Was there a Chemical Attack in Damascus, 21 August 2013, or a False Flag?

Rigorous research into the alleged chemical attack in Ghouta, Damascus, 21 August 2013 is essential to uncover the truth and create the conditions for peace.

Human Rights Watch, headed by Kenneth Roth, was very quick to cast blame on the Syrian government almost immediately after the alleged chemical attack and before the report by U.N. investigators had been released. HRW continued to maintain this position even though the U.N. report did not attribute blame.

The leaders of the U.S, Britain and France with support from their allies in the Middle East were prepared to take military action against Syria on the basis of claims that the Syrian government was responsible for the chemical attack.

It is 50 years since an alleged “unprovoked attack” on American ships off the coast of Vietnam led U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression”.

The Gulf of Tonkin was the crucial turning point: in 1960 there were nine hundred American troops in Vietnam; by the end of 1965 there were nearly two hundred thousand. Did President Johnson take his country to war on a lie, or was he misled?  (Ref: “Wars, Lies and Audiotape” Hindsight, ABC Radio National, 14 September 2014)

It is generally accepted that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a false flag. U.S. ships were not attacked by North Vietnam, but the claims were used as a pretext for more war. It is easy to blame President Johnson for escalating the war in Vietnam based on claims he knew to be false. However, investigative reporters Gareth Porter and Daniel Ellsberg point the finger at others in the U.S. administration – “McNamara and his cohorts”.

Scepticism and impartial research is needed to prevent further wars. Activism is needed to challenge those claims that encourage another U.S. led war.

Nobel Peace Laureates and over 100 scholars, journalists and human rights activists have drawn attention to the close and unhealthy links Human Rights Watch has with the U.S. Administration.

Image above: Screen shot.  Note: Dr Annie Sparrow is an Australian doctor.  She has spoken about Syria in an interview on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters 

In the Australian mainstream media, respected commentators can still glibly maintain that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical attack in Damascus in August 2013.

Waleed Aly, prominent commentator in The Sydney Morning Herald and on the ABC, in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in June 2014 wrote

..it’s impossible to understand this turnaround in Mosul without looking just over the border, in Syria, where a ruler every bit as brutal as Saddam Hussein, is presently in the process of enacting mass violence against his own people. This is a ruler who has merrily danced across what Barack Obama declared to be his “red line” by using chemical weapons against them, proving that this red line didn’t signify much. Obama ran an anaemic campaign for military intervention in Syria that went nowhere. These days he regards Syria merely as “somebody else’s civil war”.

Aly appears to unquestioningly support US Secretary of State’s stand.

Just a week after the article above was published, a retired American doctor of pharmacology, Denis O’Brien, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Congress

It is hoped the following reference list can offer an opportunity for impartial research into the alleged sarin /chemical attack in Damascus on 21 August 2013..

Recommended reference list:

1. For a comprehensive summary of much written about the alleged chemical attack, go to “Who Attacked Ghouta?”   http://whoghouta.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/seymour-hershs-new-report.html
2. Report of U.N. inspectors, September 2013http://www.un.org/disarmament/content/slideshow/Secretary_General_Report_of_CW_Investigation.pdf
3. “Possible Implications of Faulty US Technical Intelligence in the Damascus Nerve Agent Attack of August 21, 2013” Richard Lloyd, Former UN Weapons Inspector and Theodore A. Postol, Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1006045-possible-implications-of-bad-intelligence.html
4. “Lack of Pharmacological Proof of a Sarin Attack at Damascus: An Open Letter to Congress”, Dr Denis O’Brien, Sep 09 2013 http://www.scribd.com/doc/167219342/Lack-of-Pharmacological-Proof-of-Sarin-Attack-on-Damascus-An-Open-Letter-to-Congress
5. “Whose Sarin?”, by Seymour M. Hersh, Lond Review of Books, 19 December 2013 http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin
6. “The Red Line and the Rat Line: Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdogan and the Syrian rebels”, London Review of Books, 17 April 2014 http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
7. “Murder in the SunMorgue”, by Denis R. O’Brien, PhD, A Penury Press Online Publication, April 14 2014 http://www.logophere.com/Ghouta%20Massacre/Contents.htm
8. “New analysis of rocket used in Syria chemical attack undercuts U.S. claims” by Matthew Schofield, McClatchy Foreign Staff, Jan 2014 http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/01/15/214656_new-analysis-of-rocket-used-in.html?rh=1
9. “Human rights investigations” List of articles on Chemical Attack / Damascus http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/?s=chemical+attack+damascus
10. “U.S. Military Confirms Rebels Had Sarin” by F. Michael Maloof, formerly with Pentagon’s Technology Security Operations http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/u-s-military-confirms-rebels-had-sarin/
11. “Moon of Alabama” – Syria: NYT, HRW Wrong To Claim Chemical Attack Origin, September 18, 2013 http://www.moonofalabama.org/2013/09/syria-un-report-does-not-point-to-chemical-attack-origin.html
12. “Serious Questions about the Integrity of the UN Report “ An Analysis by Subrata Ghoshroy MIT http://web.mit.edu/sts/Analysis%20of%20the%20UN%20Report%20on%20Syria%20CW.pdf
13. “Questions Plague UN Report on Syria” by Sharmine Narwani and Radwan Mortada, alakhbar english http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/17107
14. “Do Syrian Rebels Have Sarin”, by Robert Parry, US investigative reporter http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36244.htm
15. “Mother Agnes Discusses Evidence of Chemical Attack Videos Fabrication with al-Jadeed TV – Part 1 and Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8k_B0lyoUU ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLc65lK-sxk
16. “Chemical Weapons Attack in Damascus, August 2013”, Australians for Mussalaha (Reconciliation) in Syria https://australiansforreconciliationinsyria.org/chemical-weapons-attack-in-damascus/
17. “The Failed Pretext for War: Seymour Hersh, Eliot Higgins, MIT Rocket Scientists on Sarin Gas Attack”, by Carmen Russell-Sluchansky, Mint Press News http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-failed-pretext-for-war-seymour-hersh-eliot-higgins-mit-professors-on-sarin-gas-attack/188597/
18. “Talk: Alleged Chemical Attack, August 21, 2013”, A Closer Look on Syria webpage http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Alleged_Chemical_Attack,_August_21,_2013

Letter from Professor Theodore A. Postol, MIT, to Mr Dan Kaszeta (source: Sharmine Narwani https://twitter.com/snarwani/status/500639791231156225 )