Dr. Postol's "correction" shows he still needs Reading Comprehension 101

Doctor Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology issued a "correction" yesterday. This correction didn't explain the apparent contradiction between his earlier theory that jihadist terrorists set off a chemical pipe-bomb in the street and his current support for claims by the Russians and the regime that they bombed a terrorist arms depot that stored chemical weapons. Nor did he resolve the contradiction between his identification of video uploaded at 7:59am as true images of the attack and the Russian/regime claims that the attack took place around 11:30am. This "correction" only addressed the weakest of his arguments, which was based on a misreading of the French report, Chemical Attack in Syria - National Evaluation presented by Jean-Marc Ayrault following the Defense Council Meeting (26 April 2017). As I wrote in Friday's blog post:

He is so confused in his haste to respond. He probably didn't take the time to read it twice before he added, with his empathise:

The French Report instead claims that there were at least three munitions dropped from helicopters in the town of Saraqib, more than 30 miles north of the alleged sarin release crater identified by the WHR.

The WHR claims that a fixed wing aircraft was the originator of the airdropped munition at the alleged dispersal site. The French Intelligence Report alleges that a helicopter was used to drop sarin loaded grenades at three different locations in Saraqib.

Both reports cannot simultaneously be true.

Actually they can. The French were talking about an attack on Saraqib that took place 29 April 2013. In that attack, the Assad regime dropped sarin grenades from a helicopter. One of the grenades failed to explode and was recovered. The French were able to compare that sarin with the sarin used on Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017, almost 4 years later. This is how the French intelligence report referenced the attack on Saraqi.

Elliot Higgins commented on Postol's confusion too. The ridicule on social media was at once merciless and well-deserved. He had to do something. I ended my post by saying this isn't rocket science, it's reading comprehension 101.

Now in reading his "correction," I am forced to the conclusion that one of us still has some basic issues with reading comprehension, and I don't think it's the guy who never even went to M.I.T.

Postol issues a correction to his earlier misreading of the French intelligence report on Syria https://t.co/DHv5rBhUcb pic.twitter.com/nnAhy0PxWH

— Media Lens (@medialens) April 29, 2017

He begins his "correction" with this rather lame excuse:

In my effort to understand the exotic claims of the French Intelligence Report (FIR) I missed that the report was in fact focused on an event that occurred not on April 4, 2017 but instead on April 29, 2013.

Now, one of us is not reading it right, because I thought it said:

Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, spoke following the restricted meeting of the Defense Council at the Elysée on April 26. He presented the national evaluation providing evidence of the use of sarin gas and the Syrian regime’s responsibility in the chemical attack carried out in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4.

You can see it in big letters on the report's landing page. At least, I'm not alone in thinking this report is focused on events in Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017:



In the critique of the French Report he is now correcting, Dr. Postol said that, the way he read it, it sounded like the French were describing another attack entirely. I am beginning to feel like he is reading another French Intelligence Report entirely. In his "correction," he goes on to say this about it:

It does not report on the details of the attack on April 4 but instead focuses on past attacks which it alleges leads to a strong conclusion that the Syrian government was the perpetrator of the April 4 attack.

I turn to the report, and I see:

1. – Technical analysis of the chemical attack on 4 April


a) France has deployed the required resources to obtain its own samples from the alleged sarin attack on 4 April 2017 in Idlib Governorate.

b) The analyses carried out by French experts on the environmental samples collected at one of the impact points of the chemical attack at Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017 reveal the presence of sarin, of a specific secondary product (diisopropylmethylphosphonate – DIMP) formed during synthesis of sarin from isopropanol and DF (methylphosphonyl difluoride), and hexamine. Analysis of biomedical samples also shows that a victim of the Khan Sheikhoun attack, a sample of whose blood was taken in Syria on the very day of the attack, was exposed to sarin. France therefore independently and categorically confirms that sarin was used on 4 April. The United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey and the Director-General of the OPCW have also established that sarin was employed on the basis of analysis of biomedical samples.

c) According to the intelligence obtained by the French services, the process of synthesizing sarin, developed by the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) and employed by the Syrian armed forces and security services, involves the use of hexamine as a stabilizer. DIMP is also known as a by-product generated by this process.

Then it goes on for a couple of pages of what I would call "details," and it does briefly talk about the 29 April 2013 sarin attack in Saraqib because that is where they got the Syrian sarin to match with the Khan Sheikhoun samples, but that is far from making it the focus of the paper. Then it moves on to:

2. – Militarily analysis of the tactical situation around 4 April 2017

a) The 4 April attack came after the Syrian armed forces and security services and their supporters launched a counter-offensive in the sector of Hama, responding to the progress of armed groups and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in the north of Hama since 22 March. On 23 March, Syrian elite forces, the Qawat Al-Nimr, along with Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds Force, were redeployed to the area. Syrian and Russian air support has also been focused on this sector. On 2 April, the Syrian armed forces and security services and their supporters pushed back the front line, although Damascus failed to fully win back the territory captured by the armed groups in March. Since then, the regime has largely regained territory in the Hama sector and continues to pressure the opposition: further conventional bombing has been observed in the Hama region.

b) The French services are aware in particular of a Sukhoi Su-22 bomber which took off from the Shayrat Airbase on the morning of 4 April and launched up to six strikes around Khan Sheikhoun.

And that goes on, and then there is another section on the capabilities of armed groups in the area, and a fourth section about the continuation of a clandestine Syrian chemical weapons programme. So in my reading of it, I thought it was entirely focused on the Khan Sheikhoun sarin attack of 4 April 2017, and had quite a few details about the attack. I don't see how there can be any confusion about that. So, I think the good doctor still could use a little help with Reading Comprehension 101.

Also related:
Please Re-Tweet as Ted Postol beats a hasty retreat
Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now says Assad now best for Syria
Sincerely yours, Theodore A. Postol
A valuable admission: Russia controls Syria & Putin runs the war
Why is Russia Today attacking Rep. Maxine Waters?

Syria is the Paris Commune of the 21st Century!

Click here for my posts on the 2016 US Election Click here for a list of my other blogs on Syria Click here for a list of my other blogs on Libya

Google correct the record: Little girl was beheaded by Assad not ISIS [GRAPHIC!]

Originally titled "Open letter to a Putin Propagandist"

This is going to be a brutal post, but then it has been that kind of day, because all day a Putin propagandist has been tweeting me pictures of jihadist beheadings as if to say these are the people I support, these are the White Helmets, these are the Syrian revolutionaries. He wants us to think all the people Assad is killing deserve to die, and he hopes to distract me from the more important work of exposing more prominent Putin apologists. I call him a Putin propagandist because I have taken a look at his timeline and he tweets for the whole gamut of Putin projects.

So he has been baiting me all day:

@clayclai You never responded, did you?

— Tim Owen (@oddlots) April 30, 2017

So let this serve as my respond. Not to him, of course, waste of ink, but to all who follow me and may have seen his tweets, and to the world at large, because now this has become a bigger project, and let me tell you why:

Beheadings are a gruesome thing, and shocking to most people. The conflict in Syria has become very much associated with beheadings - especially in the West where the focus is on the crimes of ISIS and the jihadist terrorists.

From right-wing "Eye of Vigilance" website

There is one image of a little Syrian girl that had been beheaded that has never left my mind in all the years since I first laid eyes on it. It is one of the images that keeps me up at night - writing posts like this in support of the Syrian struggle, year after year. It is the kind of image that once seen, and never be unseen, probably because it doesn't deserve to.

Oh, the caption is wrong, she was actually beheaded by Assad's artillery, but if you find it on the Internet, most likely you will be told it is the picture of a Christian girl beheaded by ISIS. If you do a Google search on this image with their image search feature, you will get an incredible 25 billion hits like this, and Google's description is: Best guess for this image: isis crimes against christians.

That is the lie that now has become accept fact because of the diligent work of Putin propagandists and Assad apoligists to cover their crimes, but I know better because I first used this image in a piece for The North Star titled Barack Hussein Obama: Enemy of Syrian People on 21 September 2012, just 5 days after she was killed and a month after Obama told Assad that he was OK with this and much, much more with his famous "red-line" statement. On the day he issued it, I called it a "green-light" for what was done to this poor child.

When I published my main research piece on that question, Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar al-Assad, 14 September 2012, this little girl had only two more days to live. That was long before ISIS started beheading people in Syria, and even today the Assad regime is responsible for 95% of the killing, but there has been this concerted effort to convince us that the jihadist terrorists are the main problem. I have been subject to that today by a Tim Owen.

Syrian Revolution Digest

This is where I first saw it, on Ammar Abdulhamid's Syrian Revolution Digest, the same day she was murdered by Assad's army, 16 September 2012.  If you restrict the Google search on this image to dates before 2013, suddenly the 25 billion, that' s BILLION with a "B" returns drop down to a relative handful, but you can find out what really happened to this little girl.

Abu Okasha in Karachi, linked to a picture on Twitter on the evening of her murder:  Brutality of Maloon Assad, Recent Massacre ( Viewer Discretion ) 16 September 2012, 10:56 PM. The next day someone posted this image to Flickr.

This more complete record shows the bereaved father holding his headless daughter, and some of the art produced, probably by children that have been force to absorb such brutality into their psyche. Think of them when you get mad at me for showing you this.

In December 2012 Uncovering the World, a blog featuring uncensored events and news, did this picture layout:

They had no axe to grind in the Syrian conflict. They were just reporting what happened. But since then nefarious forces have gone to work the bury the true nature and real perpetrators of this little girl's murder. Those that wish to deflect blame from Assad and gin up our fear of ISIS have appropriated the last image of this little girl, and through their sheer power to propagate a lie on the Internet, have buried the truth about her murder with billions of lies.

And they have been successful. They have convinced everyone, even Google, that this is most likely an example of ISIS crimes against Christians. While I don't think Google wants to be part of a Putin/Assad driven propaganda campaign, I think in this case, that is what they unwittingly have become.

Tim Owen, reminded me of the tragic case of this little girl again, and made me want to do something. I know we can never bring her back to life. We definitely don't have that kind of power. We can't even  be sure that she had a proper burial, anyway that was more than four years ago. We can't even do much to keep other Syrian children from a similar fate. Maybe a hundred thousand Syrian children have followed her into the grave already.

But we can still make sure she is properly remembered on the Internet. We can demand that the truth be told about her murder and that the image of her headless body not be used to strengthen the position of her killers.  With that in mind, I am hereby kicking off a campaign to ask Google to not fall victim to the Putin propagandists brute-force attack, re-evaluate the available information about this image, and correct their description to point the finger at Assad rather than ISIS.

Please sign my first ever Change.org Petition 

Google correct the record: Little girl was beheaded by Assad not ISIS

Syria is the Paris Commune of the 21st Century!

Click here for my posts on the 2016 US Election Click here for a list of my other blogs on Syria Click here for a list of my other blogs on Libya

Please Re-Tweet as Ted Postol beats a hasty retreat

Although I prefer to think of the Syrian Revolution as the Paris Commune of the 21st Century, I have also called the Syrian tragedy the first holocaust of the 21st century. I continue to hope that latter characterization remains a warning and an exaggeration, but in the spirit of that sad metaphor, I would like to say that Doctor Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is becoming one of the leading holocaust deniers of the 21 Century.

Many will say this label is unfairly awarded because what has so far happened in Syria has yet to reach holocaust proportions. That may be true. It may be more accurate to call Postol a holocaust enabler, because he is defending the mass murderers while they are committing the crime, and by doing this, he is helping them turn a string of atrocities into a holocaust.

As long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was allowed to do his grisly work without much attention on the world stage Dr. Postol kept quiet. There were over a hundred thousand murdered before Assad used sarin in a big way in August of 2013. Then Ted Postol remerged as one of the chief investigators to argue that the Syrian regime wasn't responsible for the sarin murders of over 1400, including more than 300 children in Ghouta. He made a seemingly scientific argument that the regime could not have done it, and because of his MIT credentials, he quickly became the darling of the Assad didn't do it crowd.

Fast forward to 2017 and Assad is at it again with the sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun, 4 April, so Postol is at it again too. Actually, Assad has been at it all along. He'd killed roughly another three hundred thousand since Postol first came to his defense, and he has never stopped killing, including with chemical. But this is the first time since 2013 that Assad has killed big time with sarin, and gotten the world's attention for it. Now Assad needs Postol's special talents again, and he's there for him.

And Postol is a rather slippery fellow. He's hard to pin down.

When both the Russians and the Syrians were coming out with a story about how they bombed a terrorist weapons depot that stored chemical weapons, Postol concocted his own story about how he could prove the terrorist exploded a chemical weapons pipe bomb in the street. Between 11 April and 14 April, he published no less than three versions of this story. The last one in Truthdig. Now that so many holes have been punched in that theory that it can't even hold our attention, he has come back to Truthdig with a "new" theory, Russian Explanation of the Mass Poisoning in Syria Could Be True, 26 April 2017. What I find incredible is that he doesn't address the earlier theory, because the sub-title of this piece should be "My Previous Truth Could Be False." He begins:

I have been examining the possibility that the April 4 attack in which a number of Syrian civilians and animals were killed, apparently by some kind of poison, hit an ammunition dump as claimed by the Russians. Videos taken on the morning of the attack show explosive debris clouds from four targets that were hit and provide strong circumstantial evidence that this Russian explanation could be true.

So far we have heard only of civilians (and animals) being killed, and assuming that is true, we have to wonder why no armed militants were killed, if this was an arms depot or chemical weapons store. Wouldn't they have been guarding it? Postol doesn't address that, instead he shows us this panorama stitched together from an opposition video of the Khan Sheikhoun attack that shows the three explosions and one puff of smoke seen in the video in one shot.

Then he tells us:

One of the clouds is quite distinctly different from all the others. The stem of this debris cloud has a base area that is five or more times larger than the cloud-stem bases of the other bomb debris clouds.

So now he is interpreting smoke signals for us. This image is actually from the video I used in my blog post criticising Postol.



There are a couple of problems with his use of these images to defend Assad. The first is that most observers of the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun reported that the Su-22 dropped four ordinances, 3 conventional rockets and one chemical. So the more likely interpretation of the three plumes of smoke is that they represent the conventional bombs. You wouldn't expect to see a plume like that from the chemical weapon. Why one plume is larger than the others may well have to do with what it hit, but it certainly doesn't prove it hit an arms depot. Besides, the only two large buildings in the area have been inspected both by reporters, and before and after satellite photos, and it has been determined that they were not bombed. That much smaller puff of smoke you see in the lower right hand corner on the video above in its starting position, it doesn't make a plume, it doesn't even go as high as the minaret, and is whiter. You can see it in Postol's picture too. Maybe that is where he should be looking for the chemical attack.

The second problem is that this video was uploaded to YouTube at 7:59am local time, just after the attack really happened, but both the Russians and the Assad regime insist the Syrian jet didn't attack Khan Sheikhoun until much later, close to noon. So by accepting this video as a valid record of the strike, he is acknowledging both the Russians and Assad regime are, shall we say "mistaken," even when he is arguing that they may be telling the truth!

Poor Postol. He wants so badly to please his Syrian Sister, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't seen to get it right. First he rushes to press with his own theory of how Assad didn't do it, only to discover his theory blows their alibi. So he ditches his theory to back their alibi, and in his zeal to find new proofs for them, ends up calling them out for lying again.

Then he goes off the deep end to imply it was some sort of industrial accident. Maybe they died from burning plastic!

I also have looked up data on poisonous gases that could be generated by the combustion of plastics, and have inspected photographs of the dead and dying from the Bhopal, India, chemical accident of Dec. 2-3, 1984.

How pathetic. Truthdig should publish a retraction of his earlier article, and this one.

Also on Wednesday, France issued a report on the sarin attack in Syria that is extremely detailed and claims to prove, among other things, that the sarin used on Khan Sheikhoun has been used by Assad before. The Chemical Attack in Syria - National Evaluation presented by Jean-Marc Ayrault following the Defense Council Meeting (26 April 2017) is a must read for anyone who wants to know what happened. This report is based exclusively on French intelligence, and they have been spying on Syria longer than most:

In view of the horrific attack and Syria’s repeated violations of its commitments to stop using weapons banned by the international community, France has decided to share the information at its disposal with its partners – who were informed overnight – and the general public.

The conclusions published in the national assessment – which we will be making public today – are based on painstaking investigations and analyses by French intelligence.

Naturally this became the new enemy Ted Postol had to take on and he did this on Thursday, 27 April 2017 in a piece he posted on Sic Semper Tyrannis (A Committee of Correspondence). He writes:

Attached below are data derived from the French Intelligence Report published yesterday on April 26, 2017. A reading of the report instantaneously indicates that the French Intelligence Report of April 26, 2017 directly contradicts the White House Intelligence Report of April 11, 2017. The discrepancies between these two reports essentially result in two completely different narratives alleging nerve agent attacks in Syria on April 11, 2017. The fact that these two intelligence reports allege totally different circumstances associated with the same alleged event raises very serious questions that need to be investigated and reported to the American public.

He is so confused in his haste to respond. He probably didn't take the time to read it twice before he added, with his empathise:

The French Report instead claims that there were at least three munitions dropped from helicopters in the town of Saraqib, more than 30 miles north of the alleged sarin release crater identified by the WHR.

The WHR claims that a fixed wing aircraft was the originator of the airdropped munition at the alleged dispersal site. The French Intelligence Report alleges that a helicopter was used to drop sarin loaded grenades at three different locations in Saraqib.

Both reports cannot simultaneously be true.

Actually they can. The French were talking about an attack on Saraqib that took place 29 April 2013. In that attack, the Assad regime dropped sarin grenades from a helicopter. One of the grenades failed to explode and was recovered. The French were able to compare that sarin with the sarin used on Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017, almost 4 years later. This is how the French intelligence report referenced the attack on Saraqib:

c) According to the intelligence obtained by the French services, the process of synthesizing sarin, developed by the scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) and employed by the Syrian armed forces and security services, involves the use of hexamine as a stabilizer. DIMP is also known as a by-product generated by this process.

d) This intelligence on the process used by the regime, which is a sign of its responsibility in the attack on 4 April, is based notably on the analysis of the content of an unexploded grenade which was used with certainty by the Syrian regime during the Saraqib attack on 29 April 2013. That mid-afternoon, a helicopter arriving from the north-east flew over the city of Saraqib at high altitude. Three unidentified objects, emitting white smoke, were dropped on neighbourhoods to the west of the city, on a north-south trajectory.

That was a small sarin attack. It never made the news, so Assad's defense was never called, and Postol paid no attention to it, otherwise he never would have fallen victim to his confusion now.

The French are also in complete agreement with Syrian witnesses and the White House Report as to the type of aircraft that attacked Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April, 2017:

b) The French services are aware in particular of a Sukhoi Su-22 bomber which took off from the Shayrat Airbase on the morning of 4 April and launched up to six strikes around Khan Sheikhoun.

This isn't rocket science, it's reading comprehension 101. If logic were a person, or even a corporation, it could probably bring a case in federal court against Postol for violating the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. At some point this has got to be embarrassing for MIT, even if it isn't for Dr. Postol.

Also related:
Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now says Assad now best for Syria
Sincerely yours, Theodore A. Postol
A valuable admission: Russia controls Syria & Putin runs the war
Why is Russia Today attacking Rep. Maxine Waters?

Syria is the Paris Commune of the 21st Century!

Click here for my posts on the 2016 US Election Click here for a list of my other blogs on Syria Click here for a list of my other blogs on Libya

Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now says Assad now best for Syria

Maybe Noam Chomsky is getting senile. Perhaps that is the kindest thing I can say. In the Syria section of his hour long interview on Democracy Now, Wednesday, 26 April 2017, he would capture a glimmer of truth here and there, but he failed to put those pieces together into a coherent pattern, so instead he fell back on well-wore talking points of the "anti-imperialist" Left and gave aid and comfort to the killers when all he really wants to do is help those fleeing the war.

Host Amy Goodman asked him about the recent sarin attack at Khan Sheikhoun and Trump's response:

But, well, there are some things we know for sure. There was a serious chemical weapons attack. Nobody doubts that. It’s plausible that it was the Syrian government, which does raise some questions. It’s not so obvious why the Assad regime would have carried out a chemical warfare attack at a moment when it’s pretty much winning the war, and the worst danger it faces is that a counterforce will enter to undermine its progress. So it does raise some questions. It also—even though maybe you can think up some reason why the Assad regime, which is a murderous, brutal regime, might have done it, there’s even another question as to why the Russians would have allowed it. Now, remember, this is a—the air base is a joint Russian-Syrian base. Russia has plenty of clout in Syria. And for them, it’s a total disaster. They have global concerns, not just local concerns in Syria. So there are some concerns.

He begins by acknowledging what everybody, including Putin and Assad, agrees on: There was a chemical attack on 4 April 2017 in Khan Sheikhoun. He doesn't say a word about the victims, but instead jumps straight into the "Cui Bono" [who benefits] defense of Assad so popular with the Russians and the rest of the "anti-imperialist" crowd. "But why would he risk using sarin now when he's winning? It just doesn't make sense!" They made the same as argument in 2013, and Assad's still winning after all these years.

Near the end of this paragraph he says "Russia has plenty of clout in Syria," and that is quite the understatement. As I reported in A valuable admission: Russia controls Syria & Putin runs the war, on Monday, it is the Russian military command that is running the war. No Syrian air force plane flies without its permission. All military operations are controlled by a single command. That is the way armies do things. In the Vietnam War, it was the US command. It ran the South Vietnamese, Korean, Australian, all the armies, under a single command. In Syria today, that command is Russian. Chomsky acknowledged it was "a joint Russian-Syrian base." Who does he think runs the base? Two armies don't share a military base the way two people share an apartment. There will be a single unified command. This sarin attack almost certainly wasn't a renegade operation carried out by Assad on his own authority. If Chomsky thinks Assad has too much to lose from the chance of western intervention to risk it, he has everything to lose should Putin disapprove and pull the plug. Assad is not that wreckless. This sarin attack was done under Putin's authority.

This means that any "Cui Bono" analysis should be applied to Putin, not Assad, and makes Chomsky's "question as to why the Russians would have allowed it," a very good one. Then he answers that question by implying they had no motive, "for them, it’s a total disaster," without any further explanation or analysis even while acknowledging "They have global concerns." Think man! Take the next step.

Instead he diverts to the latest en vogue "anti-imperialist" theory of how Assad didn't do it, the Postol pipe dream:

And there are further concerns. There has been—the White House did put out a careful—you know, a justification, an intelligence report, to explain and account for, showing why they had absolute confidence that it was a Syrian government attack. This was analyzed closely by a very serious and credible analyst, Theodore Postol, professor at MIT, who has a long record of highly successful, credible analysis. He’s a highly regarded strategic analyst and intelligence analyst. And he gave a pretty devastating critique of the White House report. You might—you can pick it up online and take a look at it. So there certainly are some questions.

Just as he doesn't spare word one on the suffering of the sarin victims, he never addresses their claims as to who done it. Instead he takes on the White House Report, presumably because he, like Postol, has elected the Trump administration as the best champions of the Syrians in Khan Sheikhoun. I've just torn through Ted Postol's thesis in Sincerely yours, Theodore A. Postol, 26 April 2017, and I turn on Democracy Now to hear Chomsky singing his praises like a movie poster:

"analyzed closely" "a very serious and credible analyst"

"professor at MIT"

"long record of highly successful, credible analysis"

"highly regarded strategic analyst and intelligence analyst"

"a pretty devastating critique"

This is how all these Left celebs sell themselves and each other. They all claim great legacies which they are selling for a song, and they ask us to trust them on Syria because of what they have done in the past. Noam Chomsky knows the Assad regime is a criminal regime that is murdering it people wholesale, he doesn't think we should do anything to stop the murders, but he is strongly critical of how little we do to help the survivors. Truly he treats Assad's assault on his people as if it was a natural disaster in which all we can do is help the victims. Even in the case of forest fires, we don't just help the victims, we try to put out the fire!

That there’s—that Syria is capable of a monstrous act like that, the Syrian government, that much is not in doubt. But one question that arises is: Before doing something, could you find out what happened? OK? I mean, let’s have an inquiry, take a look and see what in fact actually happened.

Sure, plenty of time for an inquiry. It's not like people are dying everyday. Noam Chomsky, Theodore A. Postol and Amy Goodman don't treat Syria as a crime in progress because it's not happening to them. That is why they have all the time in the world for a proper inquiry. That is why they demand proof beyond a reasonable doubt before they are willing to do anything to stop it.

Chauvinism colors Noam Chomsky's view of Assad's opposition, as does his reliance on Assad mouthpieces like Patrick Cockburn. He sees all of Assad's opposition as jihadist terrorists. He has bought the Putin/Assad mindmelt on that score:

If reporters go into the rebel-held areas and don’t do what they’re told, you know, get your head cut off. Patrick Cockburn and others have written about this. You just can’t seriously report from those areas.

This is a great insult to thousands of Syrian revolutionaries. Noam Chomsky should apologize.

The trial of war criminal #Assad and his regime is what exactly the #Syrians want. #Kafranbel #Syria @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/Qgh8Bvnlmm

— Kafranbel English (@kafrev) April 12, 2017

When Noam Chomsky talks about Trump's response, he reveals a chemical weapons fetish common to many western observers of the Syrian conflict:

Well, apparently, the Tomahawk missiles were targeting a part of the airfield that doesn’t seem to be used. And, in fact, the next day, planes were taking off. And, in fact, the village that was attacked by the chemical weapons has been even more heavily attacked by straight bombing from the Assad government after the 59 Tomahawk missiles.

What I want you to notice here is that Noam Chomsky has no trouble assigning blame for the conventional bombing of Khan Sheikhoun on the day after the chemical attack. No need for an international investigation in that case. And he likely won't dispute that it has been Russian and Syrian planes that have been bombing the town before 4 April 2017, but the chemical attack, you can't prove he did the chemical attack. Most likely the rebels gassed their own people.

As he goes on to talk about Trump's reasons for the cruise missile attack, we can see that he almost gets it, but can't quite connect the dots:

So whatever they were intended to do doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Syria. I suspect that what they were intended to do was pretty much what you described, to shore up Trump’s image as—I think it was Nikki Haley at the U.N., said, "There’s a new sheriff in town." So now we’ve got Wyatt Earp, you know, pulling out his gun and getting rid of the bad guys. No more of this soft stuff. So, it was probably an attempt to shore up that image.

Yes, these events took place in Syria but they really have little to do with Syria, and he gets that the retaliatory strike was an attempt to shore up Trump's image, but he doesn't take the next step. If he did he would note that one of the major problems with Trump's image at this particular time is his perceived ties with Russia, so staging a falling out with Putin over the sarin attack was a big part of shoring up his image. If Chomsky thought about the investment Putin has made into the Trump presidency, he would see why it might be in Putin's interest as well, and Putin had the power to order the sarin attack. This is how the cui bono question should be addressed in this case. Chomsky may want to re-think his conclusion that for Russia "it’s a total disaster" from the point of view of their "global concerns."

With regards to Syria, he sees it's a terrible catastrophe, but he doesn't think much can be done about it because the Russian's have nukes:

In Syria, it’s a terrible catastrophe. And, you know, unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that can be done about it. There are some things that can be done. I mean, the idea that you can send in the Marines and bomb and so on, that has a small problem. If you do, you probably set off a nuclear war, and not only is Syria destroyed, the rest of Syria, but the rest of the world, too.

This is a theme that seems to be gaining currency among the "Home of the Brave" Left; We dare not do anything serious to oppose atrocities committed by a client of Russia because it has nukes. I suppose if Chomsky was in the Soviet Union or China while the United States was creating a holocaust in Vietnam, he would have opposed any military support from those countries for Vietnamese independence because the US has nukes. "You can't do that!"

But there are things that could be done, not what we would like to see. You know, it would be nice to see: "Here’s a solution that will make everybody happy and end the destruction." But those just don’t seem on the possible agenda, because—for all kinds of reasons, including the threat of a very serious war if Russia and the United States don’t act in a high level of concert in pursuing whatever they may be doing.

What a dark vision of the future he gives us. We may have to give up what we would like to see, things like freedom, justice and democracy, while our hope for peace rests on the two major imperialist powers acting "in a high level of concert in pursuing whatever they may be doing."

Sorry Noam, that's not the future I have planned for my children.

What passes for an anti-war protest in Los Angeles these days.
Oppose the White Helmet rescue worker but not Putin's killers.
To quote our esteemed President Donald Trump, "Sad!"

Syria is the Paris Commune of the 21st Century!

Click here for my posts on the 2016 US Election Click here for a list of my other blogs on Syria Click here for a list of my other blogs on Libya

My Syria diaries

Here are my related diaries on Syria, those I think most significant are in bold:

07/24/2017	Free Syria joins flags of the world on Venice Beach
07/10/2017	Russia admits sarin used in spite of Sy Hersh fantasy
07/07/2017	Seymour Hersh exposes Russian & Syrian lies about sarin attack
07/06/2017	Syria, Seymour Hersh and the Sarin denialists
07/04/2017	Sy Hersh's incredible secret source
06/27/2017	Putin: More chemical attacks being prepared in Syria
05/16/2017	Since Khan Sheikhoun: Murders holocaust enablers don't argue about
05/12/2017	Dr. Ted Postol misreads the HRW Report on Khan Sheikhoun
05/10/2017	Are Scott Horton & Ted Postol holocaust enablers?
05/07/2017	The Syrian Cause and Anti-Imperialism
05/07/2017	Chomsky and the Syria revisionists: Regime whitewashing
05/05/2017	Who runs Syria? Why are more sarin attacks coming?
05/04/2017	Informed Interview with Anand Gopal on Syria on Democracy Now
05/03/2017	Reading Comprehension 101 for MIT Professor Dr. Ted Postol
05/01/2017	Postol's Apostles & the normalization of chemical weapons use
04/30/2017	Dr. Postol's "correction" shows he still needs Reading Comprehension 101
04/30/2017	Google correct the record: Little girl was beheaded by Assad not ISIS [GRAPHIC!]
04/28/2017	Please Re-Tweet as Ted Postol beats a hasty retreat
04/27/2017	Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now says Assad now best for Syria
04/26/2017	Sincerely yours, Theodore A. Postol
04/24/2017	A valuable admission: Russia controls Syria & Putin runs the war
04/18/2017	Why is Russia Today attacking Rep. Maxine Waters?
04/16/2017	Why would Assad use sarin in Syria now?
04/13/2017	Democracy Now debuts new lie about Khan Sheikhoun sarin attack
04/09/2017	Trump's strike against Assad: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
04/05/2017	Noam Chomsky regurgitates 2012 Putin propaganda to excuse latest sarin murders
04/04/2017	Dennis "the Menace" Kucinich
04/04/2017	After Trump drops "Assad removal" from US goals, Assad drops sarin again
12/19/2016	Bana Alabed has been evacuated from Aleppo
12/18/2016	General Wesley Clark & the Bruce Tanner Standard of Evidence
12/12/2016	Save the civilians of East Aleppo SaveAleppo AleppoIsBurning
11/20/2016	What's next for the left's troubled relationship with Syria?
11/07/2016	For America & Syria’s Sake, Don’t Vote Green
09/30/2016	Russia's war against Syria one year on
09/29/2016	Chemical Weapons attacks expand beyond Syria
08/22/2016	The World’s Naked Disgrace
08/20/2016	Amy Goodman should address this extremely important statement by her guest
08/19/2016	The picture of little Omran in Aleppo
08/16/2016	Russia now "carpet bombing" Syria from bases in#Iran
08/14/2016	40 years after 'Vietnam' napalm returns to human skin in Syria
08/13/2016	97 civilians killed by air strikes in Syria yesterday
08/10/2016	Meet Green Party's Jill Stein, Putin sock-puppet & Assad apologist
08/06/2016	Aleppo pays dearly in Syria’s unwinnable war of attrition
08/05/2016	By abandoning Aleppo, the world has empowered jihadists
08/02/2016	Breaking the siege of Aleppo - 21st Century's Paris Commune
07/25/2016	US Air Strike on Syrian maternity hospital kills 28
07/25/2016	Syria: Reasserting Dignity in the US Antiwar Movement
07/25/2016	the most noteworthy success for peace of recent years
07/20/2016	212 Syrian civilians killed in US air strikes as GOP calls for crushing ISIS
07/19/2016	In spite of UN deal Assad continues to make & use chemical weapons
07/17/2016	"Good Cop" Obama coming out for Assad with "Bad Cop" Putin
07/01/2016	One hour from Istanbul: The bombs you don't hear about
06/28/2016	VIPS to rescue as Dissenting Diplomats oppose Obama's courtship of Assad
06/11/2016	From the Syrian Revolution: Important Statement from Manbij City Council
05/14/2016	Democracy Now discovers the Syrian Revolution
05/13/2016	Daraya yesterday: People waiting for food are denied, then shelled
05/12/2016	Andy Berman, long time member bids farewell to Veterans for Peace
05/06/2016	Leaked docs reveal: Assad & ISIS played us on Palmyra
05/02/2016	FYI Aleppo Is Burning while you are kept ignorant
04/29/2016	Robert F. Kennedy's Jr. Andromeda Strain
04/11/2016	Code Pink changes a logo, will it now also change its stand on Syria?
03/30/2016	Burning Country coming to Los Angeles
03/27/2016	Friday protests roll on in Syria, the Paris Commune of the 21st Century
03/05/2016	104 opposition rallies across Syria on Friday show revolution lives!
02/04/2016	Peace talks stall as the slaughter of Syrian civilians continues
02/01/2016	From Luna Watfa: Under The Mercy of Potentials 2
01/29/2016	Syrian Civil Society Declaration
01/25/2016	The UN repeats mistakes of the past in Madaya
01/22/2016	US gets its 1st air base in Syria
01/05/2016	Luna Watfa: Enemy of Syrian State admitted sarin photos were fakes!
12/30/2015	From Luna Watfa: Waiting for the reunion
12/28/2015	Happy New Year from Linux Beach
12/24/2015	From Luna Watfa: "Do not stop, keep going ... keep moving!"
12/15/2015	Truth Revealed: 2013 East Ghouta sarin attack was done by aliens!
12/14/2015	From Luna Watfa: Death accompanies you on every step
12/12/2015	From Syria refugees Luna & Basel Watfa: Like living in the Stone Age
12/06/2015	Assad le compra petróleo a Daesh en efectivo y se vende a sí mismo como su peor enemigo
12/05/2015	¿Por qué occidente quiere rebeldes sirios "moderados"?
12/01/2015	Assad buys oil from Daesh for cash while he sells himself as their worst foe
11/30/2015	Why does the West want "moderate" Syrian rebels?
12/21/2015	"¿Y qué hay de las bombas de barril que matan a miles?"
11/25/2015	"Well, what about the barrel bombings that kill thousands?"
11/20/2015	Qui profite ? Qui bénéficie des attaques de Paris ?
11/20/2015	La Izquierda Imperial:¡al cabo de años, la misma cantinela!
11/20/2015	Assad's Grand Mufti threatened Paris type attacks in 2011
11/18/2015	¿Cui bono? ¿Quién se beneficia con los ataques de París?
11/16/2015	Qui profite? Who benefits from the Paris attacks?
11/16/2015	The Imperial Left's sarin song: still "Regime Change" after all these years!
11/09/2015	Briefly on Chomsky
11/05/2015	Are Obama's "boots" in Syria the result of lessons learned in Libya?
11/02/2015	Obama still wants you to believe he thinks Assad must go
11/01/2015	70 killed, 550 wounded in air strikes on market near Damascus
10/31/2015	Vienna Talks Heart of Darkness: "2. State institutions will remain intact."
10/31/2015	ACTION ALERT: Tell PBS Frontline What's Really "Inside Assad's Syria"
10/31/2015	JOINT STATEMENT Final declaration on the results of the Syria Talks in Vienna as agreed by participants
10/30/2015	Refugiados sirios en Kusel: "Esperar no es sano"
10/30/2015	A report from Luna & Basel, Syrian refugees in Germany: "Waiting is not Healthy"
10/26/2015	Neue Spielarten des Kolonialismus und Krise der linken Werte
10/22/2015	Zibechi: New colonialisms and left values
10/20/2015	Ray McGovern shows the arrogance of the "anti-imperialists" knows no bounds!
10/19/2015	Basel & Luna made it from Syria to Germany safely but they still need your help
10/14/2015	Where are the anti-war protesters now?
10/19/2015	"Руки прочь от Сирии" относится и к России
10/18/2015	ارفعوا أيديكم عن سوريا" وهذا ينطبق على روسيا أيضا "
10/17/2015	« Pas d’interventions en Syrie » s’applique aussi à la Russie »
10/16/2015	"Hände weg von Syrien" gilt auch für Russland
10/16/2015	"Manos Fuera de Siria" se aplica también a Rusia
10/15/2015	“Giù le mani dalla Siria” vale anche per la Russia: chiamata per le adesioni.
10/11/2015	Please join us by signing this statement "Hands Off Syria" Applies to Russia Too
10/07/2015	Syrian opposition preparing to become the Resistance to the Russian Occupation
10/05/2015	Blue Monday: Will Russian bombs become Syria's new silent killers?
10/04/2015	Robert Fisk: Syria's civilians have disappeared..& there are no good guys
10/04/2015	Free Syrian Army of Homs Statement on Russian Aggression
10/04/2015	Patrick Cockburn: Let's welcome Russian bombs into this war
10/02/2015	Has Russia already killed more civilians in Syria than NATO did in Libya?
10/02/2015	Does White Helmet fumble prove Russian bombs don't kill civilians?
10/01/2015	Hama rebel commander: Russia intends ‘to exterminate the Free Syrian Army’
10/01/2015	Vijay Prashad's Hypocrisy Now on Syria and Assad
09/30/2015	How FAIR is this support for Russian aggression?
09/30/2015	Russian warplanes attack Free Syrian Army & kills civilians
09/29/2015	Por qué sigo siendo marxista
09/27/2015	How Democracy Now helped to create the Syrian refugee crisis
09/25/2015	Obama's Two-Step U-Turn down the Memory Hole of Syria
09/24/2015	Russian soldiers who mutinied against Syria deployment face 20 years
09/23/2015	An Open Letter to the Authors of the UNAC Statement, "We are NOT Charlie Hebdo!"
09/21/2015	Portside takes a backwards look at the Syrian refugee crisis
09/21/2015	Holocaust, on-going: How Assad created the Syrian refugee crisis
09/20/2015	s memory corruption behind yet another un-FAIR Syria story?
09/18/2015	Is Assad Putin's puppet and did Russia offer him up in 2012?
09/11/2015	The Syrian Revolution and the crisis of the anti-war movement
09/10/2015	Change-Links new Syria list policy would make Putin proud
09/07/2015	Does the "do nothing" Left want Assad to win in Syria?
09/06/2015	Syrian refugees escape their cages in Hungary and walk to Austria
09/03/2015	Tragically #AssadHolocaust now trending
09/02/2015	Contradictions on Syria: Patrick Higgins Strikes Back!
08/31/2015	Jacobin's "War on Syria"
08/26/2015	Are 71 Syrian refugees found dead in Austria part of Assad's holocaust?
08/27/2015	Bashar al-Assad threatened Syrian holocaust three years ago
08/24/2015	Is Assad creating the first holocaust of the 21st century?
08/24/2015	counterpunch delivers another low blow to the Syrian people
08/22/2015	Assad worst than ISIS: Another 50 civilians murdered in Douma today
08/21/2015	Bild.de: The truth about Assad's war on Syria
08/19/2015	Report on Convention: Veterans for Peace gives Assad & ISIS a new tool
08/19/2015	US air strikes against Free Syria Army kills 25
08/08/2015	Booth & Banner @ Veterans for Peace National Convention
08/05/2015	Critique of Proposed VFP Resolution 2015-3 Stop All Foreign Intervention In Syria
08/03/2015	Hillary Clinton's early role in facilitating Bashar al-Assad's crackdown in Syria
05/31/2015	As Assad loses ground, he gains a new air force
05/25/2015	Response to Veterans for Peace on Syria
05/17/2015	Obama on Syria this week: Like I've been saying...
05/17/2015	Was ISIS "leader" Abu Sayyaf promoted posthumously by Obama?
05/10/2015	50 earthquakes a day in Syria ignored by the "Left"
05/06/2015	Is the Syrian Revolution winning in spite of the "Left"
05/03/2015	Calling out Bashar's Buddies on the Left by name
05/03/2015	Dozens Of Anti-War Protesters March Through Hollywood
04/27/2015	The "Left's" Crime Against Humanity
04/10/2015	Crisis in Yarmouk: How Amy backs Assad's play
03/09/2015	How Noam Chomsky cleans up Mummar Qaddafi
02/18/2015	Why the revolutions in Libya & Syria failed(so far) - the short version
02/06/2015	On Democracy Now today: Amy sends another Valentine to Bashar
05/05/2015	Angelina Jolie and the Left
02/02/2015	How the Left's shill for Obama's red-line con fueled the rise of ISIS
01/27/2015	With Left support, Assad continues to kill in East Ghouta
01/19/2015	Obama and Israel Love Assad
01/05/2015	Happy New Year from Linux Beach
10/03/2015	Why did Glenn Greenward moderated this comment off The Intercept?
09/28/2014	The role of US Imperialism in Syria and the Left's Dilemma
09/24/2014	What if FDR had declared war against both Hitler & Stalin
09/23/2014	Obama's air strikes in Syria - a first look
09/21/2014	Vijay Prashad's Syrian contradictions
09/16/2014	How a 24hr truce to pick up bodies became a non-aggression pact between ISIS & Syrian rebels
09/14/2014	Obama still seeking $500 million to arm Syrian rebels!
09/09/2014	Are ISIS and Assad enemies in Syria?
08/28/2014	If Obama doesn't want to do it, he'll go to Congress
08/26/2014	Counter-revolutionary "Left"will again be with NATO
08/10/2014	Air strikes can't beat ISIS but Free Syrians can!
07/09/2014	Today's example of Assad's support for Islamic State
07/09/2014	Why won't this story be covered like Israel's attacks on Gaza?
07/06/2014	Juan Cole turns to the Dark Side
06/27/2014	Will anti-war groups embrace US "hit & run" morality?
06/24/2014	Phyllis Bennis twists reality to fit politics on DN
06/23/2014	ISIS attacks Free Syrian Army with US weapons
06/22/2014	O'Donnell's good question and Obama's bad answer
06/17/2014	Bush, Barack & Bashar BFF to Islamic Extremists in Iraq & Syria
05/19/2014	C.I.A. Said to Steer Arms away from Syrian Opposition
05/12/2014	David Swanson's Dream
05/10/2014	Benghazi
05/10/2014	The appeasement of Putin began in Syria
05/01/2014	New Assad murders today as Aleppo market bombed killing 40
04/30/2014	Update: World allows Assad's murder spree to continue
04/29/2014	How the Left has helped radical Islam grow in Syria
04/26/2014	Syrian activist Qusai Zakarya speech in Los Angeles
04/23/2014	Assad's strategy & why exposing his crimes is so critical
04/23/2014	How Seymour Hersh confuses Syria with Libya
04/17/2014	Why does the mass media ignore mass murder in Syria?
04/14/2014	Alternative Left Perspectives on Syria
04/13/2014	After Hersh lays smoke screen, Assad lobes gas bombs
04/12/2014	Mỹ Lai and Sy Hersh, a Reappraisal
04/10/2014	Seymour Hersh's chemical weapons fetish
04/08/2014	Seymour Hersh's Believe It or Don't
04/01/2014	How #SaveKessab covers Assad's retreat in Latakia
03/18/2014	Syrian American Council Revolution Anniversary in Los Angeles
03/09/2014	UN: Assad sarin used in attacks | The Left's response?
03/02/2014	Bringing David Swanson's imagination back to reality
02/27/2014	MEMO | ISIS & the Assad Regime: From Marriage of Convenience to Partnershi
02/19/2014	Dreyfuss on Obama Plans to Escalate the War in Syria
02/18/2014	On Rob Prince's hostility towards intervention in Syria
02/10/2014	Man behind the Curtain for al-Qaeda in Syria is Assad
02/06/2014	Human relief means stopping the bombs from falling
02/04/2014	While Assad's CW is 95.9% intact, Qaddafi's is 100% destroyed
02/04/2014	Syrian's Bashar al-Assad Knows: Napalm Sticks to Kids
01/30/2014	The Tet Offensive: a turning point in the Vietnam War
01/28/2014	Ex-journalist Robert Fisk: One is reminded of Goebbels
01/27/2014	Assad's Holocaust Now! [WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT]
01/27/2014	How Assad runs terrorist on "both sides" in Syria
01/21/2014	Bashar al-Assad's Terrorism in Syria
01/20/2014	Bashar al-Jihad: How Assad finances terrorists with oil
01/20/2014	Is Assad running largest death factories since Hitler?
01/19/2014	How Not to Be in Solidarity with Palestinians Refugees in Yarmouk
01/17/2014	Mondoweiss: While you were neutral about Yarmouk
01/16/2014	Why calling for “diplomatic solutions” stabs the Syrian Revolution in the back
01/16/2014	Echoes of American First in anti-war movement today?
01/14/2014	Did Syrian rebel who ate his enemy's heart have PTSD?
01/13/2014	Re-examing ex-journalist Robert Fisk on the "Syrian Rebels"
01/12/2014	ICUJP on Syria
01/08/2014	The racist methods of Truthout's "anti-imperialism"
01/05/2014	Bashar al-Jihad: Is ISIS a child of the regime?
01/05/2014	The Syrian Double Revolution and the Euro-Leftist Double Impotency
12/26/2013	Fake Adra massacre photos expose bloody hands on Left
12/24/2013	RT comments show genocidal mentality still with us
12/23/2013	Syria: What does the Media mean by "rebel held areas?"
12/23/2013	Aleppo school bombed as more killed by Assad in 8th day of slaugher in Syria
12/22/2013	Through the Looking-Glass: Viet Cong Terrorism and Syria
12/20/2013	Abandoned by World, Aleppo faces 7th day of Bombing
12/16/2013	Assad Barrel Bomb Kill 28 Children in Aleppo
12/15/2013	Kafranbel is coming to LA - Meet the Revolutionaries
12/15/2013	Gaza fighters in Syria pose dilemma for pro-Assad Left
12/15/2013	How the FSA attack on a convent was set up by Assad
12/14/2013	Why doesn't KPFK care about this Syrian child?
12/13/2013	Gen. Salim Idris still in Syria, rumors he fled are false
12/10/2013	Clay's Conspiracy Theory
12/10/2013	My Fallen Idols
12/09/2013	Whose Seymour Hersh?
12/06/2013	Beirut Nights: Notes on Syrian Refugees living in Lebanon
12/05/2013	Is Obama finally coming out of the closet about Assad?
12/02/2013	Assad kills 50 civilans in Al-Bab with Barrel Bombs
11/29/2013	BREAKING NEWS: Assad's Thankgiving Massacre in #Raqqa
11/29/2013	Interview with Apatris on the Syrian revolution
11/28/2013	Mother Agnes Updates: The Choir Strikes Back
11/24/2013	How Obama has supported Assad's gas murder always
11/20/2013	From Brazil & Palestine ... This is the Syrian Revolution
11/20/2013	a small Victory: Mother Agnes-Mariam bites the dust
11/06/2013	UPDATED: Syrian American Council takes on Agnes-Mariam
10/18/2013	Every Friday: New Slogans of the People’s Revolution
10/18/2013	Disillusion in Syria’s Armed Opposition
10/15/2013	How CounterPunch makes Syrians invisible, Again!
10/14/2013	Why the return of chemical weapons is a big deal
10/07/2013	The Courage of Ghouta in a Craven World
10/05/2013	Võ Nguyên Giáp on learning war from the people
10/02/2013	Obama's Real Syria Policy: Endless War
10/02/2013	The Courtship Continues: Obama stopped French strike on Assad
10/02/2013	Writing on the Walls - Messages from the Syrian Revolution to the World
10/02/2013	The struggle continues: Syria’s grass-roots civil opposition
10/01/2013	Communism & The Al Qaeda Threat
09/26/2013	More on ex-journalist Robert Fisk's defense of Assad
09/25/2013	Where Robert Fisk's defense of Assad falls down
09/23/2013	Why didn't the EcoSocialism Conference address these 3 things?
09/23/2013	Desmond Tutu: UN owes it to Syria's children to act
09/23/2013	منت برس(Mint Press) تكشف دعمها للأسد.AntiWar.com يقدم اعتذاره.
09/21/2013	Gilbert Achcar: Full solidarity with the Syrian uprising!
09/20/2013	Mint Press exposed as Assad apologist, AntiWar.com apologizes
09/18/2013	Obama blocks ICC war crimes prosecution of Assad
09/16/2013	UN hints Assad used Russian rockets in sarin gas attack
09/15/2013	Sleeping with the Enemy: The Global Left and the 'No to War' Discourse
09/13/2013	Inside the Syrian Revolution and what the Left must do
09/12/2013	Syria Doc "Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution" Released
09/12/2013	Letter to the Anti War Movement from the Syrian American Community
09/12/2013	BREAKING: New Chemical Attack reported in Syria
09/09/2013	Secret Intel Source of Ray McGovern & VIPS Revealed!
09/09/2013	Why did Assad Regime first Deny CW Attack if Blameless?
09/09/2013	Activists in Pictures - For and Against Intervention in Syria
09/09/2013	Witness to CW Attack: When Paradise turned to Hell.
09/08/2013	Media Body Count Games: Less than 500 or 110,000?
09/08/2013	Dr. Zaher Sahloul on the CW Attacks in Syria
09/08/2013	Why would Assad use CW with UN Inspectors in Syria?
09/07/2013	My dare to Ray McGovern & VIPS on Syria CW attack
09/07/2013	Why Alan Grayson & Sarah Palin are united on Syria
09/06/2013	Syria: To Deny the Revolution is to Oppose the Revolution
09/04/2013	ANSWER Coalition lacks awareness on Syria
09/03/2013	Who Used Sarin in Syria?
09/02/2013	Recycled Lies: Critique of the Kucinich letter on Syria
09/02/2013	لماذا أدعم الثورة السورية
09/02/2013	How Obama Helped Assad Kill with Poison Gas in Syria
09/01/2013	Anti-War in Form, Pro-War in Essence
09/01/2013	The Courtship Continues: Obama's New Gift to Assad
08/31/2013	Win-Win for Assad as Obama Response to CW  Put on Hold
08/31/2013	The case for ‘Hands off Syria’
08/30/2013	Obama Denied Gas Masks to Assad's Victims
08/29/2013	Bashar al-Assad is a Brutal Mass Murderer
08/29/2013	An open letter on Syria to Western narcissists
08/29/2013	Obama's Dilemma and Assad's Opportunity
08/27/2013	Do’s and don’ts for progressives discussing Syria
08/22/2013	AntiWar.com Disparages Chemical Attack in Syria
08/21/2013	Assad Knows: Chemical Attacks Kill Children First!
08/21/2013	1300+ Dead after Obama "Green-lights" new CW attack in Syria
08/20/2013	Revolutions in the Era of "Socialist" Abandonment
08/14/2013	More Opportunist Lies on Syria from Counterpunch
08/13/2013	Abu Qusay in Syria: The Road from Peace Protester to Rebel Fighter
08/13/2013	Antiwar.com's confusion on Obama's Syria Poilicy
08/12/2013	Stephen Lendman's Fraud & the Phony Tal Abyad Massacre
08/12/2013	Who is Really Killing Kurdish Civilians in Tal Abyad, Syria?
08/09/2013	Why do they keep digging up & reburying these kids?
08/08/2013	Iran's PressTV Promotes Fake Syrian Rebel Massacre Video
08/07/2013	Syrian Rebels Regain Momentum
08/07/2013	Russian FM Lavrov calls on UNSC to Condemn Syria Massacre I Debunked
08/06/2013	Syria: Major Assad Regime Airbase Falls!
08/05/2013	BREAKING NEWS: Fake Photo Exposes Assad Regime Lie about Rebel Massacre in Tal Abyad
08/05/2013	Syria: New Poison Gas Attacks Reported in #Douma & #Adra
08/05/2013	5,000 Assad Regime Prisoners Executed, Dumped in Mass Grave in Al Qutaifah
08/04/2013	Syria: Assad isn’t Winning and the Rebels aren’t Losing
08/04/2013	A popular revolution for freedom, equality & social justice & against absolutism
08/03/2013	* Some Exceptions Apply
07/28/2013	Assad's New Strategy: Nothing Makes People Flee Like Murdering Their Children
07/21/2013	Why Support the Syrian Revolution?
07/21/2013	Assad Regime Thanks US Peace Movement for its Support
07/20/2013	The Current Military Situation in Syria
07/18/2013	Syrian Refugees demand "No-Fly Zone" from US SecState Kerry
07/18/2013	Obama's "Good Cop" tactics in Syria exposed!
07/17/2013	UN Reports 5,000/Month Killed in Syria as LA Peace Movement Waves Killer's Flag
07/17/2013	Matters come to a Head in Syria's Three-sided Conflict
07/15/2013	The July 11th Los Angeles Syria Peace Protest and the Reality of Syria
07/12/2013	Protest in Homs, Syria: Are These the Bravest People on Earth?
07/11/2013	Syria: Pro-Assad Militias now receiving US weapons
07/10/2013	LEAKED VIDEO: Assad forces torture defected soliders
07/10/2013	Syria is in a Revolution not a Sectarian Civil War
07/10/2013	What's up with these Tweets? "Former US Army Vet Who Fought Alongside Al-Qae'a in #Syria"
07/09/2013	Assad may have Children Under Siege in Homs but has his Aleppo Offensive Fizzled?
07/07/2013	Ten Things Worst Than Eating a Dead Man's Heart Done by US Soldiers in Vietnam
06/23/2013	UN Aid for Assad - A Daily Kos Controversy Revisited
06/21/2013	EMERGENCY: Dire Conditions in #Aleppo Central Prison
06/20/2013	Syria: 10 Things Worse Than Eating a Dead Man’s Heart
06/18/2013	The Changing Importance of Qusayr, Syria in the Media
06/18/2013	Noam Chomsky & John Passant on Syria
06/16/2013	Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire's Syria Connection
06/16/2013	( Blood of Freedom ) A new film on the syrian revolution
06/16/2013	Why have there been so many Syrian Army defections?
06/09/2013	Shia Anti-Hezbollah Protest Exposes Syria Sectarian War Lie
06/06/2013	Is Qusayr Assad's 1st major victory in over a year?
06/05/2013	Analysis: UN Report on Syria lets Assad off easy
06/03/2013	The Crime of Qusayr
06/03/2013	More False Reports of Sarin Usage by Assad's Opposition in Syria
05/30/2013	Are Saudi Arabia & Qatar really outsiders in the Syria Revolution?
05/19/2013	When H? Chí Minh Collaborated with the US Imperialists
05/15/2013	From the Revolting Syrian: Does This Not Outrage You?
05/15/2013	Do These Videos Not Outrage You? Volume 2
05/15/2013	Do These Videos Not Outrage You? Volume 3
05/15/2013	Do These Videos Not Outrage You? Volume 4
05/15/2013	Do These Videos Not Outrage You? Volume 5
05/15/2013	Do These Videos Not Outrage You? Volume 6
05/15/2013	Do These Videos Not Outrage You? Volume 7
05/15/2013	Do These Videos Not Outrage You? Volume 8
05/13/2013	Jon Steward weighs in on Obama's "red-line" in Syria
05/13/2013	?????????? : ????? ?????? ?? ?????
05/12/2013	UNAC demands "US Out of #Libya!"???
05/10/2013	Obama's "Red-Line" was nothing but a Green Light for Assad's Slaughter of 70,000
05/09/2013	Socialist Alternative on Leftist Assad backers and Chicago Syrians Protest Banias Massacre
05/09/2013	How Obama helps Assad: US tried to start war between FSA & al Nusra Front
05/08/2013	The Assad Regime Sniper, the Old Man and the Hero
05/08/2013	Carla Del Ponte in the WikiLeaks Cablegate files
05/07/2013	John Kerry: US agrees with Russia on Syria, Assad stays
05/07/2013	Syria falls off Internet, electricity cut in Damascus, as Assad massacres continue
05/06/2013	Syria Sarin Blame Game: Is Carla Del Ponte at it again?
04/29/2013	Other Echoes of Iraq in NATO response to WMD in Syria
04/17/2013	U.S. fears Syria rebel victory
04/16/2013	Islamaphobia & the Boston Bombing | Islamaphobia & the Left
04/13/2013	In Syria, a gov't makes war on its people. Could it ever happen to US?
04/13/2013	Left voices raised in support of Syrian struggle at World Social Forum
04/04/2013	Counterpunch: So Wrong on Syria
03/30/2013	Is Assad Dead? Forgive me if I'm a bit more cautious this time
03/29/2013	France reneges on arming Syrian rebels: More empty promises from NATO
03/28/2013	Report says Russia threatens to use its army in Syria
03/22/2013	Reports say Dr Mohammed al-Bouti was leaving Assad when murdered
03/18/2013	Allies say US holding back fight against Assad in Syria
03/17/2013	HRW reports mounting casualties from cluster bombs in Syria since Obama warned Assad on WMD
03/17/2013	Australia puts group fighting Assad in Syria on terrorist list
03/16/2013	Obama planning drone strikes against Assad's opposition in Syria
03/16/2013	Syria: for #Mar15, @AmyGoodman has Assad 'regime apologist' on Democracy Now
03/15/2013	Syrians protest on 2nd anniversary of the Day of Rage
03/15/2013	BREAKING: EU to Syrian opposition: No Arms for You!
03/14/2013	Reports say Iran sending more arms to Assad as he prepares chemical weapons
03/13/2013	The children of Syria have been abandoned by the world powers
03/12/2013	Why the Daily Kos and everyone else who think that Syria is not their problem are tragically wrong
03/11/2013	More on the slaughter in Syria with NATO, UN & Daily Kos acquiescence
03/09/2013	What Amy didn't say on International Women's Day
03/09/2013	Banned from the Daily Kos for speaking truth to Obama on Syria
02/13/2013	Obama: Did the CIA betray Assad's opposition in Syria?
02/12/2013	Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar Assad Exposed!!! in Syria
02/05/2013	Syria: Who is the new FSA arms supplier?
02/05/2013	BREAKING In Syria a new batte for Damascus is joined: Comeuppance II
02/02/2013	{ Syria } - the anti-interventionist masterpiece Syria
02/01/2013	BREAKING: Marxist DHKP claims they did bombing at US embassy in Ankara Turkey
02/01/2013	More from Wikileaks on the DHKP in Turkey
01/30/2013	Was Israeli air strike in Syria for Assad's benefit?
01/30/2013	More thoughts on Obama's 'No MANPADS for you!' policy in Syria
01/28/2013	How Obama's 'No MANPADS for you' policy in Syria is backfiring
01/27/2013	Obama on Syria: They're still dying, he's still looking
01/22/2013	Rape in Syria: Woman dies after encounter with rodent
01/20/2013	UN reveals its real stand on Syria, giving Assad $500 million
01/19/2013	Massacre about to occur in Jobar, big new terror rocket being used by Assad!
01/16/2013	Syria: FSA begins final push to free Aleppo
01/16/2013	NOT BREAKING NEWS: Just another massacre in Syria
01/15/2013	US: Assad didn't use chemical weapons in Syria
01/15/2013	BREAKING: FP says Obama ignored chemical weapons attack by Assad in Syria
01/15/2013	Assad's systematic use of Rape in Syria
01/14/2013	Is Russia getting ready to skedaddle from Syria?
01/13/2013	Two years blogging for the Arab Spring
01/13/2013	How the US help put Assad in power in Syria
01/12/2013	Defections and Murder
01/11/2013	50 countries want Syria referred to ICC, US should join them!
01/11/2013	Diane Sawyer's insensitivity towards Syrian children
01/10/2013	BREAKING: Taftanaz, Assad's biggest air base falls in Syria
01/10/2013	Syria: Friday of the Death Camps
01/09/2013	Syria: UN envoy finally says Assad must go!
01/08/2013	Syria: Prisoner swap frees 2130, al Nusra speaks out
01/06/2013	NY Times: Assad has sarin in bombs at airfields
01/05/2013	Syria: Assad must be defeated on the battlefield
01/04/2013	Syrian opposition says still receiving no help
01/01/2013	BREAKING: UN says 60,000 killed in Syrian conflict
12/31/2012	5,000 Syrians murdered in 2011, 40,000 in 2012, what will 2013 bring?
12/29/2012	MSM finally reports on Syria massacre story I broke here yesterday
12/29/2012	Prediction: In 2013 Syria will see the last of Assad
12/28/2012	BREAKING: Massacre in Homs Syria right now! 150 burnt corpses found
12/27/2012	Why did this Syrian mother try to kill her own child?
12/26/2012	BREAKING: Another high level defection in Syria
12/26/2012	BREAKING: Defecting General confirms use of chemical weapons in Syria
12/23/2012	Sticking to their story: UNAC's new 'Statement on Syria'
12/23/2012	Why I think #Syria is so important
12/23/2012	Bashar Assad reported willing to leave Syria with entourage of 142
12/22/2012	BREAKING: 300 killed in air strike on breadline in #Syria
12/22/2012	BREAKING: Chemical weapons first use reported in Syria
12/21/2012	BREAKING: Russia takes control of Syrian chemical weapons
12/20/2012	Syria: Assad Regime enters the Deathwatch Phase
12/21/2012	SecState[?] John Kerry and his 'dear friend' Bashar Assad
1219/2012	A Libyan rebel speaks out on Jihadists in Syria
12/16/2012	Does what Obama said at Newtown apply to Syria?
12/16/2012	BREAKING: Heavy fighting in Damascus as coup attempt reported in progress
12/15/2012	Assad's jets bomb Palestinian refugee camp
12/13/2012	Jabhat al-Nusra is a Threat to the Syrian Revolution
12/12/2012	AP weighs in on Obama's Green Light for Assad's slaughter in Syria
12/12/2012	Syrian opposition says "Thanks but No Thanks!" to foreign intervention
12/11/2012	BREAKING: Assad firing Scud missiles at Syria
12/11/2012	Is Assad using white phosphorus in Syria?
12/10/2012	BREAKING: Obama recognizes opposition in Syria
12/10/2012	Speaking for the murderous regime in Syria
12/08/2012	State of the war in Syria: Most of Damascus now in FSA hands!
12/06/2012	Syria: Obama's moves Assad's "red line" back as SOHR reports 42,000 dead!
12/05/2012	Assad asylum offers pour in as he is reported loading sarin gas into bombs
11/30/2012	Syria comes back on-line as mystery flight leaves Damascus airport #SYR441
11/28/2012	UPDATED: Syria goes dark as "cleansing" begins in Damascus
11/24/2012	BREAKING: Assad's Troops Wipe Out a Playground Full of Children in #Syria
11/16/2012	General Strike in Damascus
11/1/2012	BREAKING: Russia denies Syrian army on brink of collapse
10/25/2012	BREAKING in Syria: Explosion rocks Damascus as people use "Truce Day" to protest regime
10/19/2012	We condemn Israel. So why the silence on Syria?
10/18/2012	Norodom Sihanouk at his finest & more on Syria
10/11/2012	Meet a Syrian who doesn't think both sides are equally bad and is betting her life on it!
10/10/2012	Two statements about Syria
10/08/2012	Syria Today: New videos from the revolutionary war
10/07/2012	Syrian Defector: Assad behind "terrorist" bombs
10/03/2012	How Assad fights "terrorism" in Syria
10/02/2012	Turkey attacks Syria
09/29/2012	Panetta: Unilateral U.S. Military Intervention in Syria Would Be a Serious Mistake
09/26/2012	305 Syrians slaughtered in bloodiest day yet
09/25/2012	Please help me continue my work with WikiLeaks
09/23/2012	Syria: Secret source of rebel arms revealed
09/18/2012	Amnesty on Syria - Assad Regime guilty on indiscriminate slaughter
09/17/2012	Syrian Revolution Digest shows "disgusting" photos!
09/16/2012	Syria: The Killing Field the World is Learning to Live With
09/14/2012	Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar al-Assad
09/04/2012	Syria: How Assad manipulates US media
08/31/2012	LIVE VIDEO: ?World Silence is Killing Syria? Rally in DC
08/30/2012	Free Syria responds to Robert Fisk
08/28/2012	UPDATED: Assad: "Syria doesn't need a green light!"
08/27/2012	Amnesty site hacked, Assad propaganda posted
08/27/2012	Obama opposes French support for Assad's opposition in Syria
08/26/2012	BREAKING: 630 Slaughtered in new massacre in Syria
08/25/2012	Special message from Syrian children to Obama
08/23/2012	Assad's Redline and Obama's Greenlight!
08/21/2012	General Meade at Gettysburg
08/20/2012	Tell US gov't to stop endangering Syrian activists
08/20/2012	UPDATED: Obama "green lights" Assad's slaughter in Syria
08/19/2012	Syria: Turning Battlegrounds into Playgrounds
08/18/2012	BREAKING: Bashar al-Assad is alive as deaths in Syria reach 25,000
08/16/2012	The Left and the Arab Spring
08/10/2012	Iran increasing its intervention in Syria
08/08/2012	Syria: Images from the Battle of Aleppo
08/07/2012	Fears grow of WMD attack in Syria
08/06/2012	UPDATED: FSA says it killed Russian General in Syria
08/06/2012	BREAKING: Syria releases new images of Bashar al- Assad | Are they fakes?
08/05/2012	UPDATED: Syrian prime minister defects
08/05/2012	Syria: FSA says Iranian pilgrims really Republican Guard
08/03/2012	Syria: Aleppo under Siege!
08/02/2012	BREAKING: UN votes to condemn Assad Regime as Reuters posts false story on Syria
08/01/2012	BREAKING: Kofi Annan resigns as envoy to Syria
07/31/2012	Syria: Bashar al-Assad not heard from on Armed Forces Day!
07/30/2012	BREAKING: Senior Syrian diplomat to Armenia defects
07/30/2012	BREAKING: Big Explosion hits Damascus Syria
07/29/2012	UPDATED: Syria's Charge D'Affaires Quits London Post
07/27/2012	BREAKING: Ground assault on Aleppo begins!
07/27/2012	BREAKING: Protests across Syria in spite of Assad regime violence
07/26/2012	ALEPPO: Step outside the Matrix and witness the Horror
07/26/2012	UPDATED: US fears massacre in Aleppo, Syria
07/25/2012	BREAKING: Reports of clashes between Jordan Army & Assad's Syrian army
07/25/2012	BRAKING: Obama stops Putin from re-arming Assad in Syria
07/24/2012	Syria: Foreign meddling increases as crisis builds
07/23/2012	BREAKING: Aleppo, Syria bombed with fighter jets
07/22/2012	BREAKING: Syria issues a correction, it has no WMD to use
07/22/2012	Arab League asks Assad to step down!
07/21/2012	Bashar al-Assad: New images released as slaughter continues
07/20/2012	no blood for oil
07/20/2012	BREAKING: Activists report toxic gas attack in Deir ez-Zor, Syria
07/19/2012	Glenn Greenwald sees Islamist Terrorism as main issue in Syria
07/19/2012	Will Assad make a chemical attack in Damascus on Saturday?
07/19/2012	BREAKING: I know where Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is!
07/19/2012	Massive Fire near Assad's Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria
07/17/2012	BREAKING: Is Syria's Bashar al-Assad dead or dying?
07/17/2012	Damascus explosion kills Defense Minister, other key figures
07/16/2012	The battle for Damascus is coming
07/14/2012	BREAKING: Intense fighting reported in Damascus now!
07/14/2012	Syrian defector spills beans as important new defection reported.
07/13/2012	Does Syria's Assad have something on Kofi Annan?
07/12/2012	Tremseh Massacre in Syria: What we know
07/11/2012	~227 reported massacred by Assad's forces in Tremseh,today!
07/10/2012	Syria: Is Assad regime on the verge of collapse?
07/09/2012	BREAKING: Russian Warships reported in Syria
07/08/2012	Russia changing on Assad but not as fast as conditions in Syria
07/05/2012	UN Observers say violence in Syria is ?Unprecedented?
07/05/2012	BREAKING: Defection of major Assad insider reported in Syria
07/05/2012	BREAKING: WikiLeaks releases 2.4 million Syria emails
07/03/2012	When did "Never Again" become "Whenever?" | Douma
07/02/2012	BREAKING: Incredible mass rally in Aleppo, Syria today!
07/02/2012	BREAKING: HRW releases torture report on Syria
07/01/2012	BREAKING: Syrian General defects with 293 to Turkey
07/01/2012	BREAKING: Items not in the MSM on Syria
06/30/2012	To Phyllis Bennis: Where is the non-violent opposition in Syria?
06/29/2012	SAF attacks Douma, 10m from Damascus, thousands flee
06/29/2012	BREAKING: As Syria Burns, UN Blows More Smoke
06/27/2012	BREAKING: Kofi Annan to propose Syrian unity gov't sans Assad!
06/27/2012	Douma, Syria under massive attack, another massacre feared
06/26/2012	BREAKING: Another mass defection from Syrian army
06/25/2012	BREAKING: NATO says No War in Syria shoot down of Turkey jet
06/24/2012	NATO meetup tomorrow as more defect from Syria
06/23/2012	Turkey calls for NATO consult on downing of jet by Syria
06/21/2012	BREAKING: Senior Syrian Officers Defect
06/20/2012	UPDATED: Russia reported to be preparing to evacuate from Syria
06/20/2012	BREAKING: Syria fighter pilot defects
06/17/2012	Britain stops Russian ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria
06/15/2012	BREAKING: Russian troops headed to Syria
06/15/2012	BREAKING: UN suspends mission in Syria
06/14/2012	Libya & Syria - two videos - no comment
06/12/2012	BREAKING: Russia denies supplying Syria with NEW attack helicopters
06/06/2012	Syrian people rise up against the massacre
06/06/2012	Another "Houla style" massacre in Syria
05/29/2012	Fake Houla Massacre Photo: Was the BBC set up?
05/03/2012	Idlib, Syria protest today on anniversary of Kent State killings
04/19/2012	BREAKING: Massive protests in Syria following Friday pray
04/12/2012	Syria is bleeding
04/11/2012	Syria: Ceasefire faltering as mass protests breakout