"By the end of 2012, it was believed throughout the American intelligence community that the rebels were losing the war. 'Erdogan was pissed,' the former intelligence official said, 'and felt he was left hanging on the vine. It was his money and the [U.S] cut-off was seen as a betrayal.'"
"Red Line" Worries
Recognizing Obama's political sensitivity over his "red line" pledge, the Turkish government and Syrian rebels saw chemical weapons as the way to force the President's hand, Hersh reported, writing:
"In spring 2013 US intelligence learned that the Turkish government -- through elements of the MIT, its national intelligence agency, and the Gendarmerie, a militarised law-enforcement organisation -- was working directly with al-Nusra and its allies to develop a chemical warfare capability."'The MIT was running the political liaison with the rebels, and the Gendarmerie handled military logistics, on-the-scene advice and training -- including training in chemical warfare,' the former intelligence official said. 'Stepping up Turkey's role in spring 2013 was seen as the key to its problems there. Erdoğan knew that if he stopped his support of the jihadists it would be all over. The Saudis could not support the war because of logistics -- the distances involved and the difficulty of moving weapons and supplies. Erdoğan's hope was to instigate an event that would force the US to cross the red line. But Obama didn't respond [to small chemical weapons attacks] in March and April.'"
The dispute between Erdogan and Obama came to a head at a White House meeting on May 16, 2013, when Erdogan unsuccessfully lobbied for a broader U.S. military commitment to the rebels, Hersh reported.
Three months later, in the early hours of Aug. 21, a mysterious missile delivered a lethal load of Sarin into a suburb east of Damascus. The Obama administration and the mainstream U.S. press corps immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Syrian government had launched the attack, which the U.S. government claimed killed at least "1,429" people although the number of victims cited by doctors and other witnesses on the scene was much lower.
Yet, with the media stampede underway, anyone who questioned the U.S. government's case was trampled under charges of being an "Assad apologist." But we few skeptics continued to point out the lack of evidence to support the rush to war. Obama also encountered political resistance in both the British Parliament and U.S. Congress, but hawks in the U.S. State Department were itching for a new war.
Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a bellicose speech on Aug. 30 amid expectations that the U.S. bombs would start flying within days. But Obama hesitated, first referring the war issue to Congress and later accepting a compromise brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to have Assad surrender all of his chemical weapons even as Assad continued denying any role in the Aug. 21 attacks.
Obama took the deal but continued asserting publicly that Assad was guilty and disparaging anyone who thought otherwise. In a formal address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2013, Obama declared, "It's an insult to human reason and to the legitimacy of this institution to suggest that anyone other than the regime carried out this attack."
Suspicions of Turkey
However, by autumn 2013, U.S. intelligence analysts were among those who had joined in the "insult to human reason" as their doubts about Assad's guilt grew. Hersh cited an ex-intelligence official saying:
"...the US intelligence analysts who kept working on the events of 21 August 'sensed that Syria had not done the gas attack. But the 500 pound gorilla was, how did it happen? The immediate suspect was the Turks, because they had all the pieces to make it happen.'"As intercepts and other data related to the 21 August attacks were gathered, the intelligence community saw evidence to support its suspicions. 'We now know it was a covert action planned by Erdoğan's people to push Obama over the red line,' the former intelligence official said. 'They had to escalate to a gas attack in or near Damascus when the UN inspectors' -- who arrived in Damascus on 18 August to investigate the earlier use of gas -- 'were there. The deal was to do something spectacular.
"'Our senior military officers have been told by the DIA and other intelligence assets that the sarin was supplied through Turkey -- that it could only have gotten there with Turkish support. The Turks also provided the training in producing the sarin and handling it.'
"Much of the support for that assessment came from the Turks themselves, via intercepted conversations in the immediate aftermath of the attack. 'Principal evidence came from the Turkish post-attack joy and back-slapping in numerous intercepts. Operations are always so super-secret in the planning but that all flies out the window when it comes to crowing afterwards. There is no greater vulnerability than in the perpetrators claiming credit for success.'"
According to the thinking of Turkish intelligence, Hersh reported, "Erdogan's problems in Syria would soon be over: 'Off goes the gas and Obama will say red line and America is going to attack Syria, or at least that was the idea. But it did not work out that way.'"
Hersh added that the U.S. intelligence community has been reluctant to pass on to Obama the information contradicting the Assad-did-it scenario. Hersh wrote:
"The post-attack intelligence on Turkey did not make its way to the White House. 'Nobody wants to talk about all this,' the former intelligence official told me. 'There is great reluctance to contradict the president, although no all-source intelligence community analysis supported his leap to convict. There has not been one single piece of additional evidence of Syrian involvement in the sarin attack produced by the White House since the bombing raid was called off. My government can't say anything because we have acted so irresponsibly. And since we blamed Assad, we can't go back and blame Erdogan.'"
Like the bloody U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, last year's near U.S. air war against Syria is a cautionary tale for Americans regarding the dangers that result when the U.S. government and mainstream media dance off hand in hand, leaping to conclusions and laughing at doubters.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
