US Bombs Syria

[Lauren Johnson]

This appears to be a direct geopolitical threat to Russia

President Donald Trump said Thursday that "something should happen" with regard to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in the wake of this week's chemical attack, which US officials say he perpetrated.
"I think what Assad did is terrible. I think what happened in Syria is one of the truly egregious crimes. It shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't be allowed to happen," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity. He's there, and I guess he's running things, so something should happen."...

Source

A coalition is forming: Russia "advised" to carefully consider it's support of the Assad regime

[Cliff Varnell]

The guy who loosened the rules of engagement to allow attacks on civilians just launched 50 Tomahawk missiles at a guy for killing civilians.

[Peter Lemkin]

So much for another campaign pledge down the drain. I fear this will be the first big one [drone strikes have already been increased dramatically] of many foreign intervention war attacks. This won't do wonders for the US-Russia rapprochement. He also destroyed the friendly atmosphere for his current guest from China. One has to wonder who was responsible for the nerve gas attack - as it is not known - and could be Assad, Russia or the USA - even possibly others. The only thing for sure was the death and suffering of Syrian civilians...but that is not new, sadly. Regardless of whoever pulled off the gas attack, I feel that Trump is being led by the nose in this...and is not the lead in this and what will follow.

[Albert Doyle]

I said months ago to watch out for another false flag attack. They didn't need to do it here because they were already in the middle east so they did it in Syria.



Since Assad would never be crazy enough to use chemical weapons in the face of a pro-war president I assume that either Syrian Air Force personnel were tricked or paid into loading chemical weapon bombs made to look like regular bombs, or Mossad rigged chemical weapons to go off during a conventional airstrike. The bomb craters from the airstrike should be tested to see if they contain traces of a chemical payload...

[Anthony Thorne]

I just wonder whether the FBI release of Pentagon 9/11 photos a week ago was an ultimatum from certain quarters, and Trump - very embattled - capitulated, hence his green-lighting an attack that makes a lot of his neocon critics very happy.

[David Guyatt]

I just wonder whether the FBI release of Pentagon 9/11 photos a week ago was an ultimatum from certain quarters, and Trump - very embattled - capitulated, hence his green-lighting an attack that makes a lot of his neocon critics very happy.

I certainly feel that the release of the 9/11 photos was done to embarrass someone - some faction, Anthony. So far as I can see they would only embarrass the neocon contingent that I, and others, believe were responsible for 9/11? Perhaps that was just another shot in an ongoing behind-the-scene's war that has been raging.

However, it does seem to me that a great deal of pressure has been brought to bear on Trump and that he has now been "aligned" to some degree. But to what extent remains to be seen. The new and emerging picture on Syria is now very suggestive that the US war faction may be back in the ascendency again.

The question we should ask ourselves is what has happened to force Trump to such a volte face on his policy in Syria and with Russia in just a few days? Something obviously has occurred that swung the balance, and I'm inclined to speculate that those investigating Trump's Mafia business connections may now have definitive proof of his culpability and have used that to, as I said above, align him. But this is just a guess at this point in time.

However, it's far too early to conclude anything with certainty just yet. This may be a one-off strike to quell domestic pressure - or it may signal a complete reversal in Trump's foreign affairs policy. I rather fear the latter and that the neocons penchant for perpetual war is once again official US policy.

I don't think any of us really believe that Assad or his military was responsible for the Sarin attack - they won the war, why would they? - and we know that Turkey was responsible for the 2014 false flag Sarin attack in Ghouta, thanks to Seymour Hersh's reporting (HERE and HERE). Given this, it seems pretty obvious to me that this may be yet another false flag in the same vein, despite what Russia says about it (i.e., it was accidental and resulted from bombing a location where Sarin was stored).

[Peter Lemkin]

I just wonder whether the FBI release of Pentagon 9/11 photos a week ago was an ultimatum from certain quarters, and Trump - very embattled - capitulated, hence his green-lighting an attack that makes a lot of his neocon critics very happy.

I've looked over the FBI photo release of the Pentagon on 911. While they ARE a reminder to anyone who cares to look of a false-flag operation that day, there was nothing NEW in them...some were not seen before, but showed the same things as the previously seen photos. Thus, I don't see it as an 'ultimatum' unless there was something we don't know sub rosa about 'more damning' photos to come. Now, if the FBI were to release all the CCTV camera footage they confiscated - then there would be REAL UNDENIABLE PROOF of the false-flag and how it was done! I personally don't see the connection between events with the evidence at hand.

I agree with David that if anyone pulled a false-flag on the nerve gas, it could well be Turkey - done on their own, or in collusion with some US entities. I don't think Assad would hesitate if he had nerve gas, as he uses barrel bombs [hardly more humane and less genocidal], I don't see the logic nor proof of his using it [if he indeed still has some left]. I don't expect that the truth of this matter can or will ever be worked out with surety, and most people will choose the 'version' that fits their political preconceptions, sadly.

[David Guyatt]

The following post is from Tooth who texted me this morning while I was navigating the wilds of Cambridgeshire with the faint hope that I might be confronted by the wild, bare-chested Iceni women who live there - but no such luck. I was on a bus while Tooth was on a train.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
(A Committee of Correspondence)
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« US Intervention in Syria is imminent. | Main


07 APRIL 2017


Donald Trump Is An International Law Breaker

by Publius Tacitus



Donald Trump's decision to launch cruise missile strikes on a Syrian Air Force Base was based on a lie. In the coming days the American people will learn that the Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib. Here is what happened:


The Russians briefed the United States on the proposed target. This is a process that started more than two months ago. There is a dedicated phone line that is being used to coordinate and deconflict (i.e., prevent US and Russian air assets from shooting at each other) the upcoming operation.
The United States was fully briefed on the fact that there was a target in Idlib that the Russians believes was a weapons/explosives depot for Islamic rebels.


The Syrian Air Force hit the target with conventional weapons. All involved expected to see a massive secondary explosion. That did not happen. Instead, smoke, chemical smoke, began billowing from the site. It turns out that the Islamic rebels used that site to store chemicals, not sarin, that were deadly. The chemicals included organic phosphates and chlorine and they followed the wind and killed civilians.
There was a strong wind blowing that day and the cloud was driven to a nearby village and caused casualties.
We know it was not sarin. How? Very simple. The so-called "first responders" handled the victims without gloves. If this had been sarin they would have died. Sarin on the skin will kill you. How do I know? I went through "Live Agent" training at Fort McClellan in Alabama.
There are members of the U.S. military who were aware this strike would occur and it was recorded. There is a film record. At least the Defense Intelligence Agency knows that this was not a chemical weapon attack. In fact, Syrian military chemical weapons were destroyed with the help of Russia.


This is Gulf of Tonkin 2. How ironic. Donald Trump correctly castigated George W. Bush for launching an unprovoked, unjustified attack on Iraq in 2003. Now we have President Donald Trump doing the same damn thing. Worse in fact. Because the intelligence community had information showing that there was no chemical weapon launched by the Syrian Air Force.


Here's the good news. The Russians and Syrians were informed, or at least were aware, that the attack was coming. They were able to remove a large number of their assets. The base the United States hit was something of a backwater. Donald Trump gets to pretend that he is a tough guy. He is not. He is a fool.


This attack was violation of international law. Donald Trump authorized an unjustified attack on a sovereign country. What is even more disturbing is that people like Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and NSA Director General McMaster went along with this charade. Front line troops know the truth. These facts will eventually come out. Donald Trump will most likely not finish his term as President. He will be impeached, I believe, once Congress is presented with irrefutable proof that he ignored and rejected intelligence that did not support the myth that Syria attacked with chemical weapons.


It should also alarm American taxpayers that we launched $100 million dollars of missiles to blow up sand and camel shit. The Russians were aware that a strike was coming. I'm hoping that they and the Syrians withdrew their forces and aircraft from the base. Whatever hope I had that Donald Trump would be a new kind of President, that hope is extinguished. He is a child and a moron. He committed an act of war without justification. But the fault is not his alone. Those who sit atop the NSC, the DOD, the CIA, the Department of State should have resigned in protest. They did not. They are complicit in a war crime.

Source

[David Guyatt]

Following the attack Russia has announced it has shut down the deconfliction channel that had been operating between Russia and the US in Syria. Not good.

[David Guyatt]