I’m listening to the BBC this morning on Vermont Public Radio. I am appalled at the steady stream of commentators denouncing Assad for his dastardly deed. Every one of them is convinced he did it despite lack of evidence and common-sense arguments that he didn’t.
I could be wrong, but my BS meter is pinging off-scale.
I’ve heard two cogent arguments, one from the Right (Ron Paul) and one from the Left (Tulsi Gabbard) questioning this conclusion.
Paul opines that it would be a stupid thing for Assad to gas his own people, especially after the “red line” incident of 2013.
Here’s where I disagree with Paul: It wouldn’t be a stupid thing, it would be an extremely stupid thing – add about 16 more “extremelys” to the mix.
Gabbard is more restrained. She simply claims that the assertion is not backed by verifiable evidence.
In 2013, a “gassing” occurred. It was immediately blamed on Assad. We piled on a bunch of sanctions on him,
including that he surrender any supplies of Sarin that he might have.
Then, a funny thing happened. Our Intelligence told us that they analyzed the gas and it couldn’t have come from Assad. It was later established that certain rebel groups possessed the proper variety of Sarin. But the sanctions continued anyway.
Can’t the neocon warmongers come up with a new playbook?
BTW, there’s another (obviously anti-Semitic) explanation: http://nodisinfo.com/israelis-syrian-gas-attacks-assad-government/
Israel feels that control of the Golan Heights is essential to their security. In addition, Hydrocarbons have recently been discovered there (as former VP Cheney could tell you. – He’s part of a consortium developing them.)
Reference?
Can you provide a reference for the claim re our “intelligence told us that they analyzed the gas and it couldn’t have come from Assad”?
Personally, I am always skeptical when the drumbeats of war or attack drown out the calls for peace and restraint, and that has certainly happened here. The line is that Trump was aghast that civilians had been gassed, but didn’t he just kill a couple hundred at a mosque with a drone strike? How is this not incongruous? Yet the MSM is oblivious, or ignoring the connection.
The one thing that has come out of the MSM that might raise a few eyebrows is an article (NYTimes? Wash Post?) about Trump supporters being newly disillusioned at this foreign intervention.
Simple search
I did a very simple search for: “intelligence told us that they analyzed the gas and it couldn’t have come from Assad”, and the first thing that came up is this: http://theduran.com/heres-us-intelligence-warned-obama-doubts-assad-responsible-2013-gas-attack/
Do you want me to do more searching?
The link works.
Tomaidh Strikes Out
In effect, Tomaidh is admitting that he went into print without fact checking, and then turned to google, scrambling to find “evidence,” only after Will Stomp asked him to provide a reference.
The website, Media Bias/Fact Check names Tomaidh’s reference, The Duran, as: a “Questionable” source, with an “Extreme Right Bias.”
Media Bias/Fact Check notes that: “The Duran is an online news and opinion source with a strong right wing bias. There is evidence they have posted misleading information and they have perpetuated some conspiracies. The source does produce legitimate news with a right wing bias, so we will not place them in the conspiracy category at this time.” https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-duran/
Tomaidh may have a great deal of knowledge, but objective reporting based on trustworthy research is not his field of expertise.
Grudge???
Are you as critical of anybody else besides me and Vidda? Are you holding some kind of grudge?
iBrattleboro’s policies state:
Write With Civility And Respect
An important purpose of iBrattleboro is to provide all users with a forum for information-sharing, discussion and debate in a respectful and friendly atmosphere. Personal attacks and mean-spirited postings discourage and utimately kill useful communication. Submissions that appear to be primarily for the purpose of defamation, libel, or maligning and impugning others may be deleted. iBrattleboro is concerned with building community. Community is built on goodwill, respect and trust.
Anybody who calls another poster an asshole, as you have done is violating iBratt’s policies.
Stick to issues
An ad hominem attack on me is a poor substitute for a substantive response to a serious comment challenging the practice of posting extreme statements in disregard for fact checking.
Stand on your own, and stop trying to hide behind Vidda: You are not even in his league.
Defamatory, untrue
I never hurled the epithet that Tomaidh charges me with.
Curious, I wrote “asshole” in the ibrattleboro search box. The only stories that came up in a search for “asshole” were written by Tomaidh.
iBratt memory bank
This appeared on iBratt a while ago:
..the comments by “Mark Twain” seem to be of the variety of those posters who sometimes appear on ibrattleboro. Their intent is not to offer anything substantial, profound or even remotely humorous. Their intent is only to agitate and irritate. As one of the most prolific commenters on this site and someone who can be counted on for thoughtful and provocative posts you don’t need to give a minute’ s worth of thought to his (or hers) sad attempt to be “clever”.
I didn’t write it, nor was it directed to me.
It speaks for itself
Hands off - America
The “land of the free and the home of the brave” has engaged in more “Regime Changes” than the rest of the world combined.
Before they sanitized it, the word meant “Coup d’état”.
Why the hell do we continue such beastly business?
Calvin Coolidge once said “The business of America is business”. I don’t think he meant overthrowing governments.
Is there a problem with letting the Syrians (you may insert the name of any other government here) choose who leads them?
Why don’t we just leave these people alone?
The answer, of course, is big business, particularly the Military, Financial, Industrial Complex (MFIC- AKA Mutha Fukas In Charge).
Raytheon, the company that makes the Tomahawk missiles used in the air strikes on Syria saw its stock surge Friday morning, adding nearly $5 Billion to their stock value. (Fortune Magazine).
BTW, Donald Trump personally profited from missile-maker Raytheon’s stock jump after his Syria attack. (https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/tomahawk-missiles-were-wrong-choice-for-syria-attack-but-donald-trump-owns-stock-in-the-company/2224/)
How d’ya like them apples
Noam chimes in (March 27)
“I think that we shouldn’t put aside the possibility that there would be some kind of staged or alleged terrorist act, which can change the country instantly.”
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/noam-chomsky-if-trump-falters-with-supporters-dont-put-aside-the-possibility-of-a-staged-or-alleged-terrorist-attack/ (one of many “echo” sites)
So...?
Will Stomp’s question was as follows:
“Can you provide a reference for the claim re our “intelligence told us that they analyzed the gas and it couldn’t have come from Assad”?
While the Chomsky interview may be interesting, nothing there addresses the question that Will Stomp asked. I doubt that we will see a genuine answer from Tomaidh, or even a logically-consistent discussion.