Syria to allow UN inspect 'chemical weapon' attack site - BBC

"The Syrian government has agreed to allow UN inspectors to visit the site of a suspected chemical weapon attack outside Damascus, state media report. The move came shortly after a senior US official told reporters there was "very little doubt" that a chemical weapon had been used by government forces. Activists say Syrian forces killed more than 300 people in several suburbs east and west of the capital on Wednesday. The Syrian authorities have denied any responsibility and blamed "terrorists". On Saturday evening, US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that there should be a "serious response" if Syrian troops had used chemical weapons. But Syria's information minister warned that US military intervention would bring chaos and that the Middle East would "burn". Omran Zoabi told Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV the Syrian state and its armed forces remained strong, with friends and allies in the region. "  BBC

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Well, there you have it.  The Syrian government will place no obstacle in the way of the UN investigators in finding out what happened.  The area is in rebel hands. 

IMO this willingness to facilitate the UN mission's findings will have little effect.

"The train has left the station" in a media and political campaign for what is imagined will be an easy win against Syria.  pl 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23833912

Comments

[Fred]

I cant' wait to see what the left does when their hero Obama starts another war using the same tools as were used by the neocons and GWB. I am certain we will see their true principles in action then.

[Peter C]

Some of the level headed Generals and Admirals, must be dreading this, but the Spotlight on the Navy has not been too bright in the last 12 years, except for Libya. Good chance to deploy those Billion Dollar tin cans throwing Cruz Missiles. Can't forget the Subs also showing their usefulness. Strut your stuff if you've got it! It's human nature to show what you can do.

What is the plan besides shooting a couple of hundred Cruz Missiles at $1.5 million dollars a copy? Get rid of the older Missiles out of the inventory to stock newer versions?

What I can see happening immediately is the Russians shutting down the ingress and egress to Afghanistan, through any routes the control or influence. The Pakistanis' must be counting the extra $$ they will be able to extract in a movement tax.

[par4]

Fred; A Liberal in a designer "Che" T-shirt is not a Leftist.

[The Twisted Genius]

Fred,

What you are witnessing is no principle other than my side right or wrong. It is pure tribal loyalty and hatred/fear of the other. This attitude is not limited to leftist or rightists. It's the reason many Republicans view their sole legislative purpose is to destroy Obama even if it damages the country in the process. It's why Democrats defend Obama's shredding the 4th Amendment and near total disregard of the 2nd Amendment.

[505thpir]

"The train has left the station" and I might add that there will be no "off-switch" for what is to follow. There will surely be a response from "the others", and a required response to that....and into the sucking mud we shall wiggle away.

[Babak Makkinejad]

A Leftist is a person who does not profess a semi-religious faith in the "Free Market" but in the "People" ("The Collective").

A Rightist is a person who does profess a blind-faith in the operations of the Free Market.

And then there is the rest of us in between two Utopias.

Case in point:

Can a woman rent her vagina?
Can she rent her womb?
Can she auction her eggs?

Leftist and Rightist only disagree on the modalities of such transactions and not the substance - in my opinion.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Col. Lang:

I hope you are wrong about "the train having left...".

[GulfCoastPirate]

First of all Obama is no one's 'hero' on the left. I'm not sure why you folks ever thought that. He was better than those he ran against and that's about it.

Second, if he attacks Syria then he belongs in adjoining cells to the neocons and GWB. Oh wait, the neocons and GWB aren't jailed. Why do you think Obama didn't prosecute any of them? Do you not think his handlers told him he may have to do the same thing and do you not think the 'left' realized this way back when there were no prosecutions?

[ISL]

Dear Colonel,

I have heard you have misgivings about the US heading in this direction re:Iran for a few years.

On the one hand, a little war, could appeal to a president whose domestic agenda is crashing and burning. Not sure why it would bring out the young voters in the midterms who are unhappy with the US need to collect their every facebook post and tweet (filled with meaning).

On the other hand, would Dempsey have spoken against Syrian Intervention just a few days ago if he had not had encouragement from above?

On the other other hand, the US economy is fragile (for the 1%, its a depression for the rest) and if the effort is prolonged, it greatly risks tanking the economy close to the magical 9 months before the midterms (the US economy is a tanker that takes about 9 months to change directions from Fed efforts).

So, if you were to assign probabilities, how high would you say the syria-ometer is? My thought is 30% as he has done well to avoid the drumbeat for war with Iran despite significant media and political pressure.

Snark Alert: At least once the US installs Al Q in Syria, the hypocrisy of the war on terror will be overt - or at least our incoherence. Or we will have demonstrated Orwell truly prescient.

[turcopolier]

ISl

You heard that, eh? I guess that is not surprising since I have been writing about it for a long time. IMO if Bashar Assad had succeeded in reaching an agreement with Israel the media and congress would think of him as a harsh but necessary presence. The neocons in the Bush Administration blocked that possibility. It would not be "a little war." As Dempsey insists in private the civilian fantasy of "surgical strikes" with small numbers of guided missiles would fail to bring down Assad's government. This "affront" to imperial dignity and reputation would require escalation and then yet more escalation. Where this "ladder" would lead is incalculable. IMO the issue is not altogether decided by the president as yet or it was not a few days ago. In that circumstance a man of Dempsey's character, having just been re-confirmed by the senate, would feel able to speak out. As soon as the president decides for war Dempsey will fall silent. The fragility of the US economy is undoubtedly a factor in Obama's thinking but it is only one factor. Surely you are not a devotee of the economic determinist nonsense? I would place the probability of strikes on Syria at around 55%. pl

[Fred]

I seen exactly what you speak of amongst the rank and file party activists on both sides that I know. Encouraged, I might add, by their political leaders. Ironic, isn't it?

My fear is the direction the elites are taking this country (not just this war). As the host alluded to a few times in the past it is looking more and more like the end period of the old Roman Republic where the Senatorial class was more concerned with their wealth, estates and the acquisition and maintenance of more of the same, with a few amongst them maneuvering for the control of the instruments of power. The people below increasingly lost what influence in governance that they had previously held. (not that it was anywhere near our level now) The Principate seems a short step away, its creation enabled by the aristocracy of money and corporate and media sycophants.

[jonst]

I heard--and I am still shaking my head--Senator Corker say on Sunday talking heads that '...that the info coming out on the 'social media' sites indicates that the Syrian Govt was behind the WMD attacks". And with this proof in hand...his next words implied, we should retaliate. And this is supposed to be a senior Senator from the sane wing of the GOP? As cynical as I am...I shook my head as if I was having an audio hallucination. Social Media sites??!!

Perhaps I will send the good Senator this link:
http://blog.x1discovery.com/2013/07/31/judge-grimms-important-guidance-on-social-media-evidence-authentication/

I just read this article and viewed his seminar on the subject as well. I repeat what I said on my last post...this has now become an existential issue for Hezbollah...we could find ourselves in a very, very, ugly mess.

[walter]

Idealistic Left such as myself are and have been very disappointed with Obama as he is not much different than Bush. Pragmatic Left will just shrug and say at least he is not as bad as Bush.

The major question I have is, what are the goals/objectives driving this anti-Syria policy? What is really going on behind the scenes in our government?

Is it all driven by anti-Iran, anti-Hezbollah, pro-Israel? Or is this an attempt to allow Europe to have another competing source of gas from Qatar with pipeline through Syria?

[Babak Makkinejad]

I wonder if the charade of Peace Talks between Israelis and Palestinians was part of the preparations for war against Syria?

[turcopolier]

jonst

"that the info coming out on the 'social media' sites indicates that the Syrian Govt was behind the WMD attacks" Incredible. I guess Dempsey is not plugged into the social media. pl

[turcopolier]

walter

A glance at a map will reveal that there are many hundred miles of Iraqi and Saudi territory between Syria and Qatar. Is it your thesis that the Saudis would look with favor on the construction through their territory of a pipeleine for Qatar's gas to compete with their own exports if only there was a non-Alawi government in Syria? Do you think that the present Syrian government would not like to be the host of such a pipeline passing through Syria to Lattakia? Why is the US pursuing such a policy? This has nothing to do with economics. The neocons (still on hand and pitching in Congress) and the R2P witches believe this is a good and wonderful thing to do in order to rid the world of a non-existent threat from the Assad government. pl

[walter]

But what was Assad doing that was so bad? Certainly Assad was not threatening the world. Support of Hezbollah?

[eakens]

No, but apparently a long term lease is acceptable.

[turcopolier]

walter

Yes. Wolfowitz and pals but especially he conceived a great hatred for the Ba'ath government because it did not seek a rapprochment with Israel under Bashar's father. When Bashar took over the hatred continued in spite of Bashar's efforts to seek some sort of understanding with the Bushies and later the Obama Administration. A number of people were asked to approach the NSC asking for an attempt to make an agreement. At one point i was in Israel and a former head of IDF general staff intelligence asked me tell the NSC that Israel needed peace with Syria and that senior officers in IDF would back this. I got the brush off from the "thirty somethigs and the witches." pl

[walrus]

Via Zerohedge, there is a report on the web of 24 Jan 2013 that states that British Defence contractor Britam had its servers hacked that day and that one of the emails contained an invitation to the firm to provide a Libyan/Soviet era chemical weapon shell for use in a false flag operation in Syria.

The links to the story and the alleged documents are below. The story is unverifiable however it appears that "someone" has gone to great lengths to remove the posted source documents from the web. I regard this as unusual.

We do not know if Britam accepted this alleged contract either.

Email text:

"The leaked emails, obtained by a hacker in Malaysia, feature an exchange (click here for screenshot) between Britam Defence’s Business Development Director David Goulding and the company’s founder Philip Doughty;

Phil

We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris
propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by
Washington.

We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin
g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.

Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?

Kind regards

David"

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b6d_1359411880

News of the hack:

http://www.cyberwarnews.info/2013/01/24/britam-defence-hacked-confidential-documents-leaked-site-offline/

Documents - can be accessed via googling Cryptome and Britam - most of the links report that the files have been removed which in itself is unusual.

http://cryptome.org/2013/01/britam-backup.htm

http://www.edisk.cz/en/download/28320/Britam.Defence.rar_324.56MB.html

As a footnote, isn't the simplest explanation for Britain, France and perhaps Americas interest in destroying the Assad regime that the Saudis are prepared to pay very large sums of money to the politicians involved? Didn't they try to bribe Russia?

[Tigershark]

Fred,

With perhaps the exception of Bernie Sanders, there is no left in America.

[walter]

PL, thnks for the explanation...would you mind summarizing the basic philosophies of the witches, thirty-somethings, Neocons, and whatever else NAME foreign policy philosophies exist out there?

May I take a shot at it first (and Im sure Im way oversimplifying and overgeneralizing but whatever):

witches: Powers, Rice, Clinton- intervene in all humanitarian injustices, promote democracy, support popular uprisings (and of course, support Israel

thirty-somethings: I have no clue except, of course, support Israel

Neocons: spread democracy, protect Israel, secure safe access to oil reserves

[jonst]

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard Corker this AM. Yes, thank god for Dempsey....it sure does make a difference Col, when one's men, one's institution, one's cultural, is the one doing the actual bleeding, and dying.

[A]

Witches would be a compliment for those pretentious cows.