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September 7, 2013 - No. 35 Fight for an Anti-War Government! No
Attacks
Against
Syria!
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Russia and China are vocal
opponents of
the U.S. war
threats in the UN Security Council. The Secretary General of the United
Nations has also declared that an attack on Syria without the approval
of the
United Nations Security Council will be illegal. UN Peace Envoy for
Syria Lakhdar Brahimi reiterated this point: "Syria is in very, very
serious trouble, and we have been asked from time to time, 'What about
use of force by members of the international community?' We say what
international law says. And international law says that no country is
allowed to take the law into their hands; they have to go to the
Security Council." Of the countries that
comprise
the G20, the U.S. could only mobilize ten countries to support its
position for war: Australia,
Canada,
France, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain,
Turkey and
the United Kingdom. Pope Francis I
has
mobilized hundreds of people to hold a peace vigil outside the Vatican
in
Rome. Meanwhile, around the globe, the peace-loving peoples of the
world are
taking action to unequivocally state "Hands Off Syria!" 
The worlds' people are
condemning the U.S. and other war
mongers and
demanding that they uphold the principles on which the UN was
established.
Even if chemical weapons were used, there are international bodies and
treaties to deal with such things, such as the International Criminal
Court or the UN's Chemical Weapons Convention. But the U.S. and media
disinformation do not bother with such things. 
2. Sow doubt in their own
capacity to achieve results --
i.e., "the lying
machine is just too powerful for the truth to prevail."
 August 31 rally at Place du Canada |
Meanwhile, also on August 31, the Syrian community in Montreal held a rally at Place du Canada under the slogan, "Hands Off Syria!" The action brought together several hundred people from not only Montreal but also the Eastern Townships and Lanaudière. A contingent from this action joined the picket at the Old Port.
On August 31, some 750 people gathered at the Human Rights monument in Ottawa to demand that no military aggression be undertaken against the Syrian people. The fighting spirit of the people present was palpable. It was a powerful blow to the official propaganda to the effect that the Syrian community is divided and to the doubt sown as to the integrity of the Syrian government. There was no hesitations on the part of the participants to clearly say: "Obama, stop your lies and threats!" "Harper, why? What have the Syrian people done to you?"
After a few speeches, the demonstration marched through
downtown Ottawa, going up Elgin to Rideau, passing through the Market
area, right up to the U.S. Embassy. Passers-by shouted their approval
and others honked their horns. In the discussions and exchanges which
took place during and after the march,
it was clear that everyone was conscious that the same message was
being raised across Canada and in the U.S. -- that such actions are an
important contribution to rousing public opinion against all military
aggression against Syria.
On August 31, five hundred
people rallied across the
street from the
U.S. Consulate in Toronto. They represented every strata of society.
Among the demonstrators were many residents from Syria. There were
also many people hailing from Palestine and Lebanon which have also
suffered
from imperialism violently trampling on national sovereignty. The
action was organized by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War and the
Canadian Peace Alliance.
The action condemned the plans and threats to attack Syria being made by the United States, Britain, France and other members of the aggressive NATO alliance. The demonstrators denounced the Harper government for declaring it was "in lock step" with U.S.-NATO plans for aggression against Syria. They demanded the Canadian government take a stand of opposing any military intervention in Syria.
A rally was held at the Federal Building on Bay St. in
Hamilton on
September 2 to oppose the warmongering against Syria by the United
States and the aggressive NATO alliance and to demand that the Canadian
government take a stand against any attack on Syria. It was organized
by the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War to coincide with the Labour
Day Parade. Each action expressed appreciation for the demands brought
forward by the other.
Niagara Falls
An action was held in Niagara Falls on the afternoon of
Friday, August 30, which targeted the office of local MP and Defence
Minister Rob Nicholson. Protestors left a letter and signs with his
staff. Nicholson's staff informed that the Minister drove by his office
and saw the action,
then called his office to find out what it was about.
Anti-war activists in London held an action to oppose war on Syria on August 23 (left) and another on August 31.
The Windsor Peace Coalition
used its weekly Saturday
anti-war picket to involve everyone in opposing any aggression against
Syria. A speak out was held for people to give their views on why it is
important to oppose wars of aggression. Activists also handed out
flyers calling on people
to take a stand against war and aggression to all those going into the
Windsor Market. The group also invited everyone to join them in the
annual Labour Day parade on Monday.
Winnipegers took part in a rally on August 31. Peace
Alliance Winnipeg is holding another anti-war rally on Saturday,
September 7, from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, on the front steps of the Manitoba
Legislature.
The Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism (ECAWAR) took to Whyte Avenue on August 31 to oppose military intervention against Syria. About 20 people participated in the picket. With signs and banner the picket moved slowly down Whyte Avenue, distributing its statement calling on Canadians to take a stand against the use of force to bring about regime change. Many people expressed their approval and were very interested to investigate for themselves what is taking place and take a just stand.
Following the picket everyone gathered for discussion at Gazebo Park, and took the decision that a rally would be held the day that the U.S.-NATO launch a military strike against Syria at 7:00 pm in Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton.
Calgarians took part in a spirited "Hands Off Syria!" rally on Friday, August 30 in front of City Hall and another on August 31 outside the U.S. Consulate. They made clear that in the heart of what Harper considers his home turf, Calgarians reject the Harper government's war-mongering and support for U.S. aggression. Should an attack on Syria take place, an emergency rally will be held at 5:00 pm at City Hall on that day.
On August 31, an anti-war rally was held at the Vancouver Art Gallery followed by a march through the downtown to the U.S. Consulate before returning to Robson Square. Many people honked their horns in support and a number joined the march.
Afterwards people gathered in small groups to discuss how to stop further U.S. aggression. The CPC(M-L) statement against the war was distributed and people also signed up to subscribe to TML via email. In the days preceding the demonstration, the Party's statement was distributed to postal workers and grain workers in Vancouver who welcomed its principled stand.
Another action has been called for Sunday, September 8 at 2:00 pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
A rally called by the Victoria Peace Coalition was held
at the Cenotaph on the grounds of the BC Legislature on August 31.
Another is being held there on Sunday, September 8 at 2:00 pm.
United States
Anti-war protestors take a stand while Secretary of State John Kerry testifies to a
House of Representatives hearing on Syria, September 4, 2013.
Venezuela
England
Scotland
Wales
Wrexham
France
Paris
Spain
Greece
Turkey
Hatay
Syria
Damascus
Homs
Golan Heights
Palestine
Ramallah
Bethlehem
Jordan
Yemen
Australia
(Photos: TML, Dylan Powell, Paul S. Graham, Charlotte Kates, Victoria Peace Coalition, PressTV, ANSWER, SANA, Adolfo Lujan, Beinn Irbhinn, Vertigogen, Codepink, Debra Sweet, FightBack News, indyrikki, Dan Bluemel/LA Activist, Mike Roy/The Indignants)
News and Views
Syrian Government Rebuffs U.S. Claims
On August 30, a spokesperson for Syria's Foreign and Expatriates Ministry stated that what the U.S. administration described as decisive evidence of the use of chemical weapon is spurious. After days of media exaggeration about the use of chemical weapons, on August 30, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry only produced material based on old stories which were published by terrorists over a week before and are full of fabrications and lies, the Ministry spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that the Ministry is surprised that one of the biggest countries in the world is attempting to deceive its public in such a naive manner by relying on non-evidence. The Ministry denounced the U.S. practice of basing its positions on matters of war and peace on what is published on social networking sites, which the Ministry views as a desperate attempt to talk the world into accepting the planned U.S. aggression.
The Ministry spokesperson confirmed that all the accusations levelled by Kerry against the Syrian state are lies and devoid of truth for the following reasons:
1. Syria has challenged the U.S. to produce one piece of true and logical evidence that it used the alleged chemical weapons. Kerry relied on fabricated images from the internet, while the alleged call made by a Syrian officer after the alleged attack is too ridiculous to be discussed.
2. Syria never impeded or restricted the international investigation committee. On the contrary, the UN Secretary-General has lauded Syrian cooperation with the committee in his most recent call with the Foreign and Expatriates Minister on August 30, asserting that Syria permitted the committee to move exactly as per the agreement signed by the two sides.
3. The UN itself has said time and again that traces from the use of any form of toxic gas do not dissipate over time, and the proof of this is that the UN sent the investigation committee five months after the Syrian government requested an investigation of the March 19 Khan al-Assal incident. Therefore, the Syrian government did not delay the investigation committee's access to the alleged attack site, as this occurred within 48 hours of the arrival of UN envoy Angela Kane to Damascus.
4. The Syrian government affirms that Kerry's allegations that the Syrian Army knew about chemical weapons use three days prior to the incident are lies. This is proven by the fact that Syria requested the investigation committee to visit the Baharia area where Syrian Army soldiers were exposed to toxic gas, and the committee met the affected soldiers in the hospital.
5. If the aggression against Syria, as Kerry claims, intends to halt the use of chemical weapons, we would like to remind Kerry and the United States that Syria was the first to propose a draft resolution at the Security Council to make the Middle East free of all forms of weapons of mass destruction, and that the United States prevented the draft resolution from being passed.
6. Regarding Kerry's insinuations -- made to bypass the Security Council under the pretext that the investigation committee is not responsible for determining who used chemical weapons and that its task is only to verify that such weapons were used or not -- the Ministry affirms that the committee's tasks were set by the Security Council. The U.S. had pressured the committee to limit its authority, something which Kerry, being Secretary of State, certainly knows.
On August 31, Syria's Permanent Representative to the UN, Bashar al-Ja'afari also clarified that the Syrian government had been briefed about information and cables concerning the use of chemical weapons in Syria. This verified information proves the involvement of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other governments, including the British government, in preparing chemical weapons programs through European companies financed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, he said.
He noted that the U.S., which is trying to pave the way for military intervention in Syria, is not a member of the Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Chemical Weapons and its stand on chemical weapons is hypocritical.
He added: "Syria condemns the use of chemical weapons in Syria by anyone and requests to hold them accountable. Syria wants the UN investigation mission to continue investigations and make a scientific report to be presented to the Security Council for study." He urged that the mission be given enough time to produce objective and scientific results, free from political and military interference.
In addition, Ja'afari sent a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking that chemical weapons experts in Damascus investigate attacks that occurred on August 22, 24 and 25 in three suburbs of the Syrian capital, following which dozens of soldiers had to be treated for inhalation of nerve gas.
In terms of how to prevent a military conflict, a high-level Syrian government official stated that Syria endorses the Secretary-General's efforts to convene a conference at UN headquarters in Geneva, as it considers a political solution to be a way out of the current situation.
"Any aggression against Syria would wreck efforts for finding a political solution," he pointed out.
(SANA)
Russia Submitted 100-Page Report to UN
on Use of Sarin Gas by Syrian Rebels
A statement posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry website September 4 said Russia has submitted a 100-page report to the United Nations, laying out its evidence that Syrian rebels had used sarin gas in an attack against civilians in Aleppo in March. The report was submitted in July. Commonly such probes are not made public but given U.S. plans for military aggression against Syria, Russia made the existence of the report public. It includes detailed scientific analysis of samples that Russian technicians collected at the site of the alleged attack, Khan al-Assal in northern Syria. The attack killed 26 people and sickened 86.
The report itself was not released. But the statement drew a pointed comparison between what it said was the scientific detail of the report and the far shorter intelligence summaries that the United States, Britain and France have released to justify their assertion that the Syrian government launched chemical weapons against Damascus suburbs on August 21. The longest of those summaries, by the French, ran nine pages. Each relies primarily on circumstantial evidence to make its case, and they disagree with one another on important details, including the number of people who died in the attack. The numbers range from about 300 to the U.S. claim of almost 1500.
The Russian statement warned the United States and its allies not to conduct a military strike against Syria until the United Nations had completed a similarly detailed scientific study into the August 21 attack. It said that the current hysteria about a possible military strike by the West was similar to the false claims and poor intelligence that preceded the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Russia said its investigation of the March 19 incident was conducted under strict protocols established by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the international agency that governs adherence to treaties prohibiting the use of chemical weapons. It said samples that Russian technicians had collected had been sent to OPCW- certified laboratories in Russia.
A UN team spent four days late last month investigating the August 21 incident. The samples it collected from the site and alleged victims of the attack are currently being examined at OPCW labs in Europe.[...]
The U.S. has openly dismissed the Russian Report as well as the UN Security Council (UNSC). At a news conference in St. Petersburg, President Obama said "that given Security Council paralysis on this issue, if we are serious about upholding a ban on chemical weapons use, then an international response is required, and that will not come through Security Council action." The statement of the U.S. and ten other members of the G20 says, "The world cannot wait for endless failed processes that can only lead to increased suffering in Syria and regional instability."
(Voice of Revolution, September 6, 2013)
NATO and U.S. Allies Issue Joint Statement to Bolster Calls for U.S. Attack on Syria
On September 6, the leaders and representatives of the NATO powers and their allies issued a joint statement calling for international action against Syria on the basis of claims without evidence of the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on August 21. Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America issued the statement during the Group of 20 Nations Leader's Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The statement reiterates the warmongering position now being given by many spokespersons for military aggression against Syria -- that some form of military attack must take place in order to prevent the proliferation of further attacks.
"The international norm against the use of chemical weapons is longstanding and universal.
"The use of chemical weapons anywhere diminishes the security of people everywhere.
"Left unchallenged, it increases the risk of further use and proliferation of these weapons," that statement reads.
The statement flagrantly ignores the fact there is no evidence for the claim that the Assad government is using chemical weapons. "The evidence clearly points to the Syrian government being responsible for the attack, which is part of a pattern of chemical weapons use by the regime," the statement says.
It then flagrantly lies about the world's rules and principles to preserve the peace. It calls "for a strong international response to this grave violation of the world's rules and conscience that will send a clear message that this kind of atrocity can never be repeated. Those who perpetrated these crimes must be held accountable."
The governments of these war-mongering countries are united in claiming that because the UN Security Council has been unable to come to unanimity in approving an attack against Syria, the U.S. must carry out an action to "hold Syria accountable." There is no doubt the joint statement is to be used to overcome opposition in the U.S. Congress to an attack with claims that "our allies support us."
Why there is no unanimity in the Security Council is not even raised as something to consider. Instead it is presented as a block to achieving a pre-determined outcome and thus to be ignored.
"Signatories have consistently supported a strong UN
Security Council
Resolution, given the Security Council's responsibilities to lead the
international response, but recognize that the Council remains
paralyzed as it
has been for two and a half years."
It is all about a "failed process," showing that only a process which guarantees the result the U.S. wants is acceptable.
"The world cannot wait for endless failed processes that can only lead to increased suffering in Syria and regional instability," says the statement. It gives the green light to the U.S. -- with its singular record of having used nuclear, chemical and biological weapons on countless occasions -- to "reinforce the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons."
"We support efforts undertaken by the United States and other countries to reinforce the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons," says the statement.
To add insult to injury, the signatories who endorse an act of aggression against Syria dare conclude that they want a political resolution to the conflict. They say they are deeply concerned about "violence of both sides" and the humanitarian situation of the Syrian people. These are the same forces who claim innocence while paying and arming mercenary "rebels" to incite counter- insurgency by committing crimes against the Syrian people.
"We condemn in the strongest terms all human rights violations in Syria on all sides.
"More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict, more than 2 million people have become refugees, and September 6, 2013 approximately 5 million are internally displaced.
"Recognizing that Syria's conflict has no military solution, we reaffirm our commitment to seek a peaceful political settlement through full implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communique.
"We are committed to a political solution which will result in a united, inclusive and democratic Syria," the statement says.
It ends with a call, presumably to the Syrian government and the rebels, to "allow humanitarian actors safe and unhindered access to those in need."
This shows that those who are calling for aggression in
the name of a humanitarian cause, such as Canada,
and want unfettered
access for their "humanitarian" agencies, simply want to control
those that
they have turned into victims. They certainly do not want them landing
in their own countries seeking asylum.
A statement released by the Prime Minister during the G20 meeting stated in part: "Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced $45 million in additional humanitarian assistance for conflict-affected Syrians both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.
"Canada's support will help humanitarian organizations meet the needs of Syrians affected by the conflict by providing food, clean water and sanitation, medical assistance, shelter and protection to those Syrians in country, as well as to those who have fled to neighbouring nations.
"With this announcement, Canada has committed $203.5 million for humanitarian assistance to the crisis in Syria since January 2012."
The Joint Israel-U.S. Missile Test
On August 30 amid growing expectations of Western military action in Syria, Russia announced that its early warning radar system in Armavir, southwestern Russia detected the launch of two missiles from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea towards the sea's eastern coastline. This was later confirmed in an Israeli statement made to the Reuters news agency.
Israel initially denied knowledge of the missile launch, Al Jazeera reported, but soon after said in a statement to Reuters that it had carried out one joint missile test with the U.S., of an "anchor" target missile used in anti-missile systems. Israel said it carried out a test of a missile, used as a target in a U.S.-funded anti-missile system, in the Mediterranean at 06:15 GMT (9:15 am local time), around the same time quoted by the Russian state-run news agency, RIA.
This is a typical example of how disinformation works. In this case, there is definite evidence of a missile launch in a clear context of preparations for launching aggressive attacks against a sovereign country, but the western powers do not engage in warmongering against the U.S. or Israel in the name of high ideals. They do not convoke the Security Council and demand sanctions. They do not call for preventative strikes or sanctions against those countries as is done when the Syrian government defends its country against foreign mercenaries called rebels or when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea exercises its sovereign right to launch communications satellites which the imperialist media call missiles, or when Iran exercises its sovereign right to develop a nuclear program for peaceful purposes.
Behind these double standards, the fact remains that the U.S. and Israel are preparing to use these missiles against sovereign countries such as Syria, perhaps Lebanon and also Iran. The tests are evidence that crimes against the peace are being prepared. It does not get more Hitlerite than this. Those forces engage in crimes but claim they are done in support of high ideals, just as they claimed was the case prior to World War II when Hitler was encouraged to defeat the Soviet Union no matter what the cost. The arguments of Goebbels and Kerry, Chamberlain and Cameron, and King and Baird are one and the same. Stand up and be counted. No means No! No to War on Syria!
Saudi Arabia's "Chemical Bandar"
Behind the Chemical
Attacks in Syria?
Nothing the U.S. claims about what happened in Syria adds up. We are being asked to believe an illogical story, when it is much more likely that it was Israel and Saudi Arabia who enabled the Obama Administration to threaten Syria with war.
The Obama Administration's intelligence report on Syria was a rehash of Iraq. "There are lots of things that aren't spelled out" in the four-page document, according to Richard Guthrie, the former project head of the Chemical and Biological Warfare Project of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. One piece of evidence is the alleged interception of Syrian government communications, but no transcripts were provided.
Just as with the Obama Administration's speeches which all fall short of conclusively confirming what happened, nothing was categorically confirmed in the intelligence report. Actually it comes across more as a superficial college or university student's paper put together by wordsmiths instead of genuine experts on the subject.
Going in a circle, the report even depends on "unnamed" social media and accounts as sources of evidence or data. Lacking transparency, it states that "there are accounts from international and Syrian medical personnel, videos, witness accounts, thousands of social media reports from at least 12 different locations in the Damascus area, journalist accounts and reports from highly credible non-governmental organizations."
Chances are that these unnamed sources are actually foreign-funded insurgents, Israeli media, Saudi media, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights -- which includes fighters in the ranks of the insurgency and salutes Saudi Arabia as a model democracy -- or the NGO Doctors Without Borders. These are the same sources that have been supporting the insurgency and pushing for regime change and military intervention in Syria.
Moreover, one of the main sources of the intelligence and communication interceptions that are supposed to be a smoking gun is none other than Israel, which is notorious for doctoring and falsifying evidence.
The US intelligence report also claims to have advanced knowledge about the plans to launch a chemical weapons attack several days before it happened. A leading expert on chemical weapons, Jean Pascal Zanders, who until recently was a senior research fellow at the European Union's Institute for Security Studies, asks why the US government did not tell the world about it and issue warnings about a chemical attack at that time.
An Israeli-Saudi-US Conspiracy?
The US-supported anti-government forces fighting inside Syria are the ones that have a track record of using chemical weapons. Yet, Obama and company have said nothing.
Despite the anti-government forces accusations that the Syrian military launched a chemical weapon attack on Homs at Christmas in December 2012, CNN reported that the US military was training anti-government fighters with the securing and handling of chemical weapons. Under the name of the Destructive Wind Chemical Battalion, the insurgents themselves even threatened to use nerve gas and released a video where they killed rabbits as a demonstration of what they planned on doing in Syria.
According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, two brigades of anti-government fighters that were trained by the CIA, Israelis, Saudis, and Jordanians crossed from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan into Syria to launch an assault, respectively on August 17 and 19, 2013. The US must have invested quite a lot in training both anti-government brigades. If true, some may argue that their defeat prompted the chemical weapons attack in Damascus as a contingency plan to fall back on.
However, how they came by chemical weapons is another issue, but many trails lead to Saudi Arabia. According to the British Independent, it was Saudi Prince Bandar "that first alerted Western allies to the alleged use of sarin gas by the Syrian regime in February 2013." Turkey would apprehend Syrian militants in its territory with sarin gas, which these terrorists planned on using inside Syria. On July 22 the insurgents would also overrun Al-Assal and kill all the witnesses as part of a cover-up.
A report by Yahya Ababneh, which was contributed to by Dale Gavlak, has collected the testimonies of witnesses who say that "certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the gas attack."
The Mint Press News report adds an important dimension to the story, totally contradicting the claims of the US government. It quotes a female insurgent fighter who says things that make a link to Saudi Arabia clear. She says that those who provided them with weapons "didn't tell them what these arms were or how to use them" and that they "didn't know they were chemical weapons." "When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them," she is quoted.
There is also another Saudi link in the report: "Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside a tunnel used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having a ‘tube-like structure' while others were like a ‘huge gas bottle.'"
So it seems that the Saudis enabled the chemical attack while the Israelis provided them cover to ignite a full-scale war, or at the very least enable a bombing campaign against Damascus. Israel and Saudi Arabia have empowered the Obama Administration to threaten war on Syria.
Obama Wants to Change the Balance of Power in Syria
The moralistic language coming out of Washington is despicable posturing. The hypocrisy of the US government knows no bounds. It condemns the Syrian military for using cluster bombs while the United States sells them en masse to Saudi Arabia.
The UN inspectors entered Syria in the first place on the invitation of the government in Damascus. The Syrian government warned the UN for weeks that the anti-government militias were trying to use chemical weapons after they gained control of a chlorine factory east of Aleppo. As a precaution, the Syrian military consolidated all its chemical weapons into a handful of heavily guarded compounds to prevent the anti-government forces from reaching them. Yet, the insurgents launched a chemical weapon attack against the Syrian government's forces in Khan Al-Assal on March 19, 2013. Turning the truth on its head, the insurgents and their foreign backers, including the US government, would try to blame the Syrian government for the chemical attack, but the UN's investigator Carla Del Ponte would refute their claims as false in May after extensive work.
Concerning the alleged August attack, the Obama Administration has been lying and contradicting itself for days. They say that traces of chemical weapons cannot be eliminated, but that the Syrian government destroyed that same evidence that cannot be eradicated. They want an investigation, but say they already have all the answers.
The claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in the suburb of Ghouta defy logic. Why would the Syrian government unnecessarily use chemical weapons in an area that it controls and shoot itself in the foot by presenting the US and its allies with a pretext to intervene? And of all the days it could unnecessarily use chemical weapons, the Obama administration wants us to believe that the Syrian government picked the day when United Nation inspectors arrived in Damascus.
Even the biased and misleading state-run British Broadcasting Corporation admitted that there was something strange about the event. The BBC's own "Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen says many will ask why the [Syrian] government would want to use such weapons at a time when [United Nations] inspectors are in the country and the military has been doing well militarily in the area around Damascus."
The US is deliberately pointing the finger for the use of chemical weapons at the Syrian government.
American officials have a track record of lying to start wars against other countries. This has been the consistent modus operandi of the US from Vietnam to Yugoslavia, and from Iraq to Libya.
It is not Syria that is going against the international community, but the warmongers in Washington, which include the Obama Administration.
Washington is threatening to attack Syria as a means of prolonging the fighting inside Syria. The US government also wants to have a stronger hand in the country's future negotiations by restoring the balance of power between the Syrian government and America's anti-government insurgent allies, thus weakening the Syrian military and ending its winning momentum against the insurgency. If not softening Damascus up for the insurgents, America wants to level the equation and undermine the Syrian government before a final negotiation takes place.
Now is the time for the "responsibility to prevent war" -- the real R2P -- to come into play.
(This article was originally published on RT.)
For Your Information
Maps of Military Deployments Around Syria
Click to enlarge. (AFP, September 2, 2013)
Click to enlarge. (Voice of America, August 29, 2013)
Canada's Dirty Little Chemical Weapons Secrets
As far back as June 15, 2013, based on evidence that was not made public, Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons such as sarin. Harper stated in Paris: "We share the view of our allies, I think, based on the evidence before us, that there have been uses of chemical weapons in Syria by the regime." Demonstrating his usual abject servility to Obama, Harper is once again giving full support to U.S. allegations that Syria used chemical weapons such as sarin and mustard gas against its own people[1] and has said he will agree with whatever Obama decides to do in retaliation, including a military strike. But amid all of Harper's pious posturing about the immorality of chemical weapons, Harper omits mentioning anything about the Canadian government's own history of stockpiling and testing sarin, mustard gas and many other chemical weapons on its own people at locations such as Suffield, Alberta; Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Wainwright, Alberta; the Chemical Warfare Laboratory in Ottawa; and CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick.
In regard to Alberta, it is known that chemical weapons, including sarin and mustard gas, were stored and tested for decades at the Defense Research Establishment Suffield (DRES) near Medicine Hat, Canada's largest Canadian Forces base. The weapons were tested on approximately 3,700 members of the Canadian military in Suffield from 1941 to the mid-1970s, but mainly in the Second World War era, and at Ottawa from 1941-45. It is also known that chemical weapons were tested on personnel at Alberta's CFB Wainwright during the 1960's.[2] The Suffield facility commenced operations on June 11, 1941 as a joint British/Canadian biological and chemical research facility, administered by the Canadian Army. An American chemical weapons specialist was also stationed there, while a Canadian counterpart was assigned to a Maryland facility. In 1942, a chemical warfare school was started on the Suffield base, a breach of the 1925 Geneva Protocol against chemical weapons. In 1946, the station was completely tuned over to the Canadian Army when the British withdrew their support.
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy (CVA) website provides detailed information on the effects of the exposure of Canadian military personnel to sarin, mustard gas, and other chemical warfare agents at Suffield and at CFB Wainwright, personnel who "had no idea what they were being exposed to." The website states: "Those veterans that suffered through the early years of the 1940's, during testing of mustard agents mixed with other chemicals and items, suffered inhumane treatment, without medical aid in many cases. The Department of National Defence, Canadian Forces Surgeon Generals, Suffield Staff, Health Canada, and the Canadian Government erred, and are guilty of neglect and suppressing evidence. They failed to record this information into medical documents, and personal files in some cases. This was not a simple error, as it has been repeated throughout the last forty years. These denials allowed the Government to avoid awarding medical pensions in large numbers to veterans who were entitled, and who should have been advised of chemicals they were exposed too."
The CVA website goes on to explain: "There is, at the present time, a class action before the Federal Court of Canada, fighting for your rights and your suffering as caused by the Department of National Defence, Suffield Staff, Canadian Forces Surgeon Generals, Health Canada, and the Canadian Government. The class action is for all veterans who were exposed to chemicals." The site then lists "some chemicals used at Suffield Experimental Station, now called Canadian Forces Bse Suffield, at Ralston Alberta from 1941 to present date, and at CFB Wainwright during the 1960's." The very lengthy list of dozens of chemicals includes sarin (nerve agent), mustard gas, cyanide gas (used by the Nazis to execute concentration camp prisoners), phosgene, arsenic, carbon monoxide, tabun (nerve agent), soman (nerve agent), and the insecticide DDT. The CVA website concludes: "A full scope of the testing that took place within these areas will never be known. The attempt to gather information from both Suffield and the Canadian Government has been a very daunting task for those members who were there and suffer from the effects of chemical exposure. Our research has shown that the more we look, the more we find. There are hundreds of tests, the records of which are still being withheld by our government."
Another significant chemical warfare experiment in Canada was the 1966 testing of Agent Orange, a dioxin-containing defoliant made by Monsanto and Dow, by spraying it on trees at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick. Agent Purple, a lesser known but three times more toxic chemical, was also tested. Planes sprayed herbicides containing dioxin around Gagetown from 1956 to 1967. The tests were kept completely secret; after planes took off from the Gagetown airstrip, nearby communities had no idea what chemicals were being sprayed. During the aggression against Viet Nam, the U.S. military sprayed Agent Orange, Agent Purple and other toxic chemicals on the Vietnamese people with devastating results. It is estimated 500,000 Vietnamese people died as a result of spraying. As of 2003, 650,000 people were also suffering chronic conditions, especially cancers, caused by these chemicals. However, at the time of the Gagetown spraying, the federal government even denied that the chemicals were harmful!
The federal government has acknowledged that Agent Orange defoliant was used in the 1960s at CFB Gagetown, but has only acknowledged the harm caused by Agent Orange to military personnel when it was sprayed on Gagetown in the years 1966 and 1967. Experts like cancer and leukemia specialist Richard van de Jagt of the University of Ottawa have long made a connection between Agent Orange and many health problems such as cancer but the government denies that any citizens in the area were affected. Canadian expert Dr. Wayne Dwernychuk, an environmental consultant who spent several years testing dioxin levels in the countryside of Viet Nam, asserts that there is still dioxin in the Gagetown soil. On August 21, 2007, the federal government denied a lawsuit which 2,000 people had signed on to in 2005, asking for compensation for health problems due to the chemical spraying. Hundreds of veterans have applied for disability pensions based on their exposure to Agent Orange testing at the base but a large number have been denied and only a handful have been awarded.
Some recent information confirms that sarin and mustard gas are still being stored and tested at Suffield, Alberta. According to a study released by the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and published in the journal Military Medicine in August 2012, every year members of the Canadian military still travel to Suffield to participate in a cruel "live agent training" drill in which live pigs are exposed to toxic chemical weapons such as sarin and mustard agents. Pigs subjected to these chemicals "suffer from seizures, irregular heartbeats, difficulty breathing, and bleeding and can even die."[3] The Department of National Defence has not denied this claim and has admitted animals are used for such tests. Today, the Harper government's increasing integration of the Canadian armed forces into the U.S. military and the fact that the U.S. military has even larger stores of chemical weapons than Canada, including sarin and mustard gas, means that there is great danger that in the future Canada will be drawn even further into the abyss of chemical warfare.
Note
1. Sarin was invented in 1939 by I.G. Farben,
the
German
chemical monopoly which supplied the Nazis with the gas used to murder
concentration camp prisoners. The Nazis took their "inspiration" for
research
on lethal gases from the U.S. government's use of hydrogen cyanide to
execute
domestic criminals.
2. The CVA website material on chemical exposure at
Suffield and
Wainwright can be found
athttp://canadianveteransadvocacy.com/Board2/index.php?topic=814.0
3. The study was produced by researchers Shalin Gala and
Justin Goodman
from PETA, Major Michael Murphy from the Indiana University School of
Medicine and Marion Balsam, former commander of Virginia's Naval
Medical
Centre Portsmouth.
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