tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post4657595286427236895..comments2024-03-12T17:52:01.234-07:00Comments on Linux Beach: Whose Seymour Hersh?Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-83962618534177569102013-12-24T16:40:31.082-08:002013-12-24T16:40:31.082-08:00No that may be pretty much how it would work. In f...No that may be pretty much how it would work. In fact, in these days of post-Nuremberg ICC threat days, a ruler has every reason to arrange some distance between himself and the used of weapons that are considered illegal in international court. After all, he probably wouldn't have used them in the first place if he was completely sure he would win.<br /><br />If Assad was so adamant in his unwillingness to use CW I doubt he would have spent the hundreds of millions making sarin cost him.<br /><br />But if you look at the situation for him there, it has really been quite desperate. East Ghouta, near Damascus, had been liberated for over a year. Surrounded and under siege by Assad for 8 months before the CW attack, which, for all the children and old people it killed, didn't make much difference to the military situation. Since August 21, it been under bombardment and siege for another 4 months.<br /><br />And the opposition has increased the areas liberated around East Ghouta.Linux Beachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-42697665137816848052013-12-24T11:36:10.192-08:002013-12-24T11:36:10.192-08:00Would it be unreasonable to imagine that certain s...Would it be unreasonable to imagine that certain senior brass in Assad's military deployed these weapons without first seeking consent from the regime? I have not looked extensively into Bashar's dialogue immediately following the attack but such actions do not seem to follow any rational course even by dictator-in-hiding standards, when he is so adamant in maintaining his position that he wouldn't resort to the chemical option.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00937591843120841196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-36022711911347893302013-12-12T12:50:41.491-08:002013-12-12T12:50:41.491-08:00Your input and expertise have been vital in provin...Your input and expertise have been vital in proving that making sarin is no simple matter and can't be made in a kitchen as Assad said or even in a backyard as Hersh said, aping Assad.<br /><br />I don't know what is involved in making sarin so my approach is simpler. My question to Hersh and Assad and all those making this claim is if it is so easy to make and use, how come only one non-state actor has ever done so - and they spent $30 million converting a 3 story building into a sarin factory.<br /><br />Since we know the world is not lacking in groups bent on mass murder, why haven't many others used sarin to slaughter - if it can be whipped up in a kitchen or a backyard? <br /><br />If al Qaeda knows how to make and use sarin, why would they use it exclusively in Syria and not in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and elsewhere?<br /><br />I'll be looking for the answer to these questions from the "sarin is easy to make" crowd.Linux Beachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-88699271453704554362013-12-12T05:24:53.032-08:002013-12-12T05:24:53.032-08:00Good post, and thanks for the kind words on my NOW...Good post, and thanks for the kind words on my NOW Lebanon articleDan Kaszetahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15240328521199906825noreply@blogger.com