Written by Tony Cartalucci; Originally appeared at landdestroyer.blogspot.com
In February 2017, the US would attempt to leverage an Amnesty International report claiming to detail unfolding atrocities at Sednaya prison in Syria.
While painting a picture of torture, neglect, and even mass executions, Amnesty forgot to include any actual evidence to corroborate its claims. The only actual evidence included in a report that otherwise consisted only of alleged interviews and 3D models of the prison made in London, was a picture taken from outer space by an imaging satellite.
Click to see the full-size image
The satellite image itself revealed nothing besides a building resembling a prison.
The report’s release and leveraging by the US came just ahead of another round of talks aimed at stemming the catastrophic 6 year conflict. The move by the US was a bid to give Washington and its regional allies extra leverage at the negotiating table. And now – months later – and just when the US is in need of more leverage, the Sednaya story has once again been revived.
The US State Department not only has repeated previous and discredited claims drawn from the Amnesty International report, it now claims the prison includes a crematorium facility – an oblique attempt to link the current Syrian government with historical arch-villains like Germany’s Nazis.
The Washington Post attempts to give legs to this revived narrative in an article titled, “U.S. says Syria built crematorium to handle mass prisoner killings,” which claims:
The Syrian government has constructed and is using a crematorium at its notorious Sednaya military prison near Damascus to clandestinely dispose of the bodies of prisoners it continues to execute inside the facility, the State Department said Monday.
In terms of “evidence,” the Washington Post claims (emphasis added):
The State Department distributed satellite photographs it said documented the gradual construction of the facility outside the main prison complex and its apparent use this year. Jones said that “newly declassified” information on this and other atrocities by the government of President Bashar al-Assad came from “intelligence community assessments,” as well as from nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International and the media.
In other words, the US State Department is referencing a discredited report from Amnesty International which admittedly contained no physical evidence corroborating its claims, and additional photographs taken from outer space by imaging satellites.
Elaborating on the “evidence,” the Washington Post would report (emphasis added):
The newly released information included a satellite photo of the snow-covered Sednaya complex with an L-shaped building labeled “probable crematorium.”
The word “probable” is an open admission to having no actual evidence that the building is in fact a “crematorium.” The word “probable” also means that no evidence exists that the alleged “crematorium” is being use to mass incinerate bodies, or that the bodies are the result of a systematic process of mass torture and executions.
No responsible intelligence agency would submit final reports containing the word “probable,” and more importantly, no responsible state department would cite reports containing the word “probable” to accuse a foreign government of crimes against humanity.
But an intelligence agency tasked with fabricating a narrative and a state department tasked with selling it to the international community would – and as the US State Department has done numerous times in the past and at great cost in human lives and global stability – Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya for example – that is precisely what has happened yet again.
The Washington Post – just in case readers failed to make the oblique connection to Germany’s Nazis – connects the dots for its audience by characterizing the US State Department’s briefing as “accusations of mass murder and incinerated bodies, evoking the Holocaust.”
While the US State Department and the Washington Post attempt to paint an elaborate picture of abuse to shock the international community into condemnation of Syria, what it has really essentially done is resort to the schoolyard tactic of calling the Syrian government, “Hitler.”
The Amnesty International report was published in February 2017. Admittedly presenting no actual evidence, and considering the industrial scale of alleged mass murder and now alleged “incineration” taking place at the facility, one would assume the largest, most powerful intelligence network on Earth in human history could present something months later more substantial than a photograph taken from outer space labeled, “probable crematorium.”
That the largest, most powerful intelligence network on Earth, in human history failed to find anything more substantial indicates there is nothing to find and that instead, the US has deferred once again to fabricating pretexts for its continued meddling beyond its borders, amid catastrophic conflicts it itself engineered and is perpetuating, toward an outcome that suits Washington first and foremost – and especially at the cost of all others involved.
While spokespeople behind the US State Department’s podiums insist that the Syrian “slaughterhouse” is being organized and directed from Damascus, it is clear that just like the dismemberment and destruction of Iraq and Libya – the Syrian “slaughterhouse” is a project organized and directed from Washington.
Riddle me this, good people, if this regime is so hell bent on exterminating its enemies and slaughters them by the bucketload to the point of it being labeled genocide, why do I see bus load after bus load after bus load full of its enemies being given safe passage to safety? And those are some really unsavory people in those busses. Hardcore Jihadi headchopper scum. People who once in Idlib will continue to cause problems for this regime.
Government* you mean to say, regime means a dictatorship rather.
Well, let’s be honest, Assad IS a dictator. This is a regime that oppresses its people. There’s a reason the Arab Spring did take hold here. He’s is not a nice guy. He has dissidents locked up, beaten, tortured, killed. And that was before the Arab spring. It’s just that compared to him all the other alternatives are way way way way worse. He just wants to rule that country and line his pockets and as long as you shut up you can do whatever you want. All the others want to control the way you live and think as well. And punish you for that as well.
Arab spring was CIA coups I read, all of them. As for how bad Assad really is, I’m not sure, but I am sure the terrorists he is fighting are thousands of times worse, as well as the countries backing them.
Yes, let’s be honest and truthful.
President Al-Assad is serving his first seven year term as President from the results where he won, in a free and fair election based on the new 2012 Constitution which was changed to better address the legitimate concerns of the opposition from the Arab Spring. He is still very popular and the constitution allows for one other term. He is Not a dictator nor have I found any evidence he is lining his pocket, nor cruel or unusual. He was a pediatric ophthalmologist in London before reluctantly coming back to Syria. That narrative you describe has been given by the US and it’s allies adnaseum to simply justify their attempts to split his country apart.
As for the torturing, killing, etc. before the Arab Spring, you may be confusing his younger brother Masher, who was in-charge of the prison with President Bashar. Masher has been videoed shooting at the Arab Spring protesters with a rifle at close range. Masher lost his leg and arm and has only been seen once since the 2012 bombing assassination attempt. All lot changed after that date.
Yes, there are legitimate reasons for the Arab Spring uprising, but not that much about brutal oppression. Bashar’s wife gives a good summary of those reasons in her media interview which can be found on SANA. President Bashar Al-Assad has stated many times he is more than willing to negotiate solutions to any legitimate issues, but it must be with those whose interests are for Syria as a whole. He is also more than willing to step down if that is the will of the Syrians (which it is not even close to as Syrians deeply respect him and his wife). He will most likely win by a large margin his second and final term in a few years.
Excellent. Thank you.
My understanding is that the initial manifestations of “dissent” were contrived and had no popular support. The fighting in Syria is also depicted as a civil war but it is not. Tens of thousands of foreign fighters have infested Syria and billions in foreign money and weapons are delivered.
Arab Spring? It is to laugh. It’s all about agendas devised in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, NATO, the EU, and the US.
Aggressive war is being waged against Syria. A war crime. Assad fights back and he’s a “brutal dictator.”
I am American but this relentless, stupid, immoral war making disgraces my country. Trump expressed mild opposition to it in the election and now the war faction has combined to destroy him. They love the killing and the profits.
Thank you for the nice comment.
It has been almost impossible to tease out what was going on in Syria that led up to this war, as their is no longer a truly independent press in the US. I should not have to search high and low to find objective, honest information on what is going on. As an American I also share your moral outrage at to what my country has done. We have truly lost are way.
Well stated report. You’d think people would look at the timing of these reports, sarin gas attacks, etc. and dismiss them outright. The State Dept. must think we are all brain dead. At least give these reports out two days before the next peace talks. Let’s move on.
Hahaha, Colin Powell. Just that one pic would have been enough for the article.
‘the Syrian “slaughterhouse” is a project organized and directed from Washington.” Exactly.
USA,UN and Human rights are same shit real terrorist promoters out of greed and selfishNess.White supremacy out of jealousy for the progress of other Nations or countries.
But let’s ignore the horrible shit Israel does to Palestinians and Saudi Arabia is doing to Yemen right now yea
Well said!
The evidence the US has been providing since 2011 against the Assad regime is amazing. Dumbfounding, impossible to counter, eye-opening, lucid, vivid, colourful, descriptive, bountiful evidence with plenty of reliable sources, photos, videos, comparative facts and statistics.
ROFL.
PS Colin powell holding a test tube with what looks like jizz from a wank he just had as ”evidence” … even more ROFL.
You make an important point in your first paragraph but your last paragraph is unnecessary and destroys your worthwhile observation.
The wmd accusation was also false and the us admitted it later. I thought it was funny, sorry if you dont have a sense of humour.
No way ace! The last paragraph is the gist (not to say jizz) of the whole affair!
how ignorant the international community would be to accept something like this.