Syrian activists accuse government of deadly chemical attack near Damascus & Chemical Weapons Claims Spur Calls For Force Against Syria 21&22AUG13

SYRIAN pres assad is using Hama Rules (see chapter 4 of From Beirut To Jerusalem by Thomas L Friedman), as did his late father, the former Syrian president, in the Syrian civil war. The attack by the Syrian military on Hama began on 2 FEB 1982 and when it was over a few weeks later most of the old city was destroyed and over 25,000 had been massacred. So it is no surprise the assad regime is using chemical weapons on their own people. The question is what should the U.S. do about it? First thing we need to do is stop weapons purchases from Russian arms suppliers like rosoboronexport, main supplier of weapons to assad. Second we need to increase humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugee's in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. Third we must freeze and seize all Syrian govt assets in the U.S. until assad is removed from power. And last we must pressure the Arab world to deal with assad and take the necessary steps to remove him from power. This is their part of the world, their problem, and they have allowed assad to slaughter the Syrian people and to destroy the nation for too long. They should intervene with troops, remove assad, disarm the militias, remain in Syria long enough for elections to be held and a new government formed, and provide the financial aid to rebuild the lives of the refugees and the national economy. The Arab world has to accept responsibility and take action, put boots on the ground and shed some blood and not try to push this off on the U.S. and Europe, using their oil money to pay others to do the dirty work like they did in the first Gulf War. From the Washington Post & NPR.....

View Photo Gallery — In Syria, activists accuse government of chemical attack: Syrian activists have accused the government of launching a massive chemical weapons attack that killed scores of people in the Damascus suburbs.

By Loveday Morris and Karen DeYoung, Published: August 21 | Updated: Thursday, August 22, 6:09 AM 

BEIRUT — The Syrian opposition on Wednesday accused the government of launching a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs that killed large numbers of civilians as they slept and packed makeshift hospitals with hundreds of victims convulsing and gasping for breath.
Photographs and videos posted online showed the bodies of men, women and children, many appearing to be dead, without visible wounds. Varying opposition claims put the death toll in the hundreds, with some saying it was more than a thousand.

Graphic

Video

There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds, including women and children, were killed by a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus, Syria.

While the exact cause of the deaths remained unclear, there was widespread agreement, as one European expert noted, that “something terrible has happened.’’
If confirmed, the use of toxic agents would be the most serious in decades, presenting a renewed challenge to President Obama, who said last year that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would constitute a “red line” requiring a U.S. response.
The Syrian government strongly denied responsibility. But a White House statement put the blame squarely on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, referring to “reports that hundreds of Syrian civilians have been killed in an attack by Syrian government forces, including by the use of chemical weapons.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the international community should respond “with force” if the allegations are proven true, news services reported.
The deaths touched off a vigorous debate among independent experts about whether available information pointed to the use of a well-known chemical weapon such as the nerve agent sarin or to some other toxic agent. U.S. intelligence agencies offered no early verdict.
The attack came as U.N. investigators were already on the ground in Syria to investigate previous incidents in which the United States and its allies have said small quantities of chemical weapons were used. But the U.N. Security Council was unable to agree Wednesday on whether those experts should immediately investigate the new incident.
The Russian government, Assad’s strongest supporter, suggested that the opposition itself had staged the attack in a “pre-planned provocation.’’
Witnesses said the attack began when Russian-made Grad rockets began falling at around 2 a.m. in neighborhoods east of the capital where rebels have had some recent success in repelling government forces.
Sama Masoud, an opposition activist who lives in one of the targeted neighborhoods, described scenes of chaos on the streets as panicked residents did not know whether to stay in their homes or flee.
“The fiance of my sister has died,” she said. “My friend, her husband and her husband’s uncle — all dead while asleep.”
More than 130 videos were posted online showing the victims. In some, children lay on tiled floors, vomiting, convulsing and struggling to breathe as they were treated with hand-held respirators or as medics desperately administered chest compressions.
In others, men sprawled on the floor of a makeshift hospital were hosed down with water in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to wash off the remnants of the poisonous gases.
Majed Abu Ali, a medic in nearby Douma, said his team had treated 600 patients with symptoms that included reddened eyes with constricted pupils, vomiting, skin rashes, loose bowels and extreme difficulty in breathing. He said 65 people had died and that the “overwhelmed” medical staff had little to protect themselves from toxins.
Some experts questioned the video evidence. “It strikes me as odd that the people who are treating the infected victims are not undressing them,” said Raymond Zilinskas, a biologist and former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq. “When you’re dealing with a chemical event, there is always a ‘red zone’ and a ‘green zone’ — always,” to protect medical providers.

There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds, including women and children, were killed by a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus, Syria.

But others said the symptoms exhibited by victims were far more convincing than in any of the previous alleged chemical incidents.
Amy Smithson, a senior fellow at the James C. Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said the photographic evidence “clearly indicates exposure to a toxic chemical,” citing a combination of telltale symptoms such as respiratory problems and twitching, and the near-absence of wounds that would be associated with conventional explosives. But she acknowledged that it was impossible to tell whether the apparent poisoning was caused by sarin or one of the other known toxins in Syria’s arsenal.
“Regardless of whether this was a classic warfare agent like sarin, the Chemical Weapons Convention outlaws use of any toxic chemical for military purposes,” Smithson said.
Jean Pascal Zanders, an expert on chemical and biological weapons at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, said in a blog posting that the photographs appeared to confirm “exposure to toxin,” but not necessarily nerve gas. He added, “It is clear that something terrible has happened. These scenes could not have been stage-managed.”
Even the more-conservative opposition casualty estimates of Wednesday’s attack would make it the most extensive use of chemical weapons since 1988, when thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed in the Kurdish village of Halabja in an attack launched by President Saddam Hussein.
At a news conference in Istanbul, George Sabra, deputy head of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, said the death toll had reached 1,300. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number at 136.
Denouncing the lack of international action on Syria, Sabra reiterated calls for a no-fly zone, saying that not only is the Assad regime killing the Syrian people but “the weakness of the U.N. is killing us. The U.S. hesitation is killing us.”
Obama has steadily escalated U.S. aid to the opposition, although rebel fighters said that light arms and ammunition shipments that administration officials said were recently cleared for delivery have not arrived.
But the administration has remained divided over the wisdom of the more direct military support that the rebels and some U.S. lawmakers have demanded. In an Aug. 19 letter to Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) released Wednesday, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that more robust military assistance, including U.S. air assaults against Assad’s air force, could not ensure that U.S.-favored moderates in the fractured opposition would prevail.
In a surprisingly direct statement of his own policy recommendation, Dempsey wrote that “the best framework for an effective U.S. strategy . . . going forward” is more humanitarian aid and support for opposition moderates.


DeYoung reported from Washington. Ahmed Ramadan in Beirut, Joby Warrick in Washington and Colum Lynch in New York contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/syrian-activists-accuse-government-of-deadly-chemical-attack-near-damascus/2013/08/21/aea157e6-0a50-11e3-89fe-abb4a5067014_story_1.html 

Chemical Weapons Claims Spur Calls For Force Against Syria

by

August 22, 2013 7:00 AM

Gas mask in one hand and rifle in the other, a Free Syrian Army fighter sits inside a house in the city of Homs early Thursday.

Yazan Homsy /Reuters /Landov

in Syria that President Bashar Assad's forces used chemical weapons during an attack Wednesday near Damascus — killing scores of people, they say — are being followed Thursday by word that:
— "The French foreign minister has said that the international community would need to respond with force if allegations were proven that Syrian government forces carried out a mass chemical attack on civilians." ()
— Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is also urging that action be taken "to prevent further chemical strikes." () "This event is one that cannot be ignored anymore," Mr. Davutoglu said.

From the NPR Newscast: The BBC's Nick Bryant reports

Still, as the BBC's Nick Bryant reports, "meeting in emergency session, the United Nations Security Council failed to reach an agreement on a toughly worded statement condemning the alleged atrocity in Damascus. ... Once again we saw the usual divisions between the Russians and the Chinese on one hand and the Americans, the British, the French on the other."
The Assad regime rejects the allegations about use of chemical weapons. There have been countercharges that opposition forces might have deployed such weapons or staged the videos that popped up Wednesday on the Web — videos showing scores of people who were allegedly victims of a chemical attack. United Nations inspectors are now in Syria to investigate earlier reports about the use of chemical weapons, and the regime alleges that the opposition is trying to influence those inspectors.
, Financial Times correspondent Abigail Fielding-Smith reported from Beirut that "my gut reaction and the reaction of most of the analysts I've spoken to is that ... these videos — there are simply too many of them, and too many of them involve children who ... I don't see how they could be coached to act [out] those kinds of things. ... It just seems highly implausible that the entire kind of range of symptoms that we've seen and people in distress are some kind of movie."
Meanwhile, that Assad's forces "pressed on with a military offensive in eastern Damascus on Thursday, bombing rebel-held suburbs where the opposition said a chemical weapons attack the day before killed over 100 people."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/22/214411237/chemical-weapons-claims-bring-calls-for-force-against-syria?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=DailyDigest&utm_campaign=20130822

President Obama: Stop U.S. Support for Syrian Weapons 14JUN12

SEC of State Clinton is right to condemn continuing arms sales by Russia to Syria, and HYPOCRITICAL because the U.S. military has a contract for $1 billion with the same Russian arms dealer, rosoboronexport. The campaign to force the American government to cancel this contract has been going on for months, and it will continue until the Pentagon cuts all ties with rosoboronexport. We must keep up the pressure, not only on the bloody assad regime, but on the American government too. Please click the link and sign the petition demanding the pentagon cancel it's contract and all business with rosobornexport now.

		Obama — Stop U.S. support for Syrian weapons Tell President Obama to stand up for the people of Syria today Killing and violence in Syria has reached horrific levels. The recent massacres in Houla and Qubair underscore the ruthlessness of Syrian President al-Assad. Over 10,000 men, women and children have perished in the last year and more than 1 million Syrians are now in need of humanitarian assistance. In a major announcement this week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned Russia, and its state-owned weapons company for shipping attack helicopters to Syria and enabling President Bashir al-Assad's regime to carry out brutal attacks on civilians. But the United States has a dirty little secret — the U.S. military has a $1 billion dollar contract with the same Russian company, Rosoboronexport. Tell President Obama that the United States needs to cease all contracts with Rosoboronexport. We must act now. Next week, President Obama will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Mexico. Before he condemns Russia for selling arms to Syria, he needs to get our own house in order. In March, we sounded the alarm that the U.S government signed a contract for nearly $1 billion in business with Rosoboronexport. In response, supporters like you sent more than 25,000 emails to Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta. Congress listened, held hearings and introduced legislation to bring this deplorable practice to an end. Now it's time to demand action from President Obama. And he must act now. The UN just issued a report finding that Assad's brutal regime and allied militia have killed, maimed, tortured and detained children as young as 9 years old. It is unconscionable that the United States would play any role in this mindless slaughter of innocents. Tell President Obama that we can't condemn the killing of civilians in Syria while at the same time the U.S. is purchasing weapons from Syria's main arms supplier, Rosoboronexport. Thank you for taking action. Together we will stand up for those suffering from violence and mass atrocities in Syria. Sincerely, Tom Andrews President United to End Genocide
		ABOUT UNITED TO END GENOCIDE We are United to End Genocide, the largest activist organization in America dedicated to preventing and ending genocide and mass atrocities worldwide. We are faith leaders, students, artists, investors and genocide survivors, and all those who believe we must fulfill the promise the world made following the Holocaust — "Never Again!"

Russia, China veto U.N. resolution on Syria & Text of proposed UN Security Council resolution on Syria vetoed by Russia, China 4FEB12

russia and the prc cast their lot with the murderers of Damascus, is anyone really surprised? Neither country is democratic, the prc has a long history of using the same tactics against their own people and russia, despite the demands of a majority of it's citizens, is sliding back to authoritarian rule under putin. Birds of feather, as the old saying goes. This from the Washington Post followed by the text of the proposed resolution...

By Colum Lynch and Alice Fordham

UNITED NATIONS — Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. resolution condemning Syria’s violent repression of anti-government demonstrators, effectively quashing efforts to isolate President Bashar al-Assad’s government as it intensifies a nearly year-long crackdown.
The veto dealt a blow to attempts by the United States and its European partners to rally behind an Arab League plan that would require Assad to yield power and make way for a democratically elected unity government. The vote followed weeks of negotiations in which diplomats had significantly watered down the resolution in a bid to win broad support.
“The United States is disgusted” by the Russian and Chinese vetoes, Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said after the vote. “A couple of members of this council remain steadfast in their willingness to sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant.”
Russia’s U.N. envoy, Vitaly I. Churkin, countered that the United States and its partners had undermined the prospects for a deal, saying they had promoted a strategy aimed at “regime change” by backing the opposition’s pursuit of power and fueling “armed methods of struggle.”
The rift left the diplomatic process in disarray, with Arab League delegates vowing to press ahead with their plan for a political transition in Syria, while Russia announced that officials would travel Tuesday to Damascus, where they will meet with Assad and to try to push a competing plan to bring the Syrian government and the opposition together for direct talks.
But some Syria experts were worried that it was already too late for diplomatic solutions. “Things are slipping out of control on the ground so much that I’m not sure that [the resolution] could have stopped the killing,” said Andrew Tabler, a Middle East expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The U.N. deadlock came a day after Syrian authorities moved to crush resistance in the town of Homs, killing scores of civilians on the 30th anniversary of the massacre in Hama. Estimates of those killed late Friday varied widely, but the assault seemed to be the strongest attempt yet by the government to put down the protests. Although casualties have been heavy for months, Syrian forces have largely abstained from the use of heavier weaponry. Activists now worry that the attack heralds a new and more aggressive strategy on the part of Assad’s government.
On Saturday, crowds gathered in Homs for the first funerals of the dead, with tens of thousands shown in video footage massing around coffins and shrouds decked with flowers. An opposition spokesman said that after the funerals, people were waiting eagerly to hear the results of the U.N. vote.
“We were hoping they would change their opinion,” said the spokesman, who uses the nom de guerre Abu Rami. “Unfortunately they used their veto. The people here are not so much disappointed. We will rely on Allah, the holy God, and after Allah, we will rely on the Free Syrian Army.”
The 13 to 2 Security Council vote capped weeks of tumultuous negotiations that pitted the United States, the European Union and the Arab League against Russia, Syria’s most powerful remaining protector in the 15-member council.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rice, along with their European and Arab counterparts, pressed repeatedly to avoid the Russia veto, agreeing to abandon the sharpest provisions a draft resolution, including calls on states to prevent the supply of weapons to Syria, and to reinforce a set of Arab League sanctions on Damascus. They also added language that explicitly ruled out the use of the resolution as a pretext for future military action.
In Washington, President Obama issued a statement shortly before the vote casting Syria’s latest military operations as the last gasp of a crumbling regime and urging Assad to step down.
Envoys from Russia and China had signaled this past week that they would recommend their capitals support the U.N. resolution, according to senior council diplomats. But Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, ultimately rejected the compromise draft, proposing a set of last-minute amendments Saturday that were rejected by Washington and other sponsors of the resolution.
“We are not friends or allies of President Assad,” Lavrov insisted ahead of the vote. “We try to stick to our responsibilities as a permanent members of the Security Council, and the Security Council by definition does not engage in domestic affairs of member states.”
Senior administration officials pointed to the wide margin of support for the resolution, with developing countries such as Pakistan, India, South Africa and Azerbaijan all siding against the Assad government. “There was a hopeful aspect” to the vote, Rice said. “More and more countries are united in saying the violence must stop, change must come.”
White House officials acknowledged that the vote was a blow to diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian crisis. The focus now appears to shift to the Arab League, where a vote on sanctions by Arab nations could come as early as next week.
But critics of the administration’s incremental diplomacy in Syria said the administration was partly to blame for Saturday’s outcome.
“This has been a slow-motion train wreck,” said David Schenker, an adviser to the Pentagon on the Middle East during the George W. Bush administration. “We aimed low, and we fell short.”
Rather than attempting to sell the Russians on a toothless resolution, Schenker said, the White House should be mobilizing a “coalition of the willing” to help Syria’s beleaguered rebels with weapons and training. “If we continue to defer both to the Arab League and the U.N., the Syrian people are doomed.”
Saturday’s vote carried political risks for Moscow and Beijing, which have defied the wishes not only of Washington and its European powers, but confronted a coalition of influential and wealthy states likely to be driven even more deeply into the Western camp.
“There is nothing in this text that should have triggered a veto. We removed every possible excuse,” said Britain’s U.N. envoy, Mark Lyall Grant. “The reality is that Russia and China have today taken a choice: to turn their backs on the Arab world and to support tyranny rather than the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”
In Syria, demonstrators were bracing for another possible onslaught.
Col. Malik Turki, a commander with the armed group known as Free Syrian Army, said when reached by telephone in Turkey that he had received dozens of calls from Syrians asking him to supply them with weapons after the events of Friday night. He accused the authorities of pushing the country toward civil war and the international community of failing to stop government assaults.
“The Syrian citizens will do anything to get what is needed for their defense as the international community is giving this regime one chance after the other,” he said.


Fordham reported from Damascus. Staff writer Joby Warrick in Washington contributed to this report.

Text of proposed UN Security Council resolution on Syria vetoed by Russia, China

UNITED NATIONS — Text of the proposed U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria that was vetoed Saturday by Russia and China:
List of Co-Sponsors: Morocco, France, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Portugal, Colombia, Togo, Libya, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey.
The Security Council,
Recalling its presidential statement of 3 August 2011,
Recalling General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176 of 19 December 2011, as well as Human Rights Council resolutions S/16-1, S/17-1 and S/18-1,
Noting the League of Arab States’ request in its decision of 22 January 2012,
Expressing grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and profound concern at the death of thousands of people and calling for an immediate end to all violence,
Welcoming the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011 and its subsequent decisions, including its decision of 22 January 2012, which aims to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis,
Noting the deployment of the League of Arab States’ observer mission, commending its efforts, regretting that, due to the escalation in violence, the observer mission was not in a position to monitor the full implementation of the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011, and noting the subsequent decision of the League of Arab states to suspend the mission,
Underscoring the importance of ensuring the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in safety and with dignity,
Mindful that stability in Syria is key to peace and stability in the region,
Noting the announced commitments by the Syrian authorities to reform, and regretting the lack of progress in implementation,
Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasizing its intention to resolve the current political crisis in Syria peacefully, and noting that nothing in this resolution authorizes measures under Article 42 of the Charter,
Welcoming the engagement of the Secretary-General and all diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing the situation, and noting in this regard the offer of the Russian Federation to host a meeting in Moscow, in consultation with the League of Arab States,
1. Condemns the continued widespread and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities, such as the use of force against civilians, arbitrary executions, killing and persecution of protestors and members of the media, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, interference with access to medical treatment, torture, sexual violence, and ill-treatment, including against children;
2. Demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, protect its population, fully comply with its obligations under applicable international law and fully implement the Human Rights Council resolutions S-16/1, S-17/1, S-18/1 and the General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176;
3. Condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and in this regard demands that all parties in Syria, including armed groups, immediately stop all violence or reprisals, including attacks against State institutions, in accordance with the League of Arab States’ initiative;
4. Recalls that all those responsible for human rights violations, including acts of violence, must be held accountable;
5. Demands that the Syrian government, in accordance with the Plan of Action of the League of Arab States of 2 November 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012, without delay:
(a) cease all violence and protect its population;
(b) release all persons detained arbitrarily due to the recent incidents;
(c) withdraw all Syrian military and armed forces from cities and towns, and return them to their original home barracks;
(d) guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations;
(e) allow full and unhindered access and movement for all relevant League of Arab States’ institutions and Arab and international media in all parts of Syria to determine the truth about the situation on the ground and monitor the incidents taking place; and
(f) allow full and unhindered access to the League of Arab States’ observer mission;
6. Calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process conducted in an environment free from violence, fear, intimidation and extremism, and aimed at effectively addressing the legitimate aspirations and concerns of Syria’s people, without prejudging the outcome;
7. Fully supports in this regard the League of Arab States’ 22 January 2012 decision to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States’ auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States;
8. Encourages the League of Arab States to continue its efforts in cooperation with all Syrian stakeholders;
9. Calls upon the Syrian authorities, in the event of a resumption of the observer mission, to cooperate fully with the League of Arab States’ observer mission, in accordance with the League of Arabs States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011, including through granting full and unhindered access and freedom of movement to the observers, facilitating the entry of technical equipment necessary for the mission, guaranteeing the mission’s right to interview, freely or in private, any individual and guaranteeing also not to punish, harass, or retaliate against, any person who has cooperated with the mission;
10. Stresses the need for all to provide all necessary assistance to the mission in accordance with the League of Arab States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012;
11. Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and with the Commission of Inquiry dispatched by the Human Rights Council, including by granting it full and unimpeded access to the country;
12. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance in order to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to persons in need of assistance;
13. Welcomes the Secretary-General’s efforts to provide support to the League of Arab States, including its observer mission, in promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis;
14. Requests the Secretary General to report on the implementation of this resolution, in consultation with the League of Arab States, within 21 days after its adoption and to report every 30 days thereafter;
15. Decides to review implementation of this resolution within 21 days and, in the event of non-compliance, to consider further measures;
16. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.