2017_06_25 14:45
TL:DR - Military intelligence and CIA determined that Assad did not use sarin gas in the April 4, 2017 attack on jihadist rebel leaders. They clearly communicated this information to President Thump, but he had already made up his mind (from watching TV news reports) that Assad did it, and he had already decided to launch a military attack, regardless of the facts. Hijinks ensue. Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh (My Lai, Abu Gharaib) tells the tale, in detail.
The April incident in which Assad was accused of a Sarin gas attack, and the vilification of the Russian government for a media cover up was complete, absolute bullshit. This was clear if you did not depend on our failed legacy media for your information about the world. Thump's response to this bullshit story, launching 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an evacuated Syrian air base was another horrendous war crime (nine civillians, including women and children were reportedly killed, when these smart weapons missed their targets) was widely and wildly hailed as bold and presidential by the media whores, many whom had previously been virulently anti Thump.
Seymour Hersh, probably the best and most important investigative reporter since Ida Tarbell, has published chapter and verse on exactly what bullshit went on in the corridors of power around this sordid episode. Of course, Hersh published this article overseas; the man who revealed the My Lai, Vietnam mass murder/war crime, who described the depth of the torture and murder at Abu Ghareb decades later, and plenty of important work in between can no longer be read in any American mainstream media outlet.
The main article is long (24 minutes reading time according to the editor) but well worth the effort. Among other things, it illustrates very clearly Thump's decision making in this life and death instance. And it ain't pretty, but it is perfectly consistent with what we very well know of the President, (when we aren't foaming at the mouth in reaction to his latest outrage.) Source is the Sunday edition of Die Welt, (Welt am Sonntag) a major German daily newspaper.
Trump‘s Red Line Von Seymour M. Hersh
sidebar story, a conversation between an American soldier and a CIA spook a Security Advisor on the ground in Syria on post somewhere in Central Command.
"We got a fuckin‘ problem“
and a commentary piece, on Hersh and the backstory on this story.
The Fog of War Von Dirk Laabs
This report details the fact that the intelligence community quickly and definitively established that the Syrians did not use chemical weapons.
"Trump issued the order despite having been warned by the U.S. intelligence community that it had found no evidence that the Syrians had used a chemical weapon."
But Thump didn't care about the facts; he saw dead children on CNN, and he quickly decided to bomb Syria in retaliation. In retaliation for the propaganda aired by cable news, (or, in the parlance of our times, 'Fake News'); a plethora of deadly images misattributed, misreported and outright manufactured to push a lie about chemical weapons.
The intelligence made clear that a Syrian Air Force SU-24 fighter bomber had used a conventional weapon to hit its target: There had been no chemical warhead. And yet it was impossible for the experts to persuade the president of this once he had made up his mind. “The president saw the photographs of poisoned little girls and said it was an Assad atrocity,” the senior adviser said. “It’s typical of human nature. You jump to the conclusion you want. Intelligence analysts do not argue with a president. They’re not going to tell the president, ‘if you interpret the data this way, I quit.’”
Kinda like in 2013, when 0bama almost bit at the propaganda (that time pushed by some in the intelligence and nat sec agencies). But Thump just flat out ignores intelligence facts he doesn't like, as opposed to his two immediate predecessors, whose minions instruct the spooks to come up with the intelligence that supports their forgone conclusions and decisions. So, progress?
Thump's 'thought' process (perhaps decision process is more accurate) is both frighteningly alarming and pretty much what we should expect. He has a long public record of snap decisions and pronouncements in opposition to facts, supporting his own interests or his whims of the moment. He now has a five month record as president, which has seen quick 180˚ turns by him or his administration officials. The Qatar/Saudi Arabia feud. The role of NATO in the 21st century. Even this story: just a few days before the cruise missile attack, Tillerson and Haley were saying publicly and unambiguously that regime change in Syria was no longer an objective. But a few days later, missiles are flying and Haley is again demanding that Assad must go. (Oh, and private citizen Thump insisted in 2013 that the president must have congressional approval before bombing Syria.)
I could quote plenty more from these articles, but I'll list my takeaways.
1. There is a big disconnect between Thump and his highest officials (Tillerson, Mathis, et al) regarding this story, which I will bet is true throughout the administration.
2. Unsurprisingly, Thump will do what he wants to do, at the moment, facts consequences or even death of others be damned.
3. Again, out of 59 missiles (one failed at launch), this article admits 24 missed their targets (Syrian, Russian and other sources say as many as 36 missed). This article quotes a soldier as saying the Russians have the capability to stop Tomahawk missiles, between their electronic jamming techniques and their anti-missile artillery/radar/rockets. The surfeit of damage done to the airfield, as presented by the US DoD photographs is the strongest argument that few missiles hit their mark. The why is fascinating to me. Technical failure? Particularly if this was a way to clear old, obsolete stock from the shelves, and pump more money into the MIC. Russians tried to shoot down/disable all 59 and they had a high failure rate? Russians intended to shoot down some but not all, either to protect their own people and assets while not caring as much about Syrian personnel? Or as a face saving measure, while demonstrating, 'yeah, we can shoot 'em down. Time, and if we end up in a shooting war with Russia will answer these questions that bug me much more than they should.
4. The anti-Russia propaganda did not begin with the Wikileaks email disclosures and the election last year. The grossly dishonest propaganda during the Ukraine crisis, and the shoot down of the Malaysian passenger airliner opened a new era of Russophobia. This story, ostensibly about Assad gassing his own people, quickly became another opportunity to Blame Russia.
By now, there are several good articles that compile, chapter and verse, the falsehoods behind the election and dnc 'hacks'. If I am so inspired, I'll post a couple here. But they are readily available on line.
All this Russia hacking stuff is complete bullshit. Last week the WaPo dramatically repackaged the same pile of lies, irrelevant half-truths and unnamed sources to feed the masses the same meal of bullshit. It is sad how completely the legacy media is party to this blatant propaganda, and how many otherwise thinking people believe it.
There are plenty of events that are distressing signs of how badly corrupted virtually every aspect of our society has become. Most days I read to keep up but I don't have the desire to tweet about it, much less write about it. I'm gonna keep repeating: Thump is a disaster, but he is merely a symptom. Our foreign and domestic policies are a disaster; our politics are a disaster; the only alternative we were allowed to vote for (or against) in November is a well proven disaster. Yeah, I get tired of repeating the same theme, even with new current evidence. Seymour Hersh, however, is always worth the effort.
But lest we forget, there was one prominent democrat who publicly disagreed with Thump's cruise missile attack. This leading figure, coincidentally hours before the attack, stated that the proper response was to destroy all of Assad's air bases. I am sure that is just what the speaker would do, were she not cheated her big moment in history.
Hillary Clinton: US should 'take out' Assad's air fields CNN Updated 5:28 AM ET, Fri April 7, 2017
Hey, you think I'd get through a post w/o mentioning Secretary Clinton? Of course you didn't. But, I'm not alone. From the convo between the soldier and the security advisor:
Security Advisor: What are the Russians doing or saying Am I correct that we did little real damage to Russia or Syria?
American Soldier: We didn't hit a damn thing, thankfully. They retrograded all their aircraft and personnel. We basically gave them a very expensive fireworks display.
AS: They knew where ships were and watched the entire strike from launch to end game.
AS: The Russians are furious. Claiming we have the real Intel and know the truth about the weapons depot strike.
AS: They are correct.
AS: I guess it really didn't matter whether we elected Clinton or Trump. Fuck.
