Chemical weapon used on civilians in Syria + Airstrikes

5 days on and Syria and Russia are still preventing the OPCW from visiting the sites in Douma.

I think that rather undermines the case of anyone saying they should have waited for test results.

CBS News found a yellow gas canister on the roof of a building allegedly targeted in Douma

Another one .

Seems this thread first stop for the newly registered lately

I have absolutely no idea why some people question the impartiality of the White Helmets who have "no affiliation with any political or military actor".

The White Helmets receives charitable funding from the United States, the United Kingdom, and other western governments. Initially the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office was the largest single source of funding through Mayday Rescue Foundation. As of 2016, SCD state they are also partly funded through Chemonics, a U.S. based private international development company. Funders now include the Canadian government Peace and Stabilization Operations Program, the Danish government, the German government, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). USAID have contributed at least $23 million from 2013 to March 2016. The British government had provided £15 million of funding between 2012 and November 2015,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Helmets_(Syrian_Civil_War)#Partnerships_and_funding

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

I have absolutely no idea why some people question the impartiality of the White Helmets who have "no affiliation with any political or military actor".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Helmets_(Syrian_Civil_War)#Partnerships_and_funding

So governments fund them as they render humanitarian aid where no one else can. What is your point, if you have one?

Shurimgreat wrote: »

Lol. Sure you aren't. Interesting your first post on boards.ie sounds like Russian propaganda.

Who said it was my first post on boards ? NEW account does not mean first post . God forbid I have an interest in what could be one of the biggest international incidents in my lifetime to date .
Where should I have posted first may I ask ?


@ Cnocbui , Being a newbie again I can not post links so you should have a look at the US State dept press briefing on the 27/4/2016 . Mark Toner is the one who mentions links to extremist groups ...
Their cinematographer was also refused entry so you can see why people might be sceptical ?

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

I have absolutely no idea why some people question the impartiality of the White Helmets who have "no affiliation with any political or military actor".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Helmets_(Syrian_Civil_War)#Partnerships_and_funding

anybody who still believes the white helmets are impartial do-gooders is a fool

Annd9 wrote: »

Who said it was my first post on boards ? NEW account does not mean first post . God forbid I have an interest in what could be one of the biggest international incidents in my lifetime to date .
Where should I have posted first may I ask ?


@ Cnocbui , Being a newbie again I can not post links so you should have a look at the US State dept press briefing on the 27/4/2016 . Mark Toner is the one who mentions links to extremist groups ...
Their cinematographer was also refused entry so you can see why people might be sceptical ?

Actually, Toner made no such reference, he was speaking in generalities to cover the department's embarrassment:

On April 27, 2016, State Department spokesman Mark Toner praised the group in a daily press briefing, claiming it has saved 40,000 lives. Asked why, if the group is so wonderful, ten days earlier their leader Ra'ed Al Saleh had his visa revoked and was sent back to Turkey when he tried to enter the US to receive a humanitarian award, Toner refused to make comments on specific visas but pointed out that if individuals have ties to extremist groups, this doesn't destroy the quality of work of other groups they might belong to. He mentioned that the "White Helmets" have received $US 23 million through USAID.

I suppose I could see how someone who cherry picks their news might have suspicions if they weren't aware of just how many people are commonly refused entry to the US. There are 60 grounds for refusal of entry into the US. Cat Stevens was refused entry to the US. Should the British government suspect him of links to terrorism? Should anyone else?

Rogelio Eager Mink wrote: »

I don't find that either funny, or strange tbh.

From what I'm reading there's a vast tunnel system (both above and below ground) in Douma. It wouldn't surprise me that there are lone wolf snipers operating there.

As for Russian's seemingly relaxed in that environment, troops can be left with a false sense of security and switch off. A video or photo snaps a very brief moment in time, I wouldn't read a whole lot into what I see posted ~ 'believe half or what you see, and none of what you hear'.

Robert Fisk braving death in one of the lone wolf sniper riddled tunnels beneath Douma



You crack me up, really.

Here's one of the buildings that the OPCW team had to be protected from: Warning, the video contains Russian troops ambling about, civillians milling about, bicycles and other equally disturbing material - not for the faint of heart!

Fisk is no more than a Liberal looney lefty looney Liberal

Rogelio Eager Mink wrote: »

One thing I'll say in his favor, and this is coming from someone who is largely pro Israel, pro USA.. If something you're doing is pissing off the Israeli's & the United States then you're probably doing something right!.

So fisk a western can walk around freely but yet the OPCW investigation team cannot seems odd no ?
Nobody seems to taking potshots at the Russian military forces walking around wearing little body armour or plate carrier's

cnocbui wrote: »

Actually, Toner made no such reference, he was speaking in generalities to cover the department's embarrassment:



I suppose I could see how someone who cherry picks their news might have suspicions if they weren't aware of just how many people are commonly refused entry to the US. There are 60 grounds for refusal of entry into the US. Cat Stevens was refused entry to the US. Should the British government suspect him of links to terrorism? Should anyone else?

Toner is clearly referring to that individual .
Journo : How can you separate the leader of the group from the group ?
Toner : I'm not commenting on his specific case , however, any individual thought to have links to extremist groups or deemed a security risk shall be dealt with accordingly.

Nobody ever asked a question about links to Extremists so why the need to say that ? His main message was not to blame the whole group for one individuals actions, again ,why the need to say that ?
What must he have done for it to reflect so badly on the group?

And like most sane people , yes I do cherry pick my news so I can hear different viewpoints and come to a logical and realistic conclusion on whatever subject that may be .

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

cnocbui wrote: »

So governments fund them as they render humanitarian aid where no one else can. What is your point, if you have one?

And why do you think they only go places "where no one else can"?

Fisk is no more than a Liberal looney lefty looney Liberal

This "looney" actually lives in the middle east and is fluent in Arabic unlike some shill "journalists" sitting in London or Washington.

I was joking

Rogelio Eager Mink wrote: »

Oh sorry, not sorry.

Well I don't have day and night to sit here chatting, life to be getting along with and all that ~ you know, that place where you walk away from boards.ie. Where there's no games console to play COD, and mammy isn't bringing you tea and bickies.

And I obviously can't compete with your combat experience which enables you to school us all here, COD PTSD is real bro?.

'Wars hell, and combats a killer'

G'day.

Funnily enough, I am the one who used to provide milk and bikkies to the COD player.

All this militaristic lingo you like throw about for effect, I can't tell you how much it impresses me. :rolleyes:

cnocbui wrote: »

Medical specialists familiar with chemical warfare looked at those same videos and concluded they appeared genuine and consistent with what they would expect from chemical weapons use, you put your opinion ahead of theirs then because you know better?

How about taking in the views of a doctor that was actually on the ground in Douma:

Fisk goes on to identify the doctor by name – Dr. Assim Rahaibani – which is notable given the fact that all early reporting from Douma typically relied on “unnamed doctors” and anonymous opposition sources for early claims of a chlorine gas attack (lately morphed into an unverified “mixed” chlorine-and-sarin attack).

The doctor’s testimony is consistent with that of the well-known Syrian opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which initially reported based on its own pro-rebel sourcing that heavy government bombardment of Douma city resulted in the collapse of homes and underground shelters, causing civilians in hiding to suffocate.

According to SOHR, which has long been a key go-to source for mainstream media over the course of the war, “70 of them [women and children] have suffered suffocation as a result of the demolition of home basements over them due to the heavy and intense shelling.

Fisk details the Syrian doctor’s testimony, who is adamant in his emphasis that civilians were suffocating en masse, and were not gassed:

It was a short walk to Dr Rahaibani. From the door of his subterranean clinic–“Point 200”, it is called, in the weird geology of this partly-underground city–is a corridor leading downhill where he showed me his lowly hospital and the few beds where a small girl was crying as nurses treated a cut above her eye.

“I was with my family in the basement of my home three hundred metres from here on the night but all the doctors know what happened. There was a lot of shelling [by government forces] and aircraft were always over Douma at night–but on this night, there was wind and huge dust clouds began to come into the basements and cellars where people lived. People began to arrive here suffering from hypoxia, oxygen loss. Then someone at the door, a “White Helmet”, shouted “Gas!”, and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other. Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia–not gas poisoning.”