Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2018 11:10:13 GMT -5
Geez... who'd have thunk that Trump was dead wrong, once again, when he bombed Syrian government buildings in April, after immediately blaming President "Animal" Assad for using chemical weapons in Douma? The U.S. mass media claims about Assad using chemical weapons in Douma made no strategic sense, as a number of military experts said at the time.
General Mattis admitted to Newsweek in February of 2018 that there was "no evidence" that Assad had used chemical weapons in 2017, as claimed by Trump, prior to Trump launching Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria.
Douma was another obvious false flag attack-- heavily promoted by Trump and our own mainstream U.S. media-- to justify the CIA/NATO/Saudi/Mossad proxy war against the Syrian government.
Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs was correct all along.
July 7, 2018
"No organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products were detected in the environmental samples or in the plasma samples taken from alleged casualties."
Compare the newly published official OPCW findings with the 5-page White House assessment released on April 13th, just days after the alleged attack. Now contradicted by the new OPCW findings, the White House asserted that sarin was used at Douma,
A significant body of information points to the regime using chlorine in its bombardment of Duma, while some additional information points to the regime also using the nerve agent sarin.
Yes, a real headline: CNN screenshot of coverage of the alleged chemical attack in April 2018 which we discussed here.
Firebrand British MP George Galloway responded as follows moments after the OPCW's findings were made public:
Was that, was that the news? What about Douma? The chemical weapons attack? The nerve agent bombs that rained down on Douma that took us to the brink of World War 3?
The OPCW have just reported, well two hours ago... There was no nerve gas attack on Douma. There was no nerve agent deployed on Douma. We were taken to World War 3’s brink on a crock. A crock of vile propaganda. Ring any bells?
No Nerve Agents, Concludes OPCW Report
The April 7th alleged chemical attack, widely blamed by Western countries and the media on Assad's forces, resulted in massive US-led retaliatory airstrikes mostly concentrated on suspected chemical production facilities in Damascus.
Though at the time both UN and OPCW officials urged caution in the rush to blame "animal Assad" for "using nerve agents" as many world headlines breathlessly concluded a mere moments after videos purporting to show scores of chemical attack victims first surfaced (and though CW experts themselves warned that not a single neutral observer was on the ground to verify such claims when it happened), the latest OPCW report flatly contradicts the narrative that quickly solidified in the mainstream.
#OPCW report on #Douma
"No organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products were detected in the environmental samples or in the plasma samples taken from alleged casualties"https://t.co/HxOlNfNbC7#Syria
1/ pic.twitter.com/PUtlNTbc1s
— Malinka🔸(Tanya P.) (@malinka1102) July 6, 2018
Nerve agents like sarin were quickly associated in headlines with unverified allegations of a chlorine attack, for example in the following major UK headline a day after the incident: Syrian government accused of using nerve agents as death toll from Douma 'chemical weapons attack' rises.
Like dozens of others, the story uncritically promoted the following:
The pro-opposition Ghouta Media Centre alleged that a helicopter had dropped a barrel bomb containing sarin, and another organisation claimed that a hospital had been hit by a chlorine bomb.
With images of women and children foaming from the mouth and nose circulating on social media, the death toll from Saturday evening’s attack on the town was said to have risen to at least 49, with some observers saying more than 150 people have been killed.
This as the White House said it had "very high confidence" the Syrian government carried out the attack, basing its assessment, as MSNBC reported at the time, in part on the following: "blood and urine samples obtained by the U.S. from victims of the chemical strike tested positive for chlorine gas and a nerve agent."
The 5-page White House assessment released on April 13th asserted that sarin was used at Douma, something now contradicted by the OPCW:
A significant body of information points to the regime using chlorine in its bombardment of Duma, while some additional information points to the regime also using the nerve agent sarin.
Media Headlines Debunked
Throughout April and subsequent months, journalists and pundits continued to connect the suffering of victims in Douma with the deadly sarin nerve agent, as one NPR piece with the emotionally gripping headline, Syrian 7-Year-Old: 'I Want To Be A Doctor So I Can Help In A Chemical Attack', suggested: "The U.S. says it's highly confident that evidence points to the use of chlorine and possibly a nerve agent, perhaps sarin."
The White House began building its case against Assad upon this mysterious blood and urine "data", ultimately leading to President Trump unleashing over 100 tomahawk missiles on Damascus, was nowhere to be found in the OPCW's findings released Friday.
Here's CNN reporting in the days after events at Douma:
CNN's @drsanjaygupta: Sarin gas acts like a "pesticide on humans ... this is something that is extremely lethal, something that works really fast" t.co/RHfFxPhIg9 t.co/EF8noAyjtq
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@ac360) April 14, 2018
But again, Friday's OPCW preliminary report, which unlike most others among its assessments included a verified full OPCW chain of custody for most samples as its investigators actually studied the site (notably, the April 2017 Khan Sheikhoun alleged CW attack site was never visited by investigators), reads as follows:
OPCW designated labs conducted analysis of prioritised samples. The results show that no organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products were detected in the environmental samples or in the plasma samples taken from alleged casualties. Along with explosive residues, various chlorinated organic chemicals were found in samples from two sites, for which there is full chain of custody. Work by the team to establish the significance of these results is on-going. The FFM team will continue its work to draw final conclusions.
You remember straight after Skripal attack a huge neo-con push to bomb Syria due to alleged nerve agent attack on jihadi held Douma? Before Robert Fisk arrived and found it untrue? Now OPCW confirm no nerve agent. Some chlorine compounds found but origin and significance unclear. t.co/nyEHxEy8Kc
— Craig Murray (@craigmurrayorg) July 7, 2018
