International, Media

Was A Rogue Syrian Officer Responsible For Chemical Weapons Attack?

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

syria - ghoutaPresident Obama claims that a chemical weapons attack was carried out by the Syrian government in Ghouta on Aug 21. The Obama Administration then sent an “intelligence official” to Foreign Policy magazine to leak the intelligence supporting that claim. That intelligence consisted of captured phone call between an official of the Syrian Ministry of Defense and the leader of a chemical weapons unit. The phone calls were described as panicky with the official demanding answers.

You can kiss that intelligence collection method goodbye. This “leak” also may have endangered the NOC who placed the device. As the phone call shows, the Assad regime is responsible, but that regime includes everyone from Syrian President Assad to the lowliest private in the Syrian army.

The phone call does not indicate who gave the order. The repeated referrals to the entire “regime” means that the Obama Administration hasn’t narrowed it down. The easiest way to prevent irate phone call from a Ministry of Defense official is to claim that Bashar al-Assad or his brutal younger brother, Maher, gave the order. That would have put an end to any future phone calls.

One intelligence official asked: “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.” Intelligence analysts say that without the intercepted call does not establish who gave the order and could indicate that it was a mistake.

Assad is head of a weak regime, whose Alawite constituency is far outnumbered by the Sunni population. The use of chemical weapons in such circumstances is a typical behavior. It seems unlikely that a single, limited US strike of Syria will change the motivation for using chemical weapons. After Syria survives the US strike, the next chemical weapons usage will place the US in an increasingly difficult position. Future US strikes will become more and more politically difficult.

The Syrian civil war has provided a vehicle for a resurgence of al-Qaeda. A Syrian rebel group, the Al-Nusra Front, has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri. The Syrian Free Army, a group of rebels made up of Syrian soldiers who have defected, will “collaborate with any faction allowing them to topple” Assad. Networks are being set up to funnel foreign jihadis into Syria. In areas controlled by Al-Nusra, Sharia law is being enforced.

With a choice between Assad and his chemical weapons, and another Islamic state sworn to the destruction of Israel, it’s time to sit one out.

H/T: The Guardian, National Post, Juan Cole, Charles P. Pierce, Bloomberg.

92 thoughts on “Was A Rogue Syrian Officer Responsible For Chemical Weapons Attack?”

  1. Jill,
    I want this lying Administration to answer those pointed questions too…

  2. nick spinelli
    1, August 31, 2013 at 10:16 am

    Like I’ve always said:
    If you’re busy towing the line…
    … You’re not bucking the system.

  4. If true..a big if, how the hell did the rebels get these weapons. There’s a dense fog of war ongoing. The rebels are Al-Qaeda for the most part.

  5. http://www.examiner.com/article/breaking-news-rebels-admit-gas-attack-result-of-mishandling-chemical-weapons

    Excerpt:

    Breaking news: Rebels admit gas attack result of mishandling chemical weapons

    Joseph ParkerDothan Christianity Examiner

    August 30, 2013

    In a report that is sure to be considered blockbuster news, the rebels told Dale Gavlak, a reporter who has written for the Associated Press, NPR and BBC, they are responsible for the chemical attack last week.

    Gavlak is a Middle Eastern journalist who filed the report about the rebels claiming responsibility on the Mint Press News website, which is affiliated with AP.

    In that report allegedly the rebels told him the chemical attack was a result of mishandling chemical weapons.

    This news should deflate the accusations, against the Assad regime, coming from the U.S., Britain, France and the Arab League.

    1. Well, maybe. There is much that we do not know.

      But to believe this you have to believe that mistakes were made in several different locations, all at about the same time. And that those mistakes took place at approximately the same time and same areas as Assad military artillery barrages.

      And you have to believe that the Saudi’s managed to transported chemical weapons for delivery to a militia and no body noticed.

      There are lots of questions here.

      So maybe. But I think this has to go on the stack of ‘further consideration required’.

      BTW, that stack is pretty tall right now.

  6. We have a need for speed…. We have the MIC to feed…. Blackwater Xe anyone….

  9. Come on. people! The extremely intelligent, former Speaker of the House, a woman of great integrity, says we need to go to war. Now, STFU and tow that line, lowly citizens.

  11. Any person with half a brain knows that the US can listen in on virtually any communication that is transmitted electronically. That is why Bin Laden stayed away from using phone, e-mails, etc. It is NO big secret and hasn’t been for decades.

  12. A little OT, to make my point:

    “Obama administration backs prayer at local government meetings”

    “In a potentially far-reaching case on separation of church and state, the Obama administration and Republican lawmakers tell the Supreme Court they support easing limits on prayers at meetings.”

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-prayer-20130809,0,6470966.story

    With regard to any U.S. military action in Syria:

    Since Obama is apparently a prayin’ man, and apparently believes that he has to act “to save face”, this is one time when he might want to ask for “the courage to be weak.” That… or return his Nobel Peace Prize — something he should do anyway, IMO.

  13. We really don’t know what the content of these phone calls were. We are not allowed to know them, we are the lowly unwashed. Given the serial lying of NSA/Obama concerning anything to do with “intelligence”, without independent verification, how do we even know what was intercepted?

    Today, the Obama administration is reacting to the slip about having 3 days advance notice of the CW attack preparations, while they sat back and did nothing to stop it. Today’s explanation is inoperative. It talks of “some built in delay”. What was the nature of “some built in delay”? I think this question is crucial. If the US claims they have a moral duty to take action about CW, then why didn’t they report even hints of their suspicion that one was about to take place? I want a pointed set of questions and real answers about that.

  14. So we are going to go and bomb Syrians to punish the powers the be for bombing Syrians; cause that’s what conquering big bully nations do with their WMD’s!

  16. When did the standard of America going to war, requiring an Act of Congress on issues of National Defense; change to the standard of we don’t like what those guys are doing so F—- Em and who needs a Congress anyway?

  17. “Will we now arrest the Obama Administration official who ordered this leak?”

    What about the co -conspirators at Foreign Policy magazine. Has the FISA court authorized taps on their phones and email account yet?

    What charges would you say are appropriate for these traitors?

    I would laugh but it is not funny.

  18. Did the same thing with WMD’s….do they think anyone will be stupid enough to fall for the same ruse twice!?!?

  19. A AP reporter published a story claiming Syrian rebels were transporting the chemical weapons which they claim they received from Saudi Arabia when they erred and the weapons exploded.

  20. Will we now arrest the Obama Administration official who ordered this leak? This Syria adventure is a serious mistake. Congress should be getting into its private planes to race back to DC to stop it.

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