Aaron Maté is back with yet another update on the cover-up of the investigation into the supposed chemical attack in Douma, Syria. An initial investigation by the OPCW appeared to verify that the 2018 attack was indeed a chlorine gas attack, which must have been carried out by the Syrian government. This report justified the retaliatory American bombing of Syrian government targets. But it quickly emerged, thanks to whistleblowers within the OPCW, that the official report contradicted the actual findings of the investigators on several key points. These whistleblowers were immediately...
chemical attack
10/16/20 Aaron Maté: OPCW Malfeasance and More ‘Russiagate’ Updates
Scott interviews Aaron Maté about his testimony to the UN Security Council regarding the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria in 2018. After the Trump administration authorized retaliatory bombing in response to the incident, the OPCW sent investigators to follow up on the claims of chemical weapons use. After a year, they released a report justifying the U.S. response. The trouble, as Maté explains, is that OPCW inspectors then started coming forward claiming that their findings had been altered or suppressed in order to paint a more favorable picture for the U.S. and its...
1/24/20 Dave DeCamp on the OPCW’s Douma Cover-Up
Dave DeCamp talks about the scandalous apparent cover-up of the OPCW's real findings on the alleged chemical attack in Douma in 2018. In 2019 the organization issued a final report affirming the likelihood of a real chemical attack. But now Ian Henderson, one of the engineers on the ground in Douma, has come forward to claim that his team was convinced the attack had been staged, contrary to the OPCW's report. Henderson is quick to defend the organization's integrity, but believes that in this case political pressure may have compromised them. DeCamp reminds us what exactly is at stake...
11/7/19 Elizabeth Murray Exposes the Lies Behind Douma
Scott interviews Elizabeth Murray about the supposed chemical attack in Douma, Syria in 2017, which was used to justify an immediate bombing campaign by the U.S. and its allies. A thorough investigation was only conducted months later, and the reports of this investigation were not released until 2019. Murray and her colleagues, along with a group of OPCW whistleblowers, have recently pointed out all the problems with the claims about this supposed chemical attack. During her career in national security, Murray learned how dangerous politicization of intelligence agencies is—time and time...
5/26/19 Ted Postol on the Proof that the Douma Attack was Staged
Ted Postol talks about the recently leaked document from a team of engineers at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which shows that the narrative of the supposed chemical attack last year in Douma simply doesn't fit the science of how the weapons would have to have been deployed. Discussed on the show: "Postol: Newly Revealed Documents Show Syrian Chemical “Attacks Were Staged”" (Accuracy.Org) Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Ted Postol is a professor emeritus of Science, Technology, and International Security at MIT. He has written about nuclear...
Chemical Facility Hit in Syria Strike Cleared Twice by Inspectors in 2017
At least one of the alleged chemical weapons facilities targeted in the April 14 joint American, British and French strike on Syria was inspected and cleared by an international watchdog last year, according to official documents. In a report issued Mar. 23, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) indicates the Barzah facility, characterized by US officials as at the “heart” of the Syrian chemical weapons program, had been inspected twice in 2017. The most recent inspection was carried out last November. “The analysis of samples taken during the inspections did not...
4/14/18 Gareth Porter on Trump’s bombing of Damascus
Investigative reporter and historian Gareth Porter returns to the show to discuss Donald Trump's decision to bomb the Assad government in Damascus. Porter explains how the evidence has been repeatedly massaged to misconstrue what is ambiguous as what is clear—and that this case, of all the previous, might be the most egregious. Scott and Porter then discuss the ways in which Trump's strikes differ from one another and how the Trump policy toward Syria compares with Obama's. Finally they discuss the origins of American intervention in Syria and the role anti-Iran sentiments play at the...
4/14/18 Gareth Porter on Trump's bombing of Damascus
Investigative reporter and historian Gareth Porter returns to the show to discuss Donald Trump's decision to bomb the Assad government in Damascus. Porter explains how the evidence has been repeatedly massaged to misconstrue what is ambiguous as what is clear—and that this case, of all the previous, might be the most egregious. Scott and Porter then discuss the ways in which Trump's strikes differ from one another and how the Trump policy toward Syria compares with Obama's. Finally they discuss the origins of American intervention in Syria and the role anti-Iran sentiments play at the...
4/10/18 Rick Sterling on the supposed Assad chemical attack in Syria
Investigative journalist Rick Sterling joins Scott to discuss his latest article for Consortium News, "Taking the World to the Brink." Sterling describes what he's seen in his time in Syria and shares his perspective on the war and the most recent chemical attack in Douma. Sterling then explains why he's very skeptical, once again, that the Syrian government is responsible for the latest chemical attack. Scott and Sterling discuss the failures of U.S. foreign policy generally, and then consider why the reception to ridding Mosul of Islamist terrorists was received so differently form...
Report: Syrian Government Not Responsible for Alleged Khan Sheikhoun Chemical Attack
Early on the morning of April 7, American warships stationed in the Mediterranean Sea fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime. But in a report published on Sunday at the German newspaper Die Welt, veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh throws cold water on the claim of Syrian culpability, exposing yet another instance of military action based on flawed—or in this case, entirely nonexistent—intelligence. Russian Intelligence and the April 4 Strike On April 4 at about 6:55 a.m., Syrian...
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