President Trump on Thursday considered whether to unleash American military might to punish Syrian strongman Bashar Assad after a chemical attack this week that killed dozens of civilians, including children, and drew global outrage. As Trump weighed the use of force, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the president had also begun a difficult diplomatic campaign to remove Assad from power.
Privately, top U.S. officials dismissed the notion that Trump planned to forcibly remove Assad. One top administration official told Yahoo News that any strikes under consideration would be designed “as a response” to Tuesday’s attack in a mostly rebel-controlled area near the Turkish border — not for “regime change” in Damascus.
“We are looking at a range of options, not simply military,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.
Trump huddled with top advisers including Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster in Palm Beach, Fla., where he was to dine with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday night to kick off their first summit. In a sign of how quickly events were unfolding, White House officials had said just a day earlier that McMaster would not travel with Trump.
It was unclear what specific military options — if any — the president would choose. The Pentagon has long resisted the creation of “safe zones” in Syria because defending them could place Americans at risk. The United States has hundreds of troops on the ground, but they are part of a plan to capture the city of Raqqa, the capital of the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
One of the more likely options, one national security official said, was the use of air strikes, perhaps cruise missiles, to take out runways necessary for Assad’s air campaign. The official cautioned that one problem would be making sure that no Russian forces are present, lest the situation escalate to direct conflict between Washington and Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent forces to shore up Assad’s depleted military against rebels who are locked in a multifaceted civil war that has left some 500,000 dead, sent a flood of refugees to Syria’s neighbors and Europe and helped fuel the rise of ISIS.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) of the Freedom Caucus is one of the few congressmen in DC who actually seeks to follow the Constitution. Earlier this week, Massie appeared on CNN to be asked about the things going on in Syria and whether or not he would support a war effort there. While Massie deplored the actions taking place in Syria, he stepped back and warned that the truth is the first casualty in war and that the Constitution vests all power to declare war in Congress, not the Executive Branch.
One of the remarkable things about the video interview below is the level of frustration by CNN talking head Kate Bolduan as time and again she appealed to emotion, not law, in an attempt to push Massie into siding with a war in Syria.
Massie does not believe that Syrian President Bashar Assad is behind the chemical attacks that took place against civilians. In fact, he questions if they even happened, and rightly so. I mean after you've seen fake news outlets like CNN put out fake video news to stir up war in Syria like this, who wouldn't question it?
“It’s hard to know exactly what’s happening in Syria right now,” said Massie.
“I’d like to know specifically how that release of chemical gas, if it did occur — and it looks like it did — how that occurred. Because frankly, I don’t think Assad would have done that. It does not serve his interest to draw us into that civil war even further.”
Massie voted against an American intervention in Syria in 2014.
Rep. Massie put forth several "plausible" scenarios. One was that gas leaked from an ammunition arsenal that was attacked. This is the claims of Assad and Russia.
“"You've got a war going on over there," Massie said. "Supposedly that airstrike was on an ammo dump, and so I don't know if it was released because there was gas stored in the ammo dump or not -- that's plausible. I’m not saying that’s what I think happened. I don’t think it would have served Assad’s purposes to do a chemical attack on his people."
“It’s hard for me to understand why he would do that," he added. "If he did.”
Indeed, what is the motive behind such a thing? CNN certainly doesn't have an answer, and I don't think the White House does either.
The April 4th, 2017 incident at Khan Sheikhoun has provoked an emotional response around the world after images began to emerge showing civilian adults and children apparently suffering from the effects of chemical weapons. President Donald Trump has stated that the attack has totally changed his views towards the Syrian civil war, and may alter his intended strategy there.
Although Western media immediately accused Bashar al-Assad of participating in a gas attack against his own people, the evidence indicates that the intended target was not immediately in a civilian area and was in fact a location where Syrian White Helmets were on the scene with rebel groups at what observers have claimed was a storage facility for conventional and chemical munitions. Additionally, evidence indicates that rebel groups may have had prior knowledge of the attack and knew that there was a risk of chemical weapons being unleashed. The attack also came in the aftermath of a trip by Senator John McCain to meet with groups known to associate with radical jihadist factions in Syria, at a time when the United States government has been engulfed in a power struggle between different political factions who disagree strongly over what should be appropriate policy in regards to the Syrian civil war.
I. Evidence From Khan Sheikhoun Does Not Support Assertions Of Airborne Chemical Weapons Use
Evidence which has emerged in the aftermath of the attack at Khan Sheikhoun indicates that not only was the nature of the attack misreported by the media, but that certain individuals on the ground in Syria may have had foreknowledge of the attack up to several days before it happened. On April 3rd, 2017, an anti-Assad journalist tweeted that the next day he would be launching a media campaign to cover airstrikes on the Hama countryside, including the use of chemical weapons. It is not clear how the reporter was able to know that chemical weapons would be used an entire day before the attacks occurred.
Observers further noted that on April 1st, 2017, a doctor on the ground in Khan Sheikhoun, Dr. Shajul Islam, had received several shipments of gas masks in the days running up to the chemical incident. The revelations on Twitter fueled speculation that opposition figures were aware of the chemical attack days before it actually happened, contesting the narrative that the Syrian government was responsible. Daily Mail has reported that Dr. Shajul Islam was at one point sought by the British government in connection with the abduction of two journalists in Syria, and security services have stated that Islam and his brother may have had ties to ISIS executioner "Jihadi John."
Additionally, footage from the scene of the incident taken by the Syrian White Helmets appears to show that their operatives were not assisting victims in a manner that was consistent with established protocol on how to handle sarin saturated bodies. Images appear to show that Syrian White Helmet operatives were handling purported sarin victims with their bare hands, rather than with gloves, which is necessary to prevent the rescuer being injured by the chemical themselves. They also appear to be using simple dust masks, which are not suitable protection in the event of a sarin attack.
II. Rebels Are Known To Have Possessed And Used Chemical Weapons In Syria For Some Time
While the Syrian government surrendered their chemical arms stockpiles for destruction several years ago, evidence indicates that rebel groups in Syria have ramped up their own supplies of the deadly weapons systems and have not hesitated to deploy them in combat. On June 23rd, 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Syrian government had completed the removal of all chemical weapons from the country per and agreement they had reached with the United States. The handover was confirmed by the United Nations Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. While the Syrian government have surrendered their chemical weapons, rebel groups have acquired and used them in increasing numbers.
III. The Khan Sheikhoun Incident May Be Part Of An Ongoing Power Struggle Over U.S. Policy In Syria
The chemical attack also appears to play into the ongoing power struggle between the American political establishment and members of the new Trump administration. Political figures who are hawkish towards the Syrian government have noted with some dismay that President Trump had until this week been apparently unwilling to prosecute the United States' stated goal of enacting regime change in Syria, citing the larger threat of ISIS and other jihadist terror groups as a priority.
The United States politicians who have taken funds from countries known to supply rebel groups with materials for the production of chemical weapons were also been meeting with rebel factions known to association with jihadist groups in the run up to the attack. On February 22nd, 2017, CNN reported that McCain had made a secret trip to northern Syria the week prior. McCain's made the trip despite the fact that since late 2015, the Western media has finally admitted that there were no longer any "moderate" rebel groups in Syria. In January 2017, Representative Tusli Gabbard returned from a visit to Syria to confirm these reports, as well as to reveal that U.S. support was effectively delivering arms to jihadist groups such as al-Nusra, al-Qaida, Ahrar al-Sham and ISIS who are operating inside Syria. McCain claimed to be meeting with forces who are preparing to combat ISIS in Eastern Syria, but The Guardian has reported that these groups are mainly comprised of mercenaries who have and will fight for jihadist groups if the price is right. Disobedient Media has also previously reported that in 2014, McCain accepted a donation of $1 million from Saudi Arabia. The CEO of Al-Masdar News, Leith Abou Fadel, recently posted images on Twitter in April 2017 showing Saudi-made chlorine agents found in East Aleppo which were being used to create chemical bombs.
The trip to meet with rebel groups is not McCain's first. On May 27th, 2013, The Daily Beast ran an exclusive report revealing that Senator John McCain had made another secret trip into Syria to meet with "assembled leaders of Free Syrian Army." McCain made the trip in spite of the fact that documents obtained by Judicial Watch which state that the United States was fully aware of the growing jihadi presence among Syrian rebel groups, and reports emerging in the American press indicating that rebels were increasingly engaging in war crimes. In August 2013, three months after McCain's visit, civilians in the Ghouta neighborhood of Damascus were hit with a chemical attack after rockets containing sarin struck the area. Though most of the mainstream press immediately blamed the Syrian government for the tragedy, German paper Die Welt has since run a report alleging that the sarin did not come from the Syrian government, but from stockpiles held by jihadist rebel group Al-Nusra.
ZeroHedge has reported that McCain angrily slammed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after the White House backed comments Tillerson and ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley made stating that the United States would no longer primarily focus on regime change in Syria. McCain's desire to push regime change in Syria, his constant drive to seek confrontation with Russia, his close financial relationship to a state which is known to have supplied rebel groups with materials for crude chemical weapons and the now common knowledge that there are no "moderate" rebels remaining in Syria raises serious questions about the true nature of McCain's secret missions he has embarked on in the country over the past few years.
The Syrian government has been making serious gains in the civil war, recapturing the city of Aleppo and pushing against rebel groups in many other parts of the country with the support of the Russian Federation. It is strategically counterintuitive to assume that Bashar al-Assad would engage in a chemical attack on Syrians just one week after figures in the American government expressed the opinion that they would be willing to allow him to remain in power. The Syrian government no longer even possesses chemical weapons, as the United Nations and U.S. Department of State have already confirmed.
According to former Congressman Ron Paul, the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun that killed 30 children and has led to calls for the Trump administration to intervene in Syria could have been a false flag attack.
As Paul Joseph Watson details, pointing out that the prospect of peace in Syria was moving closer before the attack, with ISIS and Al-Qaeda on the run, Paul said the attack made no sense.
Just five days before the attack, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “The longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people,” implying a definite shift in U.S. foreign policy away from regime change in Syria.
Why would Assad put such assurances in jeopardy by launching a horrific chemical attack, allowing establishment news outlets like CNN to once against use children as props to push for yet another massive war in the Middle East?
On Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said “steps are under way” to form an international coalition to remove the president of Syria Bashar al-Assad after Tuesday’s chemical bombings in Syria.
TILLERSON: We are considering an appropriate response which violates all previous U.N. resolutions, violates international norms and long-held agreements between parties including the Syrian regime, the Russian government and all other members of the U.N. Security Council. It’s a serious matter. It requires a serious response. Thank you.
The US government and the western power structure as a whole is completely out of control. Though there is no denying the corruption and criminality that is rampant in other countries like China and Russia, the most dangerous desperate behavior being displayed by a global power center is that of the US / NATO / Trump administration, and the military industrial complex they all stand for. The US / NATO military industrial complex wants total global hegemonic power and will stop at nothing in the attempt to achieve it. The latest desired excuse to ramp up US / NATO military aggression in the Middle East has now been conveniently provided, but what really happened? And why? Do Americans even remember the earlier false flag chemical weapons attack that was staged in Syria, just as the UN weapons inspectors arrived in Syria? Does any rational person believe the Syrians would invite the UN inspectors to their country (after giving up all their chemical weapons willingly) and then launch a chemical weapons attack (with chemical weapons they did not even have) just in time for the UN inspectors to witness it? Really? The 7 minute video below is very important and informative report of the latest chemical weapons attack false flag launched by western powers that are desperate to trigger global conflict.
I got chills when I saw a CNN report that said that a White House official has just warned that “the clock has now run out” on North Korea’s nuclear program and that “all options are on the table”. That second phrase has been repeatedly used by members of the Trump administration in recent days, and everyone knows what it means. When I wrote that a conflict with North Korea could be “Trump’s first war”last month, I was still hoping that cooler heads would prevail and that a military conflict could be avoided. Unfortunately, it appears that a peaceful solution is not in the cards, and that means that the United States may soon start bombing North Korea. And of course if that happens the North Koreans will strike back with whatever they can, and that includes nuclear weapons.
I don’t know if I have the words to effectively communicate how serious this situation could become. We have gotten to the point where the White House is openly talking of going to war with a nuclear power…
A senior White House official issued a dire warning to reporters Tuesday on the state of North Korea’s nuclear program, declaring “the clock has now run out and all options are on the table.”
“The clock has now run out, and all options are on the table,” the official said, pointing to the failure of successive administration’s efforts to negotiate an end to North Korea’s nuclear program.
Later this week, President Trump is going to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida. The eyes of the entire world will be on this summit, because everyone knows that Trump is going to press the Chinese leader for help on resolving the crisis with North Korea.
But what can China actually do?
The Chinese could cut off trade with North Korea, and that would definitely hurt, but North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have become convinced that long range nuclear missiles are the key to the survival of his regime, and so he will never give up his nuclear program.
And the Chinese will certainly not strike North Korea militarily, and so ultimately if something is going to be done to stop North Korea from getting long range nuclear missiles it will be up to the United States.
Kim Jong Un conducted more missile tests in 2016 than his father did in nearly two decades.
It has become crystal clear that North Korea is not going to back down.
President Trump is still hoping that China will step up to the plate, but if the Chinese don’t he has already stated that the United States is fully prepared to “act alone”. In fact, he made headlines all over the planet when he told the Financial Times the following: “Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you.”
It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what Trump is saying there.
Don’t be fooled by appearances.
President Trump is only at war with the Deep State on one level.
On another, the Deep State already runs everything – when it comes to foreign policy, economics, politics and the mainstream narrative that is meant to set & sync headlines, clocks and consumer habits around the world.
War is brewing, as Trump hinted strongly in his upstart presidential campaign, but it will come, ultimately, at the terms of the long-running organ that actually steers U.S. policy.
After a very dubious “chemical attack” in Syria to stir the pot (the White Helmets did not even use gloves when picking up, touching and treating supposedly contaminated children), it is clear that war could erupt overnight with any number of middle eastern ‘enemies,’ or with North Korea, Russia or just about anyone else.
And one narrative that has been almost constant from the establishment power base and their media lapdogs during the last cycle has been dogging Russia in anyway it can – from baseless hacking accusations, to controversial sanctions talks, to attributing ultimate responsibility for chemical warfare attacks.
One can clearly see that a fight is being picked. If the story doesn’t fit, they’ll force it, or just find another excuse.
Combine all the mistrust, aggression and attempts to conflate conflicts into a larger disaster.
The debt situation, the economics and the social indicators are all abysmal and depressing. The morale of the country has devolved, and mutated strangely with the pockets of information and counter-information that reside online.
And there are those who’d prefer to torch things off, collect on military industrial contracts during prolonged war, and start things over when people have sobered up to the grim new realities.
These will be trying times.
Hard to believe how inflammatory the rumors and rhetoric have become! How can these powers(U.S. included) back down from such irreversible statements? If this is all just empty saber rattling and rumors, with no intent, we are still witnessing a distinct escalation here.
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