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C’mon Folks, this is just another shiny bauble of fear, once again, being dangled before a gullible populace…!
From the WaPoo…
Clinton: U.S. will act if Syria uses chemical weapons
…Clinton did not directly address new reports that Assad may be moving chemical weapons or making other possible preparations to use his known stockpile. But the Associated Press, citing an unnamed U.S. defense official, reported that international “intelligence sources” have detected signs in recent days that Syria has been moving chemical weapons components to new locations.
The official, who according to AP spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters, said officials don’t believe any developments with the weapons are imminent but are trying to figure out what the Syrians are doing…
Give me a freaking break…! C’mon now, Spencer and Noah…! You do realize you were just played…?
Right…?
…All that’s certain is that the arms have now been prepped to be used, should Assad order it.
“Physically, they’ve gotten to the point where the can load it up on a plane and drop it,” the official adds…
Funny how quickly, b at MOA, blatantly pointed out the Obvious…
…There is no need for the Syrian army to combine stuff and fill it up because the precursors are already stored in the ammunition when that artillery ammunition or aerial bomb is fabricated. They are stored in two separate chambers and the ammunition is safe for transport and storage. Only firing the ammunition or dropping the bomb will combine the binaries.
What the anonymous American official claims is not happening in Syria. If the Wired writers Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman, (an avid defender of Israel firsters some might note), had even some basic knowledge about ammunition engineering they would not fall for such a stupid claim some anonymous official makes.
The claim that “the Assad regime in Syria have begun combining the two chemical precursors” is definitely wrong. Whatever the Syrian army is doing or not doing with its strategic weapons, it is not what that anonymous “American official” claims…
Another FDL Alumna, Marcy, also took Spencer to task…! On Toobz and Gases… With some blistering commentary too…!
Now, I’ve written about this before… Bibi’s ‘ready’ to secure Syria’s WMDs…!
So, let’s look at some recent revelations… FSA-Israeli Connection: Spiritual Leader of FSA declares his complicity with Israel on Israeli TV, and, even more on the failed ‘FSA’, whatever abomination incarnation it’s under…!
Syria’s opposition warns of a rise in extremists…Jabhat al-Nusra now has somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters, according to officials of a non-governmental organization that represents the more moderate wing of the Free Syrian Army. They say that the Al-Qaeda affiliate now accounts for 7.5 percent to 9 percent of the Free Syrian Army’s total number of fighters, up sharply from an estimated 3 percent just three months ago and 1 percent at the beginning of the year.
The extremist group is growing in part because it has been the most aggressive and successful arm of the rebel force. “From the reports we get from the doctors, most of the injured and dead FSA are Jabhat al-Nusra, due to their courage and [the fact they are] always at the front line,” said a message sent Friday to the State Department by the moderate Free Syrian Army representatives, who have been warning of the rise of the extremists…
God Help the Syrians, one and all…!
*gah*
19 Comments
Yep, the obvious ignorance of binary weapons is a problem for the Wired crew.
Some basics:
“Western nonproliferation experts” (globalsecurity.org) have identified these sites as production and storage sites:
al-Safira (Scud missile base)
Hama (Scud missile base)
Homs
Latakia
Palmyra
Looking at these locations, you might have a clue about why the Syrian goverment could be packing these up to move them. And it’s not necessarily to use them.
The “red line” talk is diplomatese warning Syria against using them. The information to question is if the US alone or Western sources alone assert that Syria has in fact used them and there is a responsibility to protect the Syrian population. That’s when to get worried about US intervention.
I wonder how many imams are in involved in the FSA. And does this imam, who apparently is in Israel really expect an alliance between Israel and the Sunnis against the Shi’a, Alewites, Christians and Druze? Smells like someone’s disinformation.
If you think about it, “From the reports we get from the doctors, most of the injured and dead FSA are Jabhat al-Nusra, due to their courage and [the fact they are] always at the front line.” is a very interesting observation. That means that they are converting soldiers to martyrs within a short time of their recruitment. As first look, that is a losing proposition for Jabhat al-Nusra. But it is (1) good advertising to angry young men, and (2) provides a motives for relatives of the martyrs to join in the fight.
The cutting of the internet and the rumors about chemical weapons tells me that we are likely within maybe three months of the end-game. There are reports of the FSA or other rebel groups holding major areas in the north by the Turkish border.
I’m not hearing any hints of political settlement. mfi reports growing eliminationist rhetoric. God help the Syrians, indeed.
Recommended CTuttle.
…The cutting of the internet and the rumors about chemical weapons tells me that we are likely within maybe three months of the end-game. There are reports of the FSA or other rebel groups holding major areas in the north by the Turkish border…
I agree with much of what you’re saying, and would only add that Nato is now imposing a new, defacto, No-Fly zone…! *gah*
Yep. Don’t fly from Syria to Turkey.
Seems like Turkey’s pulling in all of those NATO chits it accumulated over the Cold War and the subsequent Middle East-Central Asia war.
I can explain the “Israel First” thing. Actually Spencer explains it. He is in the Shtetlt Police. It is a “trope”. And we might have a Syria Trope.
I was a part of the first Patriot Bn. sent to Europe(the second ever formed), and have followed it closely, ever since, of which, most of the Iron Dome, is patterned after, and, what most don’t realize is that the Patriot couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn, even after 4 full upgrades later, that I’m aware of…! ;-)
Was that why they were in square batteries? So you could shoot a pattern sorta like duck hunting.
*heh* Like all ADA systems, the Achilles Heel is, and, has always been, the reload times, something Gen. Van Riper utilized to great advantage…! ;-)
Re the possibility of a NATO no fly zone:
Mohamed Fadel Fahmy @Repent11
Egypt Air cancels flights to Damascus airport until further notice due to “bad security situation” Flight to Aleppo turns back in mid-air!
Retweeted by Juan Cole
I wonder if we’ll be treated to another Rice talking of “smoking guns” and “mushroom clouds.” Worked last time.
Let’s not forget the people that pull the puppets’ strings:
http://www.larouchepub.com/pr/2012/120104brits_obm_script_syria.html
Wonder if we’ll be treated to some more intelligence courtesy of the special relationship?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199109/13-doctors-demand-inquest-Dr-David-Kellys-death.html
The M139 was a 4.5-inch (11 cm) spherical bomblet that was filled with 1.3 pounds (590 g) of sarin (GB). On the outside of the device were “vanes”, the vanes created a spin which armed the impact fuze. This “spin-to-arm” type fuze required between 1,000 and 2,000 rotations per minute to arm, which made handling the bomblets simpler because they were insensitive to normal movements.
The M139 bomblet was used by the U.S. Army in at least two instances of chemical weapons testing. In 1967 there were two series’ of tests which sought to learn the effects of Sarin dropped in the bomblets over two different types of forest environment. The first series of tests, known as Green Mist, took place March 25–April 24, 1967. Conducted in Hawaii, the purpose of the tests was to ascertain the effect of Sarin-filled M139s being dropped and disseminated over a canopy rain forest. The Hawaii tests used both sarin nerve agent and the simulant methylacetoacetate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M139_bomblet
It’s getting very obvious, isn’t it?
Somewhere in the deep dark cobwebby vaults of power (probably where Cheney was hiding out during the 9/11 attacks) there is a musty tome with a red cover detailing step by step the deposition of heads of state as media talking points – starting with the support of whatever faction seems most likely to make the news as freedom fighters (never mind if they morph into Al Qaida in the minds of said heads of state.)
No, that’s about the midpoint of the book; first comes the sweetener, the largesse and tete a tetes, six (or was it seven?) visits by Tony Blair (that one’s a clear indicator) and a few from Bill and Chelsea thrown in for good measure.
End game is ‘weapons of mass destruction’.
Find that book and burn it!!!!
I like your comment, Juliania.
There was also Condi’s “birth pangs of a new Middle East” which apparently can be taken as code by those obsessed by End Times prophecies, a group that includes Jews, Muslims, and Christians who have all got their End Times thing going simultaneously.
Gaddafi’s chem weapons flooding into anti-Syria death squads with rockets to fire them.
It’s strange that Obama and Clinton Favor poisonous gas used against Shiites and Indians in Bahrain, and recently sent them some more, to finish the job, I guess; but they oppose Syria using poisonous gas? Don’t we need one coherent policy on this?
U.S. policy is coherent, under one or both of two (or more) rubrics:
1. Hypocrisy
2. Might makes right.
I think this statement is being made incase America decides they need to send troops in. Why would we need to send troops in to distract Americans from the economy and or to give O a boost in the polls.
*heh* I’m cynical enough to think it’s a distraction for this…
UN calls on Israel to open nuclear program for inspection…
My, my, the UN seems to be growing a spine these days…! ;-)
…The resolution was approved on Monday by a vote of 174-6 with 6 abstentions and calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty immediately and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency…
Can you imagine the spike in Oil prices, if we just send a few warships in to take a close look?