Trump’s Punitive Air Strikes against Syria. No Evidence that Assad was Behind the Alleged Chemical Weapons Attack

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, April 14, 2018
Region:
Theme:
In-depth Report:

On Friday night ET, in the early hours of the morning in Damascus, the US, UK and France launched airstrikes allegedly (yet to be verified) against three military targets, according to Trump’s TV address.

The attacks were intended to “punish Bashar Al Assad”  for an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma. “Assad is killing his own people” with chemical weapons. The strikes were scheduled to coincide with the arrival of the OPCW investigation team, which was scheduled to start its investigation into the alleged CW attack on April 14th. Will that investigation be allowed to proceed? According to Tony Cartalucci, there is Zero Evidence: 

To date, all supposed evidence comes from Western-funded militants and their auxiliaries including the US-European government-funded front, the so-called “Syria Civil Defense,” better known at the “White Helmets.” Unverified photographs and video of apparent victims have been the sole sources cited by the US.

It was a political lie from the start and then it became a media lie, which was used as an instrument of war propaganda.

The war criminals in high office blame the victims. Trump accuses Assad: “Persistent violations of international law”, by whom? What is the legality of Trump’s punitive bombing campaign?

 Britain and France joined the United States in the strikes in a coordinated operation that was intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called persistent violations of international law. Mr. Trump characterized it as the beginning of a sustained effort to force Mr. Assad to stop using banned weapons, but only ordered a limited one-night operation that hit three targets.

“These are not the actions of a man,” Mr. Trump said of last weekend’s attack in a televised address from the White House Diplomatic Room. “They are crimes of a monster instead.” (Guardian, May 13, 2018)

It is worth noting that there were divisions within Trump’s war cabinet. According to an earlier statement, Defense Secretary Mattis was hesitant regarding the conduct of the air strikes.

Earlier on Friday, President Trump had intimated that “a final decision on possible military strikes against Syria … could happen “very soon or not so soon at all” following warnings by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that “such an attack carried the risk of spinning out of control, suggesting caution ahead of a decision on how to respond to a [chemical weapons] attack against civilians last weekend [in Douma].”

Killing the Truth

Hours before the decision to strike Syria, there were hesitations. Acknowledged by the war cabinet, there was no firm evidence that the Syrian government was behind the chemical attack. The OPCW team arrived on the 13th to undertake this investigation. It was slated to start its work on the 14th. The air strikes have been instrumental in totally disrupting the conduct of the OPCW investigation.

The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2018

Comment on Global Research Articles on our Facebook page

Become a Member of Global Research

Articles by: Prof Michel Chossudovsky

About the author:

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research. He has taught as visiting professor in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Latin America. He has served as economic adviser to governments of developing countries and has acted as a consultant for several international organizations. He is the author of 13 books. He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO's war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]