Exclusive: Intercepted Calls Prove Syrian Army Used Nerve Gas, U.S. Spies Say

Foreign Policy ^ | 8-27-13 | Posted By Noah Shachtman

[quimby]

Last Wednesday, in the hours after a horrific chemical attack east of Damascus, an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of a chemical weapons unit, demanding answers for a nerve agent strike that killed more than 1,000 people. Those conversations were overheard by U.S. intelligence services, The Cable has learned. And that is the major reason why American officials now say they're certain that the attacks were the work of the Bashar al-Assad regime -- and why the U.S. military is likely to attack that regime in a matter of days.

But the intercept raises questions about culpability for the chemical massacre, even as it answers others: Was the attack on Aug. 21 the work of a Syrian officer overstepping his bounds? Or was the strike explicitly directed by senior members of the Assad regime? "It's unclear where control lies," one U.S. intelligence official told The Cable. "Is there just some sort of general blessing to use these things? Or are there explicit orders for each attack?"

[Earthdweller]

It’s so embarrassing...how did we get here? Our poor military and special opps still have to follow these idiot admin orders. Shaking my head...

[cpdiii]

Obama and his administration have so often and repeatedly about all things, we do not know when he is telling the truth.

Personally I think the rebels use the chemical weapons. Assad was winning and to use chemical weapons would cause him to receive an attack by the USA and its Allies.

This whole damn thing stinks of a false flag operation.

[DoughtyOne]

I agree. What keeps coming to my mind, is how I used to blame the German populace, all of them for what took place just prior to and during WWII.

History does repeat itself. This is either corrected, or it moves in that direction only worse.

[GOPJ]

Those who want a war need to man up, organize, and go fight on their own dime.

I agree. If liberal elites want a war let them send their own sons and raise their own funds. It's an ego adventure for liberal elites...

It's sad the Syrian regime is horrible.

And yeah, people get the government they deserve. I know that. Syrian citizens pay a high price for believing in a religion that supports eternal war. It's awful - for them - and for us to watch. This horror is cultural - based on ideas they've chosen to believe. We can't stop that... Citizens being murdered with chemicals is one consequence of their choices.

Feeling 'sorry' for their lot does NOT in any way make us responsible for their choices. It's not our problem. And the sooner they figure that out the better off we'll all be.

[Grampa Dave]

"my best guess is this is another ruse." AMAZING how quiet the Anti-War liberal left is on yet another pending undeclared war by the Peace Prize President Obama, isn't it??

LBJ went from being a so called great president with the liberals with his war on poverty, which is still being lost, to one of the worse presidents ever after he deepened the Nam War because of the so called Gulf of Tonkin event.

Now, Obozoliar appears to be following in the footsteps of LBJ with his lies about Assad and Syria, while covering for the Muslim Brotherhood Thugs and al Queda in Syria.

"Obozoliar is drawing us in and he will go with or without the consent of the Congress and the Consent of the Governed. This could be an impeachable act if he botches it and was not legally covered. What's it to him if a few US pilots get shot down, some guys get seriously injured in the cruise missile prep on our ships, Americans citizens are kidnapped by Hezbollah in Beirut,, US Embassy and consulates across the Middle East are MANPAD-ed with major strikes, and otherwise all hell breaks loose. Domestically, he can get NSA, Obozo care, Fox News wiretap-gate, IRS-gate and Benghazi off the front pages."

[conservativebabe]

Even if that’s true I still don’t believe we should get involved. It’s far too risky with Putin, China and Iran making threats. And of course there is the fact that Obama can’t run a lemonade stand, much less lead a military operation. Our troops are in great peril with him as CIC. I don’t think we should have people anywhere as long as he’s in office.

He’s risking American lives both military and civilian and also risking the lives of Israelis.

[Drawn7979]

that's so old school.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

That's it, an officer acting on his own. No red line crossed here.

[Billthedrill]

Hmm...really? Was it Hans Blix or Scott Ritter?

[TurboZamboni]

Hopefully a country with money to burn ,a military draft and lots of males 18-25 wanting to die will ‘fill the vacuum’ in Syria.

[Bellflower]

Possible turf war between two satanic factions over who will become world leader, the obama bunch, or the assad bunch. Ya know, somebody has got to do it.

[holden]

If a “rogue leader” was responsible, isn’t it reasonable to at least suspect he might have been working for the rebels, or under threat by rebels?

Currently known circumstances don’t yet lead me to blame Assad, as his line of command above the “rogue leader” candidly didn’t know how it could have come from the Syrian government side.

And why isn’t the WHut addressing the question of, “Where did those WMDs come from?” Saddam? Hezbollah/Iran?

HF

[Ozark Tom]

If you had a bad-blood feud in your neighborhood, and shaded word put on the street could instigate a rival power to hit their gang associates, would it be worth the gamble? If your avowed enemy then joins the fight, distracted or otherwise committed, can you maim them from the sidelines yet deflect their blows?

[austinaero]

UN’s Carla del Ponte has so far reached a different conclusion.

[austinaero]

” The German report, which cited an ex-Mossad official who insisted on remaining anonymous, said the intercepted conversation proved that Bashar Assad’s regime was responsible for the use of nonconventional weapons. “

Wait! Wait! What?

Some report out of Germany is quoting an anonymous ex-Mossad official? And the veracity of said official’s report/status can be verified?

Unbelievable

[CMB_polarization]

Can’t believe anything anymore, let the Israelis and Saudis nursemaid the Middle East with their money and man power. If the US and NATO if they are smart, pull out and never look back. Oil be damned. If Russia and China want to fish in troubled waters, let them at their risk. America used to be an innovator in energy and resources, can be again.

[M Kehoe]

Those conversations were overheard by U.S. intelligence services,

If true, then The Cable just informed the enemy of our capabilities.

Reminds me of the NYT...

5.56mm

[First_Salute]

An NSA agent walks in to a bar.

Obama and Rice are there; he’s at a table; and she is at the bar; and each is on his/her cell phone ...

Next day, The Palace Media (formerly “iberal media”) report: “Exclusive: Intercepted Calls Prove Syrian Army Used Nerve Gas, U.S. Spies Say”

[irish_links]

...We will not fight your proxy war against Iran and Shia Islam. Go at it, fellas....

You nailed it. It amazes me how long it has taken many in the U.S. to come to the realization that this mess in the Middle East has very little to do with us and everything to do with a centuries-old schism within Islam and its modern guise as a fight for power, riches and Manichean victory among the warring parties. Examining the past 12 years of history makes me wonder just how bright the leading neo-conservatism are.

Clearly, we need to extricate ourselves from the pending conflagration. Oddly, many seem anxious to jump right back in. May god help us.

[Nextrush]

Israel’s best case scenario is for its many enemies to be fighting each other so they aren’t fighting Israel militarily in the case of Assad and the MB-Al Quaeda or diplomatically like the US, EU, Russia, China etc. etc. with their demands to give up land to the Palestinians.

Israel appears to be getting a lot of what they want right now but risking the possibility of missile attacks from Assad in the process.