The former chief of staff to former secretary of state Colin Powell raised the prospect yesterday that chemical weapons use in Syria may be “an Israeli false flag operation.”

Wilkerson went on to say that sources in the intelligence community indicate that evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria is “really flaky.” As a result, he said the Obama administration’s caution with regard to esccalating its involvement in the country’s civil war is well advised.



The retired army colonel made headlines when, after his departure from government, he accused the Bush administration of having perpetrated a “hoax on the American people” when it made the case for the Iraq war at the United Nations.

Wilkerson is also notorious for his hostility to some of his pro-Israel colleagues in the Bush administration — in particular, former Middle East adviser to former vice president Dick Cheney, David Wurmser, and former undersecretary of defense for policy Doug Feith, whom he accused of dual loyalties to Israel, calling them ”card-carrying members of the Likud party.”