Stephen Lendman

Activist Post

Obama abhors peace. He prioritizes war. His appetite exceeds his predecessors and then some. It’s insatiable.

He’s currently waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He plans more in Africa. He destroyed Libya. He’s ravaging Syria.

Full-scale intervention looms. He’s creating a pretext to do it. Old news bears repeating.

A no longer accessible January 29, 2013 UK Daily Mail headlined “US ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime,’ ” saying:

Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country.

A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme ‘approved by Washington’ is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons.

Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the U.S would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people.

It reads: ‘Phil….We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.

‘We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have.’

‘They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.’

‘Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?’

‘Kind regards, David.’

The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resumes and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News.

Dave Goulding’s Linkedin profile lists him as Business Development Director at Britam Defence Ltd in Security and Investigations.

A business networking profile for Phil Doughty lists him as Chief Operating Officer for Britam, United Arab Emirates, Security and Investigations.

The US State Department had not returned a request for comment on the alleged emails to MailOnline today at time of publication.

On January 30, Voice of Russia headlined “Britam tells VoR it was hacked,” saying:

It denied involvement “in a plot to destabilise Syria.” Red Hot Russia quoted a “software systems administrator” using the nickname “KungFu Spider,” saying:

After looking at the email headers….I have to admit that the email does indeed look genuine.

The email was sent from ‘81.156.163.12’ which is a BT Wholesale ADSL IP address.

From there it was then relayed via ‘smtp.clients.netdns.net (202.157.148.149).

Finally it was delivered to a local mailbox on that server.

I hate to admit it, but all these facts check out. So with Mythbusters objectivity I have to call this one plausible.

I just hope I don’t get a visit from the plods for this ill advised sleuthing.”

Last summer, Obama warned:

We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.

That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.

We’re monitoring that situation very carefully. We have put together a range of contingency plans.

They include full-scale US intervention. Last March, a Brookings Institution report headlined “Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change.”

To “protect US interests,” it said, Assad can’t be allowed to triumph. Six options were proposed:

diplomacy; coercion and diplomatic isolation; providing full support for opposition forces to oust him; a Libya-style air campaign; invasion “with US-led forces;” and a “multilateral, NATO-led (regime change) effort.”

On the one hand, it recommended giving diplomacy “one last chance.” On the other, it said it’s unlikely “diplomacy alone can resolve the crisis.”

It said Washington must intervene “to protect (its) many interests affected by the bloodshed of Syria.”

Russian politician Alexei Mitrofanov is a Duma Information Policy Committee member. Voice of Russia quoted him saying:

Syria is facing a global info war. The masterminds of this war are doing everything they can to prevent information from Syrian official sources from leaking out.

(T)he truth about the Syrian conflict is different from the one presented by the western press.

On April 28, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported Assad’s Permanent UN Representative, Bashar al-Jaafari saying “western countries are raising the issue of chemical weapons use in Syria is part of the campaign of pressure exerted on Syria in order to get concessions from it in various issues.”

….Syria’s enemies fabricated various issues to pressure Syria’s but to no avail, and now they’re attempting to exploit the Security Council to recreate the Iraqi scenario, asserting that they will not succeed in these machinations because Syria has real friends in the Security Council, and because experts are presenting credible reports like the recent one which stated that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE are all involved in smuggling weapons into Syria.

….the media war of exaggeration against Syria seeks to poison the international and Arab public opinion by promoting an erroneous image of what is actually happening in Syria, affirming that the Syrian government isn’t killing its own people as some claim; rather it’s facing armed terrorist who commit suicide bombings in residential areas, murder students in schools and universities, and undermine the national economy’s infrastructure.”

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said its military successes prompted false accusations about chemical weapons use.

Russian Federation Council Deputy Chairman Ilyas Umakhanov suggested Moscow won’t leave Syria alone in its time of crisis, saying:

Russia’s stance is that the Syrian people alone have the right to solve their problems without foreign interference.

The battle for Syria rages. Western propaganda continues. Joseph Holliday is an Institute for the Study of War (ISW) fellow and former senior research analyst.

ISW calls itself “committed to improving the nation’s ability to execute military operations and respond to emerging threats in order to achieve US. strategic objectives.”

On April 26, Holliday’s Foreign Policy article headlined “Assad’s Chemical Romance,” saying:

The Syrian regime’s subtle approach deliberately offers the Obama administration the option to remain quiet about chemical attacks and thereby avoid the obligation to make good on its threats.

But even more worrying, Assad’s limited use of chemical weapons is intended to desensitize the United States and the international community in order to facilitate a more comprehensive deployment in the future – without triggering intervention.

Holliday appears to be goading Obama to intervene. He claimed previous Assad chemical weapons use. Repeating lies often enough get people to believe them.

He said Assad “established a clear modus operandi for ramping up the battle without triggering international intervention: toe the line, confirm Western inaction, and then ratchet up the violence further.”

He made numerous false accusations. Assad’s “introduction of weapons of mass destruction intends to pave the way for more lethal and wide-ranging chemical attacks against the Syrian people in the future,” he claimed.

Obama said “he’ll need a big, smoking gun to push him into taking on the responsibility of a decisive US response.”

“Unfortunately, the wily Assad doesn’t seem likely to give (him) such an easy decision.”

False flags and misinformation make it easier. On April 28, Haaretz headlined “Defected Syrian general claims he was ordered to use chemical weapons,” saying:

On March 15, Zakir al-Sakit defected. He claims superiors told him to use chemical weapons against “rebels” and civilians in Busra al-Harir. It’s about 90 km south of Damascus.

Expect defectors to say anything. Perhaps al-Harir was well-rewarded. His accusation lacks credibility.

He said he instructed his forces to use a harmless liquid. Haaretz cited opposition Syria National Coalition officials claiming Syrian forces fired “missiles with chemical arms” near Damascus.

Expect these type reports to continue. Obama appears heading for more war. Expect Syria to become another US charnel house. American-style humanitarian interventions turn out that way.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected] His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/