"The Syrian regime maintains the capability and intent to use chemical weapons against the opposition to prevent the loss of territory deemed critical to its survival," according to the document. "We assess that Damascus launched this chemical attack in response to an opposition offensive in northern [Hama] Province that threatened key infrastructure. Senior regime military leaders were probably involve in planning the attack."
Except, the Syrian government does not control Khan Sheikhoun in the Idlib province, where the alleged attack occurred. The al Qaida affiliate formerly known as al Nusra does.
What key infrastructure? How would launching chemical weapons prevent militant groups from destroying infrastructure? Would that not create chaos that would benefit groups intent to carry out destruction?
The document adds, "Our information indicates that the chemical agent was delivered by regime Su-22 fixed-wing aircraft that took off from the regime-controlled Shayrat Airfield. These aircraft were in the vicinity of Khan Shaykhun approximately 20 minutes before reports of the chemical attack began and vacated the area shortly after the attack."
Where this information came from is important. Is it social media? Just prior to this graph, the document references "pro-opposition social media reports."
"Additionally, our information indicates personnel historically associated with Syria's chemical weapons program were at Shayrat Airfield in late March making preparations for an upcoming attack in Northern Syria, and they were present at the airfield on the day of the attack."
Does the Trump administration mean someone, who was involved in the program before the United States and Russia sought to disarm Syria of stockpiles, was present at the Shayrat Airfield? If yes, that does not unequivocally prove anything substantial.
Image by Warsheh Team. Source: click here
Crater Referenced By White House: More Reason To Doubt The NarrativePerhaps, the most important sentences in the paper refer to "open source video," which the administration believes shows where the "chemical munition landed." It was "in the middle of a street in the northern section of Khan Sheikhoun," not a facility with weapons. "Commercial satellite imagery of that site from April 6, after the allegation, shows a crater in the road that corresponds to the open source video."
Theodore Postol, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of science, technology, and international security, raised significant questions about this supposed evidence.
"I have located this crater using Google Earth and there is absolutely no evidence that the crater was created by a munition designed to disperse sarin after it is dropped from an aircraft," Postol declared. "The data cited by the White House is more consistent with the possibility that the munition was placed on the ground rather than dropped from a plane."
"This conclusion assumes that the crater was not tampered with prior to the photographs. However, by referring to the munition in this crater, the White House is indicating that this is the erroneous source of the data it used to conclude that the munition came from a Syrian aircraft."
Postol does not work on the staff of Infowars nor is he seeking to convince Alex Jones to make him a regular co-host on his own show. In fact, Postol previously criticized the narrative around the chemical attack in Ghouta in 2013 and has garnered praise for his work criticizing the government's claims about missile defense.
"Analysis of the debris as shown in the photographs cited by the White House clearly indicates that the munition was almost certainly placed on the ground with an external detonating explosive on top of it that crushed the container as to disperse the alleged load of sarin," Postol argues.
Postol refers to a "dispenser," a pipe that the Trump administration claims was used to spread a chemical agent.
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