Suspicious Nerve-agent Attack in Syria

Disclaimer: As it is common for people to think in dualistic terms, I would like to (or rather, am forced to) clarify that my skepticism and criticism towards the Syrian opposition are not an endorsement of Assad, or to be taken as a sign that the author is sympathetic to him and his forces. On the contrary, it is the opinion of the author that if the genuine Syrian rebellion is to succeed in ousting Assad, it must also purge itself of the proxy foreign factions (such as Jabat Al-Nusra) which have manipulated it from the commencement of the struggle, and have mostly hijacked the uprising. In addition, the information provided in this article is also to be taken with a healthy dose of healthy skepticism. 

On the morning of August 21st, an alleged massacre of many civilians in the eastern district of Damascus, took place. Discussions are still raging as to who is responsible for this atrocity, and while the mainstream media continues to echo the calls by Western Powers to use force against Assad, I would like to take the time to express my skepticism as more and more information is unearthed regarding the matter.

It is extremely suspicious that the day after the UN delegation on the monitoring of Chemical weapons in Syria arrives (welcomed by Assad), that the Syrian government would engage in a chemical weapon attack on its own population. Say what you will about Assad, but he's not dumb.

It is very suspicious that in the videos, besides the dead or dying children, there is not one mother but just men who in addition to invoking Allah and damn Assad, they only manipulate the bodies of the children for the benefit of the cameras, as if that's what they were there for. In some videos, we see the same child moved three times in three different locations around the room for no apparent reason whatsoever.

In other videos, we see a man or woman with a little face mask (as if to appear like medical personnel), but this precaution is senseless considering that the children, in most cases, are laid down on a floor (not the most hygienic place) of a room where lots of people are stepping. The majority of their clothes also have not been removed, as is standard medical practice.

Even more suspicious is the lack of symptoms that the victims fail to manifest and which are usually associated with nerve gas. The symptomatology has, granted, a wide range of manifestations dependent on a variety of factors: the quantity of gas absorbed, age of the victim, utilization of antidotes etc. However, generally, victims of nerve gas attacks overwhelmingly display incontinence and the subsequent release of bodily fluids from the orifices: urine, feces, epitaxy, reddish foam at the mouth. These symptoms were not displayed by any of the victims or survivors of the attacks in any of the videos - an almost statistic impossibility. Jean Pascal Zanders, an expert on chemical weapons and their non-proliferation, has expressed similar concerns about the use (or lack thereof) of nerve gas on the purported victims.

Perhaps most disconcerting of all is that in some of these videos, despite claiming that the children on the floor are dead, some of them are still moving. This is combined with numerous videos and photos showing the alleged "medical" personnel (those with the little masks) administering injections to he already "deceased" victims. There is no medical or moral reason for the administration of a substance through injection following the fact to these victims, but it has been largely hypothesized that they could be soporific injections to make sure that the subjects be properly sedated during the theater act. It has been argued that the injections could indeed be of Atropine, a substance that is used to counteract the effects of nerve agents, but if the victims are indeed deceased as the video claims, the reason for the administration of this substance vanishes.

All this is not mentioning a few key factors...

The Syrian opposition has already been found to have [Edit] strongly suspected of having used [original link was wrong, edited] chemical weapons on the Syrian population on at least one previous occasion.

In addition, there are some pretty solid reports circulating on Turkish television and internet press about a number of Syrian "rebels" (of the U.S. proxy Jihadist faction Jabat Al Nusra) being stopped in Turkey in possession of heavy weapons and large amounts (2kg) of Sarin nerve gas. This would seem to be consistent with Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs' claims (of course, its relationship with Syria is not to be discounted) that the the chemical attack "was of a provocative nature" and intended to Galvanize the international community into justifying western military action in Syria. This is further compounded by the fact that France, which has been supporting the Syrian rebels for years and who attempted to break a weapon's ban to supply them with arms, has already called for force to be used in light of this latest incident. 

Lastly, among the regular media freak show that the Media offers us and that we are accustomed to, there are numerous photographs about this "massacre" which actually belong to other conflicts and have nothing to do with Syria (most notably a picture from the recent massacre in Egypt. More importantly, however, are the reports that Al Jazeera, Reuters, and other news and media outlets had fabricated the news about the attack one day prior to when it allegedly took place.

UPDATE:

Calls for the military intervention in Syria continue to spread as even the Dutch "Green" Party's leader has said that it may be "inevitable". Despite no investigation having been yet completed, and no official results being provided by the UN Commission currently in Syria, it appears that the majority of institutionalized parties in 'the West' are already preparing their populations for the prospect of war.

There is also now, thanks to the retrieval of an article published in January (and quickly taken down), that a Malaysian hacker managed to get his/her hands on a number of confidential documents of the British security contractor Britam. In the internal correspondence of this company, the planned used of chemical weapons in Syria to then be blamed on Assad is discussed and referred to as having been commissioned by Qataris and approved by Washington. This suggests that the plan has at least been already thought of, and that as such there is at least definite suspicion that it may have been enacted.

I have also stumbled across a report which quotes an expert on video who is unconvinced that the attack was caused by military grade Sarin, if any nerve agent at all. He casts doubts on the symptomatology and the lack of protective material being used by the medical personnel, which should mean that they would be exposed as well and should exhibit symptoms also. I have come across similar reports:

'At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators," said Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

"In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms."

John Hart, head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use.

"Of the videos that I've seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils... this would indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents," he said.

Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles.

"We're not seeing reports that doctors and nurses... are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that the toxicity of it isn't what we would consider military sarin. It may well be that it is a lower-grade," Winfield told AFP.'

I have also come across unconfirmed (and unsubstantiated) reports that Russia has provided the United Nations with satellite images of the missiles that were allegedly used by Assad to deliver the chemical weapons. It appears that the rockets originated in Douma, a rebel controlled area, and not from a government controlled military installation whatsoever. Should this be true, it would be a key piece of evidence. Unfortunately, evidence (or the lack thereof) has never really stopped the U.S. and NATO from engaging in a military intervention on foreign soil.