Syrian Kurdish leader says Assad not to blame for attack
Source: Reuters
By Alexandra Hudson
BERLIN | Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:10pm EDT
(Reuters) - ...
Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said he doubted the Syrian president would resort to using such weapons when he felt he had the upper hand in the country's civil war.
He suggested last Wednesday's attack, which the opposition says was carried out by government forces and killed hundreds of people, was aimed at framing Assad and provoking an international reaction. Assad has denied his forces used chemical weapons.
...
Muslim suggested "some other sides who want to blame the Syrian regime, who want to show them as guilty and then see action" lay behind the chemical attack, which has led to speculation that Western countries will order a military response.
He said that if the U.N. inspectors found evidence Assad was not behind the gassing and the rebels were, "everybody would forget it".
"Who is the side who would be punished? Are they are going to punish the Emir of Qatar or the King of Saudi Arabia, or Mr. Erdogan of Turkey?" Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have all strongly condemned Assad and backed the rebels.
...
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/26/us-syria-crisis-kurds-idUSBRE97P0Q520130826?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
The PYD is the country's largest Kurdish group. According to the article, it has "well-armed and effective militias" and "has clashed with Assad's forces as well as rebels, but has allowed both to move through its territories during the war."
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)Assad has nothing to gain and everything to lose by using chemical weapons. The more likely culprits are Mossad, CIA, MI6, Saudis or some combination of the above. They have the motive and the need because they are on the losing side.
questionseverything
(9,654 posts)you are probably correct
denverbill
(11,489 posts)A group which has absolutely no problem killing civilians if they think it helps their cause.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)You don't need to leave hte borders of Syria to find groups that would benefit from a chemical weapon attack, even if Assad would not. Essentially every single insurgent group would utilize it as a spectacular PR coup... and most have not shown particular concern for civilian lives.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)....about the chemical weapons, the FIRST thing I thought of was: "Well, I suppose the One percent want to start a war and made sure Assad would be blamed for it"
You know..That's fucking Sick ! ...but that's what all this 14 years of war crap has done to me.
And worse, I've let it...
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)been some of Assad's strongest supporters.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)I doubt the culprit will be known with certainty. And neither side is our "friend"....there is no "win" in US involvement.
pscot
(21,024 posts)from the Middle East says about what's happening there. Or anyone who isn't from the Middle East either. Andrea Mitchell said this morning that we're preparing to intervene in some fashion. I sincerely hope we just send a sternly worded diplomatic note. There's nothing there for us but tears and trouble.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)as anyone else on either side.
former9thward
(32,006 posts)If you think they are terrorists then go over there and fight them. I won't hold my breath on that.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)World's full of groups like this.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)One might even call the PKK an army of national liberation.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)As was the case with the Colombian FARC, the world's longest-lived guerrilla army. They were rhetorically transformed into "narcoterrorists" then. That was convenient.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)That, and the whole taking of children as hostages and recruiting of children to be cannon fodder for their fight. Attacks against indigenous communities who resisted their efforts, kidnappings,
Oh, and their strategic alliance with the cartels . . .
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)They are all belligerents in an ongoing civil war. That doesn't make them "terrorists." Unless you're willing to apply that sobriquet to any armed force that kills innocent people or does other nasty things.
Personally, I think the term "terrorist" and its derivatives ought to be stricken from any serious discourse. Those are polemical terms, terms of propaganda.
I'm a freedom fighter.
He's a rebel.
You're a terrorist.
We already have terms for people who attack civilians: war criminal, or just plain criminal.
And how does a "strategic alliance with the cartels" (debatable as that is) make someone a "terrorist"? Or is this just more the kitchen sink "I don't like 'em" approach?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)It's not a civil war, it's an insurgency. How much popular support is there in Colombia to install a Marxist dictatorship?
Zilch.
This isn't a war that divides the country. It's a bunch of hyper-violent politcal extremists on both ends of the spectrum duking it out with the people caught in the middle.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)I guess Santos would have pulled somewhere less than 69% if there were a burgeoning demand for Marxist dictatorship in Colombia
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)to engage the armed forces.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)If one wants to reject labeling the PKK and FARC as terrorists, one has to do the same for the KKK in its heyday and AQ as it's been constituted for the past 20 years.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)I just don't find it very useful.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)You remember, the false positives scandal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_positives_scandal
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)and their associates in the ELN would qualify as terrorists.
Part of the challenge for Latin American countries has been trying to maintain a distinction between their militaries and rightwing terrorist militias and narco gangs. The results have not been very good, with the difference being one on paper.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)I hope the administration knows.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Unassociated with the OP.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)PUBLISHED: 12:59 EST, 18 April 2013 | UPDATED: 12:59 EST, 18 April 2013
An article on 29 January reported... (HOAX)
<>
We now accept that email was fabricated and acknowledge there is no truth in any suggestion that Britam or its directors were willing to consider taking part in such a plot, which may have led to an atrocity.
We apologise to each of them and have agreed to pay substantial damages.
Mosby
(16,311 posts)An IDF intelligence unit listened in on senior Syrian officials discussing a chemical attack that allegedly took place on the outskirts of Damascus and left hundreds of Syrian civilians dead last Wednesday, a major German publication reported.
According to the report Saturday in Focus magazine, a squad specializing in wire-tapping within the IDFs prestigious 8200 intelligence unit intercepted a conversation between high-ranking regime officials regarding the use of chemical agents at the time of the attack. The German report, which cited an ex-Mossad official who insisted on remaining anonymous, said the intercepted conversation proved that Bashar Assads regime was responsible for the use of nonconventional weapons.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-intercepted-syrian-regime-chatter-on-chemical-attack/
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Well, that seals it.
A first-hand account from a disinterested party who identifies himself so his credibility can be assessed. Or not.
democrat2thecore
(3,572 posts)branford
(4,462 posts)However, it is undisputed that their intelligence network and gathering capabilities in the region are excellent.
If the story is true, I suspect that it would be just one piece in a larger intelligence picture that would justify an attack (which I personally do not believe is prudent at this time).
But by all means, blame Israel because they are obviously the reason for a viscous civil war in Syria that reflects wider Muslim sectarian divisions, and/or forced Assad (and/or the rebels) into using chemical weapons against other Syrians. /sarc.