Syria Chemical Attack Killed Hundreds But No One Want To See This Truth

The day, 21 August 2013, will not get instant recognition as a day like 11 September 2001, but it will certainly come up in any Wikipedia article on chemical attacks round the world. What really happened on 21 August 2013 and what they are trying to make you believe. Read on to find the truth. (Courtesy and reproduced under permission from Island Crisis – Original article here).

People, who keep laughing 24 hours of a day, are called loonies and we certainly believe that majority of our readers will fail the loony test.  However, it does take just one loony to press a button to release deadly chemicals, which appears to have killed potentially from 355 to 1200 people in a single moment of madness on August 21 2013. For many of you, who regularly skip news internet sites and have not switched on their TV news stations, ever since Bill O’Reilly (FOX TV news commentator) came on the air back in 1996; here is the briefest of timelines of the latest Syria conflict stemming from 2011.

Syria Conflict – The Timeline

• 2011 March – As the entire Arab world is engulfed by the ‘Arab Spring’ fever, protests start in the southern city of Deraa as well as some parts of Damascus. The initial protests led by majority Sunni Muslim worshippers, are about prisoners of war to be released by the Bashar Assad regime (part of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Muslims).

• 2011 July – Predictable mistakes by the Assad regime in bringing tanks, turns 10000 Syrians into refugees spilling into Turkey and gets the attention of the US and its allies as well as the UN.

• 2011 November – Syrian National Council (common front of internal and external Opposition activists) formed with the support of the Arab League (with Saudis being the primary backbone). Free Syrian Army start counter-strikes against Assad’s regime.

• 2012 March – As the civil war rages, the UN non-binding peace plan, drafted by Kofi Annan (the ex UN Secretary-General) gets the reluctant support of China and Russia (with the usual last minute changes in drafts just to delay things ever so subtly). The resolution was never formalized and it just appeared like a bit of water on an elephant’s back as the fighting escalated.

• 2012 July/August – The Opposition Army (any formation of people more than 200 fitted with uniforms and supplied by other countries with weapons is barmy enough to be  called an army)  begin to make inroads capturing Aleppo.

• 2012 December – US joins Britain, France, Turkey and the Gulf states in formally recognizing Syria’s opposition National Coalition as ‘the legitimate representative’ of the Syrian people. (I thought Democracy was the only legal way of getting legitimate representation, but the mighty can always stretch certain terms legally to suit their purpose).

• 2013 March/April – An Interim Prime Minister is announced by the National Coalition. US / Britain demand investigations into reports the official Syrian Government used chemical weapons, but no specific incident high-lighted.

• 2013 May/June – The seesaw battle between the official Syrian Army and the unofficial Syrian Army (depending on which side of the mirror you are looking from) continues with Assad’s forces recapturing Qusair (which is strategically located). There appear divisions within the National Coalition ranks and reports of international arms supplies tapering off as Islamists and Al-Qaeda groups controlling the Free Syria movement gather momentum (Al-Qaeda v/s US-led allies in Iraq, now in the same camp, talk about a twist-in-the-tale). The Islamist-led democratically elected government in Egypt was toppled at around the same time and Syria was losing a bit of glamour in the front-page of war-related items at that time.

• 2013 August – Initial reports from Rebels and Western governments accuse Pro-Assad forces of using chemical weapons in an incident on August 21^st in Ghouta (a suburb of Damascus) which has resulted in a death figure between 400 to 1200 people.

The Conflicting Reports

As the conflicting reports on the sequence of events on August 21^st continue to  splash across all major newspapers and online sites around the world, the familiar story of what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq (during the Bush regime) appears to be re-enacted one more time. Foreign US Secretary John Kerry (we love him because his crisis smile as a Google search term unwittingly gives our website Island Crisis some free publicity) has begun the round of TV interviews aiming to build up the case for a strike by US-led allies.

The situation of what happened on August 21^st was hazy and  many reports in Bloomberg and other US sites cited the Syrian government (notably Maher Bassad, the brother of the President and commander of the 4^th division) as the possible perpetrator of the attack on unharmed Syrian civilians. Added to the previous allegations by the US & allies over chemical warfare usage by the Syrian regime, there immediately appeared reports of an immediate strike by the USA on Syria, with all the US naval ships located around the Gulf on high-alert. The stock market and oil prices duly obliged by going in different directions, one down and one up, leading to smirks from well-connected bear traders and howling screams of despair in gullible investors. All sources cited the British, US and French parliaments in thick discussions about whether to go-ahead with a strike or not before August 2013, came to an end.

Truth about the Syrian Chemical and Gas Attack?

It is in this increasingly muddy waters that a new report has come up, which brings a totally different spin on what actually transpired that day and is food-for-thought for the frenzied mob smelling blood. This report, first appeared in Mint Press News and is credited to Dale Gavlak, one of their correspondents, although primary reporting is said to have been done by Yahya Ababneh, the correspondent on the ground. The report is said to be based on a series of exit-interviews done by the correspondent with people around Ghouta (which is Ground-Zero of the chemical incident). The UN inspectors were already in Damascus, 3 days before the incident and Syria did give them permission to investigate the site and collect samples. Would the Syrian government have the audacity to conduct a chemical gassing on their citizens when the UN inspectors were around and then invite the inspectors to visit and collect samples?

I guess cold-blooded murderers are also the biggest risk-takers, so one never knows what goes on in the minds of Decision makers when there is blood and mayhem all around. However, the report appears to pinpoint the blame at a different culprit and a completely set of bizarre circumstances.

YES Bizarre Circumstances.

The gist of this report mentions that, a group Jabhat Al Nusra (linked to Al-Qaeeda and backed by Saudi intelligence) delivered certain chemical weapons to the Syrian fighters around Damascus and this was being stored in underground buildings around the area of Ghouta.

According to a female freedom fighter (nick-named K , cannot be named for obvious reasons) no one was taught how to handle chemical weapons. I guess the no of terrorist attacks, which happen round-the-clock in the 21^st century and the easy availability of Wi-Fi, even in conflict areas must have lulled the handlers to think that novice fighters can handle chemical weapons by suitable research and battle-experience. Ultimately, it is supposed to be curiosity and sheer ineptness, which resulted in rockets containing neuro-toxic agents being released and causing the subsequent explosions and death. Doctors Without Borders is also cited in the report confirming their health workers on the ground were suffering the same symptoms (frothing at the mouth, blurry vision) while helping the victims. It is certainly no laughing matter for Abdul-Moneim who lost his son in this attack and many other Ghouta fathers who lost their children. The fact that accidental usage or deliberate usage of chemical weapons to put the blame on others was the cause is chilling to the bone.  It brings the sobering thought in many readers mind that the game of life is finally just a game of chess for the Decision makers in every country (the calculation of how many pawns will be lost defines the next move made).

Dirty Politics Behind The Syrian War

There is also mention of an article in the Daily Telegraph, which divulges details of a purported meeting between the Saudi intelligence chief and the Russian key decision-makers. In this meeting, it is alleged that a quid-pro-quo of safe Winter Olympics in Russia to dropping support for the Syrian regime is offered, in-order to sharpen the report case, that it was not Assad’s neurotic brother who pulled the trigger. It is never going to be disclosed, whether the spy-heads in US, UK and France are discussing this report with their bosses. However, at the point of writing, David Cameron has already lost a Commons vote, Hollande’s opinion rating over a potential Syrian attack has nose-dived and even Obama has seemingly postponed a decision to strike to Sept 9^th to get it ratified by Congress. All this action sounds riveting enough, but Michael Jackson’s song ‘Heal the World, Make it a Better Place for you and me’ appears to have dropped off the radar just like the super-star himself.

Tailpiece – USA and Al Qaida on the same Bed

“There are lies, damned lies and statistics” – the famous saying attributed to Mark Twain does seem fitting to ponder over after going through this article. Another famous story about the blind men and the elephant also comes to mind in describing the plight of normal readers like us when we read the tragedy of the current Syrian story and we fall into one camp or the other depending on our cherished values. We have to decide whether you are with America or against America in this battle (without realizing in the background that Al-Qaida is sharing the same bed with America). There appears to be no way anyone can paper over the crack, disrupting Syria society at the current juncture. There is a meeting of G-20 leaders happening in September. If only the USA, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia (the 4 who hold the strongest cards in this poker game) pick up their hotlines and march Assad and the Opposition’s current leader to the negotiating table during that meeting. It is only then the serious business of carving out 2 (or more) slices of the cake, keeping in mind the religious inter-play of Sunni / Shia / Christian Druze / Alawite can  take place. Until then, the United Nations nameplate appears Unilaterally Narrow-minded for the fast-changing 21^st century.