So, who has been using Sarin in Syria?

I imagine most people know the quote “In war, truth is the first casualty”. So, what actually happened in Syria?

It seems likely now that Sarin gas has been used. But who was responsible? John Kerry has claimed that if Sarin gas was used, then the Syrian regime must be responsible as only the government has large stocks of the gas. But is this true?

Here’s a report from the Russian press on 30 March 2013 claiming: “Turkish security forces found a 2kg cylinder with Sarin gas after searching the homes of Syrian militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front who were previously detained, Turkish media reports. The gas was reportedly going to be used in a bomb. The Sarin gas was found in the homes of suspected Syrian Islamists detained in the southern provinces of Adana and Mersia following a search by Turkish police on Wednesday, reports say.” http://rt.com/news/sarin-gas-turkey-al-nusra-021/

Here’s an article from the Washington Times on 6 May 2013 after previous suspected incidents with Sarin gas: “Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday. Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels seeking to oust Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve agent.” http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/#ixzz2doHlYjF5

The same story was even reported in the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320223/UN-accuses-Syrian-rebels-carrying-sarin-gas-attacks-blamed-Assads-troops.html

And here’s a report going round the Internet  at the moment claiming that the Sarin gas was released when the rebels mishandled some canisters with the gas while trying to make a chemical bomb. “Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press correspondent Dale Gavlak that they were responsible for last week’s chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad’s forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.”

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_30/Syrian-rebels-take-responsibility-for-the-chemical-attack-admitting-the-weapons-were-provided-by-Saudis-1203/

Perhaps we’ve seen this all before? Here’s link to the YouTube video of Colin Powell telling the UN Security Council that the US Government had firm information about Saddam Hussein’s supposed “weapons of mass destruction” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt5RZ6ukbNc In his speech, Colin Powell uses photos of the WMDs and intercepted conversations from Saddam’s military all confirming the existence of the WMDs. And here’s a link to a YouTube video where a few years later a rather humbled Mr Powell admits he was misled by US Intelligence and that Saddam didn’t have the WMDs after all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZTLmOoPzjs

Here’s John Kerry giving a recent speech confirming that the Assad government has used Sarin gas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDN4L00Ls9E

Perhaps we’ll have to wait a few years before Mr Kerry is interviewed and he also admits he was “misled”. Who knows?

It does seem almost incredible that Assad would choose to provoke the West by using Sarin gas in an area just a few miles away from UN weapons inspectors when he was actually winning the civil war.

My fear is that having clearly blamed Assad, the rush to war idiots – Cameron Hollande, Kerry and Obama – will lose face if it’s found that the rebels were responsible. So, any evidence of rebel responsibility will be quickly suppressed. The lessons from Iraq tell us that there’s only one truth in times of war – we will be lied to.