dagblog - Comments for "Statement of Concern The OPCW investigation of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma, Syria"

Oh look, other people are

artappraiser — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 21:32:47 +0000

In reply to Considering how many of her

Oh look, other people are reading too! Here is China, the new colonizer:

Why China Is in Africa - If You Don’t Know, Now You Know | The Daily Show https://t.co/03OyFL8AXg via @YouTube
— Meg Maggio (@megmaggio88) December 21, 2021

Considering how many of her

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 19:50:43 +0000

In reply to Heh. It's almost like she's

Considering how many of her Maté columns I've ripped off/re-tweeted i may be up for copyright infringement.

Heh. It's almost like she's

artappraiser — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 19:11:28 +0000

In reply to Nice to see Gray Zone placed

Heh. It's almost like she's reading Dagblog....

Nice to see Gray Zone placed

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 15:10:06 +0000

In reply to Statement of Concern The OPCW investigation of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma, Syria

Nice to see Gray Zone placed in its proper company with Federalist Faceplant and Gateway Pundit. https://t.co/PlBwcxeBGi
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) December 21, 2021

Whelan was initially part of

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 12:23:00 +0000

In reply to The Counterpunch article you

Whelan was initially part of the OPCW’s Fact Finding Mission (FFM) and contributed to its interim report, which he signed off on after originally expressing concerns. But Whelan then left the OPCW. A full seven months would pass before the investigation was completed, a period in which the OPCW says the bulk of the investigatory work was conducted. That later work was, the OPCW said, highly protected and not something Whelan had access to. Whelan also did not go on site in Douma as he had not received the relevant training to do so, the OPCW has stated.

An independent investigation backed up this version of events and the head of the OPCW described claims made by Whelan and Ian Henderson — another OPCW employee who was not part of the core FFM mission but alleged details had been suppressed in the final report — as “erroneous, uninformed and wrong.”

The head of the OPCW also noted that Whelan had, after leaving the organisation, referred former colleagues to one of the WGSPM briefing notes which posited a “managed massacre” had taken place at Douma. Whelan referred to this article as “very interesting and insightful”.

Despite this, von Sponeck said: “What swayed me, deeply, moved me and made me very upset is when I read the two interim reports, and when I read the fact-finding mission report that omitted reference to the fact that there were disagreements in the team. That made me very worried and [ask] do I need to know more?”

Von Sponeck was unaware that Whelan had agreed, in writing, with the interim report.

Whelan also declined to answer on whether he received money from Wikileaks as a result of his disclosure of OPCW documents when contacted by a BBC Radio documentary earlier this year. He also did not respond to Bellingcat requests for comment on the same subject last year. Wikileaks announced the offer on Twitter after the attack. Von Sponeck was also unaware of this.

Von Sponeck pointed to the fact that several former members of the OPCW had signed as a reason to trust the contents of the statement. Yet all of these individuals had, as far as Bellingcat can tell, left the OPCW by the time it started its investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

More on Berlin21 involvement here.

- https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/05/14/berlin-group-21-ivans-emails-...

Signatories: https://berlingroup21.org/

Lessee, van Sponek noted he knew no details about Douma, was just "concerned". Who else am I not convinced by? Chomsky, Ellsberg, Roger Waters, WikiLeaks (they posted a $100k award for proof against Douma, like duh), Tulsi Gabbard, Ray McGovern, Ted Postol, Oliver Stone, Lawrence Wilkerson. How many of these are "concerned" as well?

José Bustani, Ambassador of Brazil, first Director General of the OPCW and former Ambassador to the United Kingdom and France.

Professor Noam Chomsky, Laureate Professor U. of Arizona and Institute Professor (em), MIT.

Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor, Harper’s Magazine.

Daniel Ellsberg, PERI Distinguished Research Fellow, UMass Amherst. Former Defense and State Department official. Former official of Defense Department (GS-18) and State Department (FSR-1).

Professor Richard Falk, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University.

Tulsi Gabbard, former Presidential candidate and Member of the US House of Representatives (2013-2021)

Professor Dr. Ulrich Gottstein, on behalf of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW-Germany).

Katharine Gun, former GCHQ (UKGOV), whistleblower.

Denis J. Halliday, UN Assistant Secretary-General (1994-98).

Professor Pervez Houdbhoy, Quaid-e-Azam University and ex Pugwash.

Kristinn Hrafnnson, Editor in Chief, Wikileaks.

Dr. Sabine Krüger, Analytical Chemist, Former OPCW Inspector 1997-2009.

Annie Machon, former MI5 Officer, UK Security Services.

Ray McGovern, ex-CIA Presidential Briefer; co-founder, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council (rtd); member, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.

Professor Götz Neuneck, Pugwash Council and German Pugwash Chair.

Dirk van Niekerk, former OPCW Inspection Team Leader, Head of OPCW Special Mission to Iraq

John Pilger, Emmy and Bafta winning journalist and film maker.

Professor Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Antonius Roof, former OPCW Inspection Team Leader and Head Industry Inspections.

Professor John Avery Scales, Professor, Pugwash Council and Danish Pugwash Chair.

Hans von Sponeck, former UN Assistant Secretary General and UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator (Iraq).

Alan Steadman, Chemical Weapons Munitions Specialist, Former OPCW Inspection Team Leader and UNSCOM Inspector.

Jonathan Steele, journalist and author.

Roger Waters, Musician and Activist.

Lord West of Spithead, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff 2002-06.

Oliver Stone, Film Director, Producer and Writer.

Colonel (ret.) Lawrence B. Wilkerson, U.S. Army, Visiting Professor at William and Mary College and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The Counterpunch article you

A Guy Called LULU — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 08:27:40 +0000

In reply to If Roger Waters says so...

The Counterpunch article you promoted is weak IMO. I would argue with much of it but why bother; you have already on multiple occasions dismissed anything and everything coming from that source as not worth considering because of where it was coming from. Your TRTWorld link is surprising if expected to offer evidence that the OPCW is somehow exonerated of malfeasance in the instance of the Douma investigation. TRT World is a Turkish state owned international news channel that is considered to be an arm of the Erdogan administration. The Washington Post, in an editorial, agreed. TRTWorld is not a source I would expect to get reliable news from regarding anything about the Syrian conflict.

You mentioned Waters. Do you dismiss every other signer of the letter too?

If Roger Waters says so...

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 23:53:41 +0000

In reply to Statement of Concern The OPCW investigation of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma, Syria

If Roger Waters says so...

The Syrian regime refuses to cooperate. For more than six months now, the OPCW’s Technical Secretariat has been trying to organize the 25th round of consultations in Damascus, without success. Syria refuses to issue the necessary visas and blocks deployments. The assessment team of the initial declaration has still not been able to visit the site. There is a deliberate attempt by the regime to obstruct. This is unacceptable.
https://onu.delegfrance.org/syria-has-obligations-to-cooperate-it-must-c...
By 7:38 PM on April 7, 2018, civilian witnesses in Douma began to report the all-too-common occurrence of chlorine canisters crashing into yet another Syrian neighborhood and spewing noxious heavy chlorine liquid which evaporated into a toxic gas, as it had before in Aleppo, Sarmin, and hundreds of other incidents throughout the war.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/05/conspiracy-theories-and-tragedy-...
Inspectors had been due to enter Douma on Wednesday - once it was declared safe. But they have delayed their visit to the site of a suspected gas attack after a UN security team was shot at. TRT World's Alaattin Kilic. reports.
https://www.trtworld.com/video/rendezvous/the-war-in-syria-douma-survivo...

Manipulation of Key

A Guy Called LULU — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 23:02:41 +0000

In reply to Statement of Concern The OPCW investigation of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma, Syria

Manipulation of Key Toxicology and Related Information Regarding Alleged Victims between the Original Interim Report and the Final Report Published December 2021