We have, of course, long hailed McClatchy reporters and editors for raising questions about U.S. claim about Syria going back for many months. And, of course, some in the same crew distinguished themselves in covering the run-up to the Iraq war and the war that followed, at first in the Knight Ridder years. Now
dig this tonight:
The Obama administration’s public case for attacking Syria is riddled
with inconsistencies and hinges mainly on circumstantial evidence,
undermining U.S. efforts this week to build support at home and abroad
for a punitive strike against Bashar Assad’s regime. The case Secretary of State John Kerry laid out last
Friday contained claims that were disputed by the United Nations,
inconsistent in some details with British and French intelligence
reports or lacking sufficient transparency for international chemical
weapons experts to accept at face value....
The story outlines several areas in dispute, including the alleged death toll of over 1400. Then there's this:
Another eyebrow-raising administration claim was that U.S.
intelligence had “collected streams of human, signals and geospatial
intelligence” that showed the regime preparing for an attack three days
before the event. The U.S. assessment says regime personnel were in an
area known to be used to “mix chemical weapons, including sarin,” and
that regime forces prepared for the Aug. 21 attack by putting on gas
masks.
That claim raises two questions: Why didn’t the U.S. warn
rebels about the impending attack and save hundreds of lives? And why
did the administration keep mum about the suspicious activity when on at
least one previous occasion U.S. officials have raised an international
fuss when they observed similar actions?
Read
more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/02/201027/to-some-us-case-for-syrian-gas.html#emlnl=Daily_News_Update#storylink=cpy
Read
more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/02/201027/to-some-us-case-for-syrian-gas.html#emlnl=Daily_News_Update#storylink=cpy
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