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A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Magda Hassan - 01-09-2013
By Russell Findlay
Revealed: Britain sold nerve gas chemicals to Syria 10 months after war began
1 Sep 2013 07:21
FURIOUS politicians have demanded Prime Minister David Cameron explain why chemical export licences were granted to firms last January 10 months after the Syrian uprising began.
Men search for survivors amid debris of collapsed buildings Men search for survivors amid debris of collapsed buildings
REUTERS/Nour Fourat
BRITAIN allowed firms to sell chemicals to Syria capable of being used to make nerve gas, we can reveal today.
Export licences for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride were granted months after the bloody civil war in the Middle East began.
The chemical is capable of being used to make weapons such as sarin, thought to be the nerve gas used in the attack on a rebel-held Damascus suburb which killed nearly 1500 people, including 426 children, 10 days ago.
President Bashar Assad's forces have been blamed for the attack, leading to calls for an armed response from the West.
British MPs voted against joining America in a strike. But last night, President Barack Obama said he will seek the approval of Congress to take military action.
The chemical export licences were granted by Business Secretary Vince Cable's Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills last January 10 months after the Syrian uprising began.
They were only revoked six months later, when the European Union imposed tough sanctions on Assad's regime.
Yesterday, politicians and anti-arms trade campaigners urged Prime Minister David Cameron to explain why the licences were granted.
Dunfermline and West Fife Labour MP Thomas Docherty, who sits on the House of Commons' Committees on Arms Export Controls, plans to lodge Parliamentary questions tomorrow and write to Cable.
He said: "At best it has been negligent and at worst reckless to export material that could have been used to create chemical weapons.
"MPs will be horrified and furious that the UK Government has been allowing the sale of these
ingredients to Syria.
"What the hell were they doing granting a licence in the first place?
"I would like to know what investigations have been carried out to establish if any of this
material exported to Syria was subsequently used in the attacks on its own people."
The SNP's leader at Westminster, Angus Robertson MP, said: "I will be raising this in Parliament as soon as possible to find out what examination the UK Government made of where these chemicals were going and what they were to be used for.
"Approving the sale of chemicals which can be converted into lethal weapons during a civil war is a very serious issue.
"We need to know who these chemicals were sold to, why they were sold, and whether the UK Government were aware that the chemicals could potentially be used for chemical weapons.
"The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria makes a full explanation around these shady deals even more important."
A man holds the body of a dead child A man holds the body of a dead child
Reuters
Mark Bitel of the Campaign Against Arms Trade (Scotland) said: "The UK Government claims to have an ethical policy on arms exports, but when it comes down to practice the reality is very different.
"The Government is hypocritical to talk about chemical weapons if it's granting licences to companies to export to regimes such as Syria.
"We saw David Cameron, in the wake of the Arab Spring, rushing off to the Middle East with arms companies to promote business."
Some details emerged in July of the UK's sale of the chemicals to Syria but the crucial dates of the exports were withheld.
The Government have refused to identify the licence holders or say whether the licences were issued to one or two companies.
The chemicals are in powder form and highly toxic. The licences specified that they should be used for making aluminium structures such as window frames.
Professor Alastair Hay, an expert in environmental toxicology at Leeds University, said: "They have a variety of industrial uses.
"But when you're making a nerve agent, you attach a fluoride element and that's what gives it
its toxic properties.
"Fluoride is key to making these munitions.
"Whether these elements were used by Syria to make nerve agents is something only subsequent investigation will reveal."
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "The UK Government operates one of the most rigorous arms export control regimes in the world.
"An export licence would not be granted where we assess there is a clear risk the goods might be used for internal repression, provoke or prolong conflict within a country, be used aggressively against another country or risk our national security.
"When circumstances change or new information comes to light, we can and do revoke licences where the proposed export is no longer consistent with the criteria."
Assad's regime have denied blame for the nerve gas attack, saying the accusations are "full of lies". They have pointed the finger at rebels.
UN weapons inspectors investigating the atrocity left Damascus just before dawn yesterday and crossed into Lebanon after gathering evidence for four days.
They are now travelling to the Dutch HQ of the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons.
It could take up to two weeks for the results of tests on samples taken from victims of the attack, as well as from water, soil and shrapnel, to be revealed.
On Thursday night, Cameron referred to a Joint Intelligence Committee report on Assad's use of chemical weapons as he tried in vain to persuade MPs to back military action. The report said the regime had used chemical weapons at least 14 times since last year.
Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday attacked America's stance and urged Obama to show evidence to the UN that Assad's regime was guilty.
Russia and Iran are Syria's staunchest allies. The Russians have given arms and military backing to Assad during the civil war which has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
Putin said it would be "utter nonsense" for Syria to provoke opponents and spark military
retaliation from the West by using chemical weapons.
But the White House, backed by the French government, remain convinced of Assad's guilt, and Obama proposes "limited, narrow" military action to punish the regime.
He has the power to order a strike, but last night said he would seek approval from Congress.
Obama called the chemical attack "an assault on human dignity" and said: "We are prepared to strike whenever we choose."
He added: "Our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive. It will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now.
"And I'm prepared to give that order."
Some fear an attack on Syria will spark retaliation against US allies in the region, such
as Jordan, Turkey and Israel.
General Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, described the Commons vote as a "victory for common sense and democracy".
He added that the "drumbeat for war" had dwindled among the British public in recent days.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/britain-sold-nerve-gas-chemicals-2242520
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Magda Hassan - 02-09-2013
So, the imported mercenaries have CW hidden and it get blown up by the Syrian military and hundreds are gassed and die. This death toll, even at the unsubstantiated 1400 quoted by Kerry, represents less than 1% of total death since fighting started. All the drum banging to kill more Syrians because of these particular deaths clearly isn't about saving lives. Is it because others French/US/Turkey/GCC? have already entered and are waiting to go. Share prices indicate this is at least 2 month in the making.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Marlene Zenker - 03-09-2013
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/revealed-britain-sold-nerve-gas-2242520
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - John Mooney - 03-09-2013
Britain sells weapons to everyone.
So does USA (front door, back door).
The hypocracy is staggering.
Yes... Assad had chemical weapons (who doesn't).... but did he use them against his own people on the day the UN inspectors turn up? Is he stupid?
The disgusting French PM's "proof" that Assad used them is that he possessed the capabilty.... so what?
That is not proof he used them.
These people are making me sick... they have orders to bomb Syria and that's what they intend to do.
The game for them is keep looking assured, don't debate and don't blink.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Kenneth Kapel - 03-09-2013
If Mr. Obama doesn't bomb Syria Halliburon & General Dynamics will be greatly disappointed as will Israel. Obama must do the dance that his military friends desire or "an accident", " a lone nut" or a "bungled breakin in" may occur.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Marlene Zenker - 03-09-2013
Kenneth Kapel Wrote:If Mr. Obama doesn't bomb Syria Halliburon & General Dynamics will be greatly disappointed as will Israel. Obama must do the dance that his military friends desire or "an accident", " a lone nut" or a "bungled breakin in" may occur.
I have this fantasy - the President - whoever he/she is - makes a sudden, unscheduled entrance at the "Daily Briefing" and tells the truth - like what JFK hopefully would have done if he survived, including that they will want to kill him/her for revealing this - but now everyone knows and he immediately asks the Justice Dept. to prosecute all the players including a bunch of posthumous indictments. Some fantasy, huh?
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Kenneth Kapel - 03-09-2013
Marlene Zenker Wrote:Kenneth Kapel Wrote:If Mr. Obama doesn't bomb Syria Halliburon & General Dynamics will be greatly disappointed as will Israel. Obama must do the dance that his military friends desire or "an accident", " a lone nut" or a "bungled breakin in" may occur.
I have this fantasy - the President - whoever he/she is - makes a sudden, unscheduled entrance at the "Daily Briefing" and tells the truth - like what JFK hopefully would have done if he survived, including that they will want to kill him/her for revealing this - but now everyone knows and he immediately asks the Justice Dept. to prosecute all the players including a bunch of posthumous indictments. Some fantasy, huh?
It's fantasy one can hope for, but alas can only occur in a dream.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Peter Lemkin - 04-09-2013
The Anti-Empire Report #120
By William Blum September 3rd, 2013Found at last! After searching for 10 years, the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction have finally been found in Syria!
Secretary of State John Kerry: "There is no doubt that Saddam al-Assad has crossed the red line. … Sorry, did I just say Saddam'?"A US drone has just taken a photo of Mullah Omar riding on a motorcycle through the streets of Damascus. 1
So what do we have as the United States refuses to rule out an attack on Syria and keeps five warships loaded with missiles in the eastern Mediterranean?
- Only 9 percent of Americans support a US military intervention in Syria. 2
- Only 11% of the British supported a UK military intervention; this increased to 25% after the announcement of the alleged chemical attack. 3
- British Prime Minister David Cameron lost a parliamentary vote August 29 endorsing military action against Syria 285-272
- 64% of the French people oppose an intervention by the French Army. 4 "Before acting we need proof," said a French government spokesperson. 5
- Former and current high-ranking US military officers question the use of military force as a punitive measure and suggest that the White House lacks a coherent strategy. "If the administration is ambivalent about the wisdom of defeating or crippling the Syrian leader, possibly setting the stage for Damascus to fall to Islamic fundamentalist rebels, they say, the military objective of strikes on Assad's military targets is at best ambiguous." 6
- President Obama has no United Nations approval for intervention. (In February a massive bombing attack in Damascus left 100 dead and 250 wounded; in all likelihood the work of Islamic terrorists. The United States blocked a Russian resolution condemning the attack from moving through the UN Security Council)
- None of NATO's 28 members has proposed an alliance with the United States in an attack against Syria. NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that he saw "no NATO role in an international reaction to the [Syrian] regime." 7
- The Arab League has not publicly endorsed support of US military action in Syria; nor have key regional players Saudi Arabia and Qatar, concerned about a possible public backlash from open support for US intervention. 8
- We don't even know for sure that there was a real chemical attack. Where does that accusation come from? The United States? The al-Qaeda rebels? Or if there was such an attack, where is the evidence that the Syrian government was the perpetrator? The Assad regime has accused the rebels of the act, releasing a video showing a cave with alleged chemical-weapon equipment as well as claiming to have captured rebels possessing sarin gas. Whoever dispensed the poison gas why, in this age of ubiquitous cameras, are there no photos of anyone wearing a gas mask? The UN inspection team was originally dispatched to Syria to investigate allegations of earlier chemical weapons use: two allegations made by the rebels and one by the government.
- The United States insists that Syria refused to allow the UN investigators access to the site of the attack. However, the UN request was made Saturday, August 24; the Syrian government agreed the next day. 9
- In rejecting allegations that Syria deployed poison gas, Russian officials have argued that the rebels had a clear motivation: to spur a Western-led attack on Syrian forces; while Assad had every reason to avoid any action that could spur international intervention at a time when his forces were winning the war and the rebels are increasingly losing world support because of their uncivilized and ultra-cruel behavior.
- President George W. Bush misled the world on Iraq's WMD, but Bush's bogus case for war at least had details that could be checked, unlike what the Obama administration released August 29 on Syria's alleged chemical attacks no direct quotes, no photographic evidence, no named sources, nothing but "trust us," points out Robert Parry, intrepid Washington journalist.
Pretty discouraging it is. No, I actually find much to be rather encouraging. So many people seem to have really learned something from the Iraqi pile of lies and horror and from decades of other American interventions. Skepticism good ol' healthy skepticism amongst the American, British and French people. It was stirring to watch the British Parliament in a debate of the kind rarely, if ever, seen in the 21st-century US Congress. And American military officers asking some of the right questions. The Arab League not supporting a US attack, surprising for an organization not enamored of the secular Syrian government. And NATO even NATO! refusing so far to blindly fall in line with the White House. When did that last happen? I thought it was against international law.
Secretary of State John Kerry said that if the United States did not respond to the use of chemical weapons the country would become an international "laughingstock". Yes, that's really what America and its people have to worry about not that their country is viewed as a lawless, mass-murdering repeat offender. Other American officials have expressed concern that a lack of a US response might incite threats from Iran and North Korea. 10
Now that is indeed something to laugh at. It's comforting to think that the world might be finally losing the stars in their eyes about US foreign policy partly because of countless ridiculous remarks such as these.
United States bombings, which can be just as indiscriminate and cruel as poison gas. (A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force.)
The glorious bombing list of our glorious country, which our glorious schools don't teach, our glorious media don't remember, and our glorious leaders glorify.- Korea and China 1950-53 (Korean War)
- Guatemala 1954
- Indonesia 1958
- Cuba 1959-1961
- Guatemala 1960
- Congo 1964
- Laos 1964-73
- Vietnam 1961-73
- Cambodia 1969-70
- Guatemala 1967-69
- Grenada 1983
- Lebanon 1983, 1984 (both Lebanese and Syrian targets)
- Libya 1986
- El Salvador 1980s
- Nicaragua 1980s
- Iran 1987
- Panama 1989
- Iraq 1991 (Persian Gulf War)
- Kuwait 1991
- Somalia 1993
- Bosnia 1994, 1995
- Sudan 1998
- Afghanistan 1998
- Yugoslavia 1999
- Yemen 2002
- Iraq 1991-2003 (US/UK on regular no-fly-zone basis)
- Iraq 2003-2011 (Second Gulf War)
- Afghanistan 2001 to present
- Pakistan 2007 to present
- Somalia 2007-8, 2011 to present
- Yemen 2009, 2011 to present
- Libya 2011
- Syria 2013?
A story just released by Foreign Policy magazine, based on newly-discovered classified documents, reports how, in 1988, the last year of the 8-year Iraq-Iran War, America's military and intelligence communities knew about and did nothing to stop a series of nerve gas attacks by Iraq far more devastating than anything Syria has seen. 11 Indeed, during that war the United States was the primary supplier to Iraq of the chemicals and hardware necessary to provide the Saddam Hussein regime with a chemical-warfare capability. 12
Now, apparently, the United States has discovered how horrible chemical warfare is, even if only of the "alleged" variety.
Humanitarian intervention
Some of those currently advocating bombing Syria turn for justification to their old faithful friend "humanitarian intervention", one of the earliest examples of which was the 1999 US and NATO bombing campaign to stop ethnic cleansing and drive Serbian forces from Kosovo. However, a collective amnesia appears to have afflicted countless intelligent, well-meaning people, who are convinced that the US/NATO bombing took place after the mass forced deportation of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo was well underway; which is to say that the bombing was launched to stop this "ethnic cleansing". In actuality, the systematic forced deportations of large numbers of people from Kosovo did not begin until a few days after the bombing began, and was clearly a Serbian reaction to it, born of extreme anger and powerlessness. This is easily verified by looking at a daily newspaper for the few days before the bombing began the night of March 23/24, and the few days after. Or simply look at the New York Times of March 26, page 1, which reads: … with the NATO bombing already begun, a deepening sense of fear took hold in Pristina [the main city of Kosovo] that the Serbs would NOW vent their rage against ethnic Albanian civilians in retaliation.
On March 27, we find the first reference to a "forced march" or anything of that sort.But the propaganda version is already set in marble.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - John Mooney - 04-09-2013
I just read in The Times... Obama has struck a deal with congress... he can strike Syria in exchange for increased aid to the rebels?
I mean... what?
That's as Orwellian as it gets.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Peter Lemkin - 04-09-2013
Sadly the current script reads like a hybrid of Alice in Wonderland and 1984. This is all a deception and way to destroy Assad's control - which will bring more chaos and death in Syria and the entire region. Once again, a war based on lies.....but then aren't they all?!~ They give lip service to 'negotiations', but don't want any. They want control - which I think they won't get [as in Iraq and Afghanistan]...but will succeed in MEGAdeath and destruction of another nation and People. There is no more American 'diplomacy' - it is all military operations or secret team ops/drone strikes/supporting proxy rebel groups/etc. Its a very sad place in history....and not looking likely to get better. The real target here is Iran. As to the dead - the US cares not a bit, despite the crocodile tears.