly went wrong. The commandos were almost exposed when a Syrian patrol drove past the landing site where the helicopters were parked. But it was well worth it. The results provided "clear-cut proof" of the nuclear...

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump will be “surprised” by Iran if he annuls the nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday, according to the Trend news agency. “As I said earlier, Trump will be surprised if he tries to renegotiate the deal,” Zarif was quoted as having told the Iranian IRNA news agency. “We believe that nuclear deal is an international one and we are not worried about it at all,” he continued. “We are not going to be wary of what Trump does and we will have our options,” Zarif added, noting...

WASHINGTON — When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state. In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the...