Written by Caitlin Johnstone; Originally appeared at her blog
“It is hard to overstate the significance of this revelation,” tweets former British MP George Galloway of a new report by the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (WGSPM). “The war-machine has now been caught red-handed in a staged chemical weapons attack for the purposes of deceiving our democracies into what could have turned into a full-scale war amongst the great-powers.”
“An important #Douma #Syria ‘Assad chemical weapon attack’ development and yet more evidence to suggest the ‘attack’ was staged, as it’s now revealed that @OPCW suppressed expert engineers report that found the cylinders were likely not dropped from the air,” tweets former Scotland Yard detective and counterterrorism intelligence officer Charles Shoebridge.
“The engineering assessment confirms our earlier conclusion,” the excellent Moon of Alabama blog writes. “The whole scene as depicted by ‘rebels’ and propaganda organs was staged. The more than 34 dead on the scene were murdered elsewhere under unknown circumstances.”
An important #Douma #Syria ‘Assad chemical weapon attack’ development and yet more evidence to suggest the ‘attack’ was staged, as it’s now revealed that @OPCW suppressed expert engineers report that found the cylinders were likely not dropped from the airhttps://t.co/hZCP2Ujlbk
— Charles Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeC) May 13, 2019
The report has grabbed the attention of those who’ve expressed skepticism of establishment Syria narratives because it casts serious doubts on the official story we’ve been told to believe about an alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria in April of last year. A document titled “Engineering Assessment of two cylinders observed at the Douma incident” has been leaked to the WGSPM which reveals that an engineering sub-team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fact-finding mission in Douma came to conclusions which differ wildly from the OPCW’s official findings on the Douma incident, yet we the public were never permitted to see this assessment.
The assessment’s findings, which you can locate on pages five through eight of the document, put forward multiple hypothetical scenarios in which two gas cylinders could have wound up in the locations(Location 2 and Location 4) that they were photographed and video recorded as having been found after the alleged attack. The assessment concludes that “The dimensions, characteristics and appearance of the cylinders, and the surrounding scene of the incidents, were inconsistent with what would have been expected in the case of either cylinder being delivered from an aircraft. In each case the alternative hypothesis produced the only plausible explanation for observations at the scene.”
The assessment says more thoroughly and technically what I argued in an article last year, that the physics of the air-dropped cylinder narrative make no sense whatsoever. This is a problem, because the reason we were given for the US, UK and France launching airstrikes on Syrian government targets in April of 2018 was that two cylinders full of poison gas had been dropped from aircraft by the Syrian air force and killed dozens of civilians.
The assessment is signed by Ian Henderson, who the WGSPM were able to verify as a longtime OPCW-trained inspection team leader. The OPCW reportedly denied that Henderson was involved in its Douma fact-finding mission, but the WGSPM counters that “This statement is false. The engineering sub-team could not have been carrying out studies in Douma at Locations 2 and 4 unless they had been notified by OPCW to the Syrian National Authority (the body that oversees compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention) as FFM inspectors: it is unlikely that Henderson arrived on a tourist visa.”
So far this is the establishment narrative management machine's only attempt at refuting the latest revelations indicating that the #Douma attack last year was staged. It basically boils down to "They're conspiracy theorists and the official narrative disagrees with them." https://t.co/04iFa24do8
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) May 13, 2019
Just as interesting as this new report has been the response of the usual establishment Syria narrative managers to it, or rather the lack thereof. NATO narrative management firm Bellingcat, which normally jumps all over these kinds of revelations in an attempt to discredit them, has been maintaining radio silence as of this writing. Its founder, Eliot Higgins, has had nothing to say on the matter other than to retweet a pathetic rebuttal by his mini-me Scott Lucas and take a few childish jabs at me for highlighting this fact.
Scott Lucas’ Facebook post on the WGSPM report remains as of this writing the only attempt from the Syria narrative management machine to address it, and it boils down to nothing more than assertions that the report contradicts the official OPCW narrative (duh) and that the WGSPM are conspiracy theorists. Lucas may have thought it a good idea to author this post believing that he had a more substantial argument than he actually had, but it was pointed out shortly after publication that his claim about Henderson refusing to consider other possible scenarios in his assessment is directly contradicted by the words that are in the assessment, and Lucas was forced to make a hasty revision.
There will be other counter-narratives released by the Syria narrative management machine, to be sure, but the fact that this report has been out for the better part of the day with nary a peep from that lot reveals a great deal about the difficulties they’re having with this one.
We are being lied to about Syria. Anyone who believes unproven assertions about governments targeted for toppling by the US-centralized empire has failed to learn the lessons of history. The Syrian government had literally nothing to gain strategically from using chemical weapons in Douma, a battle it had already won, and knew full well that doing so would provoke an attack from the empire. Douma was occupied by the Al Qaeda-linked Jaysh Al-Islam, who had at that point nothing to lose and everything to gain by staging a false flag attack in a last-ditch attempt to get NATO powers to function as its air force.
If you still believe at this point that the Syrian government dropped poison gas on Douma last year, then I’ve got some Iraqi WMDs to sell you.
The Syrian government had literally nothing to gain strategically from using chemical weapons in Douma, a battle it had already won, and knew full well that doing so would provoke an attack from the empire. Douma was occupied by the Al Qaeda-linked Jaysh Al-Islam, who had at that point nothing to lose and everything to gain by staging a false flag attack in a last-ditch attempt to get NATO powers to function as its air force.
If you still believe at this point that the Syrian government dropped poison gas on Douma last year, then I’ve got some Iraqi WMDs to sell you.
I find absolutely zero fault at this logical assessment. Sadly enough we live in an age of emotion driven narrative, where rather then counter arguments to the country with logic and evidence we only throw accusation in their way in the form of -isms and being Russian trolls.
The US is complicit (once again) in al Qaeda gassing to death 35 mostly women and children hostages, and then clearly covering up this botched false flag via the OPCW. What kind of degenerate psychopaths figure this is ‘worth it’ for some greater good? This is pure evil.
Only Hollywood villains are cartoonishly evil for evil’s sake. In the real world people convince themselves that what they are doing is ultimately for the greater good. And no greater evil has been committed by those who think theirs is the best vision for the future and that the end justifies the means.
If you put one cylinder in each ear you can hear the sea.
if you can put one cylinder throw ones head he can here the bubbles of the chemical weapons inside.!
the proof was there form the first moment the ‘attack’ occurred. the ‘white helmets’ clowns directed the scene. but back then Assad was loosing big time, US wanted a reason to accelerate his fall etc. now that the war is near its end , western media reporters and others try to ‘admit’ their mistakes and put the blame elsewhere just because their credibility is below zero…..just like the UK did with Iraq…..they admitted 1000 years after the attack that there were no chemical weapons and that they have been deceived by…..a raccoon that gave them false info.
Scott Lucas the troll whom can’t read
One point about chemical weapons that doesn’t come up often is that they are decidedly a defensive weapon (short of genocidal intent). Its planned use would normally be when the enemy is overwhelming your position you drop a chemical bomb on that position and run away and hope that the enemy gives up on the attempt.
IF a chemical is used as an offensive weapon the troops MUST have chemical warfare suits. Have we ever seen a single Syrian soldier with a CW suit? Not to speak of a platoon or a regiment!
The CW narrative is full of holes.
A lot of ME countries – Syria, Iran for example, had or have massive chemical weapon stockpiles to counter the threat of a nuclear attack by Israel… they make it clear to Israel – nuke us, we’ll poison every last one of you. Realistically, Syria giving up their CWs – bad idea unless Russia is going to keep Israel in check on their behalf.
The Douma LIES and cover-up by the US/EU/NATO leaders and the billionaire and government controlled media are truly astonishing. The Iraq wmd lies lead to the deaths of millions. These lies could have resulted in the deaths of billions, possibly our extinction.
Where is the outrage? Where are the mass demos? Who cares?
It seems that Mankind will become extinct while drowning in a sea of ignorance, apathy and the Kardassian arse videos.
Something consistent with what everybody already knew, but investigations and proofs were need to those who were covering up the whole situation. USA-Isral-NATO are criminals.