If indeed this is a false flag incident designed to demonize the Syrian government and fast-track a US-led military intervention and regime change in Syria – it wouldn’t be the first time.
The August 16, 2015 attack on a market in the Syrian town of Douma, just outside the capital Damascus, has caused international outrage. Condemnations of the Syrian government have poured in from seemingly all corners of the globe as President Assad and the Syrian military have been declared responsible for the attack, convicted in the court of media opinion.
Interestingly, such declarations have come well before any investigation has been conducted, and without any tangible evidence other than the assertions of the rebel spokespersons and anti-government sources. Indeed, there has been an embarrassing dearth of investigative questions asked as corporate media, who have been far from objective these last four and half years, have rushed to fit the facts to their long-standing narrative of “Assad the Butcher.”
IMAGE from NY Times – The death toll in Douma puts the incident among the deadliest air attacks during more than four years of conflict in Syria. (Credit Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)
This author fully understands that, in asking difficult questions, he will be called an “apologist,” an “Assad propagandist,” or some other such nonsense. Frankly, such name-calling means very little when compared to the suffering of Syrian people, and the untold brutality that will be visited upon them if the western corporate media and warmongers get their way and yet another imperialist so-called intervention is carried out in the name of “humanitarianism.” The goal is to ask the right questions, to cast doubt on the already solidifying propaganda narrative that will undoubtedly be used to justify still more war.
Those who work for peace must be prepared to interrogate the received truths of the media machine, to confront head on that which is uncomfortable, and to do so knowing that their motives are just. The victims of this war, both past and future, deserve nothing less.
Questioning the Douma Narrative
When carefully scrutinizing the documentary evidence of the attack, and comparing that to the claims made throughout western media, some troubling irregularities emerge. Not only do the claims seem to be exaggerated, but when placed within the historical context of this war, they seem to fit into a clear pattern of distortion and misinformation disseminated for political purposes, rather than objective reportage. Indeed, the raw footage taken on the scene goes a long way to contradicting some of the claims made by witnesses and “activists” (an interesting term in itself) often quoted in the media.
First, there is the allegation that more than 100 civilians were killed in an airstrike carried out by the Syrian military. There are certainly plenty of pictures that seem to bolster that claim, with debris scattered everywhere, aid workers carrying victims, and frightened civilians rushing around the destroyed marketplace. However, when one looks at the videos, even those provided by outlets such as The Guardian in the above linked article, one curious thing seems to be missing: bodies.
Indeed, it does seem odd that an airstrike could obliterate a crowded market on a Sunday, killing over a hundred people, and no videos or images would show bodies torn apart by the blast? One would expect to see mangled corpses, limbs scattered on the ground, pools of blood, etc. None of that seems visible.
Compare the Douma videos to those from Gaza on July 30, 2014 during Israel’s vicious war. An Israeli airstrike, which killed 15 people and injured more than 150, also hit a crowded market and caused horrific destruction. And in the videos, one sees bloodied bodies missing limbs, pools of blood on the street, and other gut-wrenching images. Or compare the Douma videos to those of the Christmas 2013 bombing of a crowded Baghdad market. The videos of that attack are gruesome, showing victims with heads partially blown off their bodies, legs attached to bodies by skin alone, lifeless corpses of children and other truly disturbing images…
After viewing my exposé of his erroneous assertion that the neocons are not really Zionists, the alternative media gatekeeper Robbie Martin has hardened his stance, calling my rebuttal ‘reverse Hasbara’ without addressing a single point raised.
Likely at the behest of his sister Abby, he also took a shot at “Holocaust deniers.”
Reverse Hasbara: bombing comment threads of legitimate anti-Israeli government critique with holocaust denial and other discrediting shit
He initially challenged me to a debate on the neocon subject, which I accepted, but he then quickly backed out.
@bmartinez567 i think i’m going to have to bow out of the ‘debate’. this is just getting more than a tad on the weird side for me — Robbie Martin (@FluorescentGrey) August 16, 2015
Like most left-wing gatekeepers, Martin’s impetus appears to be to try to set up narrow parameters for what constitutes “legitimate criticism of Israel”, and then once these barriers have been established, dismissing anything that goes beyond his watered down analysis as off-limits, heretical and “discrediting”.
Their hypocritical use of the pejorative “Holocaust denial” is a testament to the dishonesty of the Martin siblings. While they label anyone who asks legitimate questions about the victors’ interpretation of the Second World War and the Holocaust narrative “deniers,” they concurrently decry the mainstream media’s use of the term “conspiracy theorist” to discredit dissenters and skeptics of government narratives.
Ever since the EPA accidentally dumped 3 million gallons of toxic mine water into the Animas River, Colorado authorities have been keen on reopening the river for public use as soon as possible. The river is a significant source of tourist income in the region, and they don’t want the toxic spill to put a damper on their summer.
Governor John Hickenlooper is one of those authorities, and he’s determined to prove that everything is back to normal. So on Tuesday, after being given the challenge by the Durango Herald, he decided to take a big gulp of river water for the cameras. After 24 hours, he reported that he was still in perfect health.
However, that hardly proves that the river is safe, at least in the long term. Granted, the EPA has tested the water and found that its toxicity has returned to pre-spill levels, but all of this is based on only a few days of water testing, which hardly enough time to draw a proper conclusion. Even the EPA admitted that during a recent public meeting between themselves and the Governor.
Speaking in Durango, Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said a preliminary analysis of water samples taken Friday from Cement Creek – after a plume of mustard-yellow mining wastewater crawled down the river – shows that the water has largely returned to pre-event levels. Concentrations of heavy metals and pH had returned to within normal ranges, confirmed Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
But an official with the EPA asked Hickenlooper to stop making comments about the returning health of the river.
“It doesn’t show where we are at right now,” Shaun McGrath, Region 8 administrator for the EPA, told Hickenlooper, as officials huddled on the grass at Rotary Park. “You have to have a couple of days of data to show that you’re actually back to baseline conditions, and we’re not there yet.”
“That’s nonsense,” Hickenlooper responded, pointing out that businesses that rely on the river to drive operations are closed.
Just one day later, the EPA went so far as to call the water safe for consumption in Durango and La Plata County. Make of that of what you will. It’s probably true that this stretch of the river is now relatively safe, but that’s only temporary. In all likelihood, the toxicity of the whole Animas River will haunt the region for decades.
Law enforcement authorities and mainstream US news media are framing the November 20 Florida State University shooting incident as yet another case of a lone nut who regrettably gained access to a firearm.
Police Chief Michael DeLeo intimated May’s mental disorientation by noting to the press that the intellectually-gifted 31-year old attorney was in a “state of crisis.” “It’s clear Mr. May’s sense of being in place in our community,” DeLeo continued, “was not in a normal status” [sic]. For US journalists such statements, coupled with May’s unusual behavior leading up to the shooting are unambiguous: a sudden onset of mentally illness.
But was May in fact mentally ill? According to Derrick Robinson, President of Freedom From Covert Harassment and Surveillance (FFCHS), the United States has a long history of mind control research and techniques, dating at least to the CIA’s MKULTRA and similar programs begun in the early 1950s.
“Basically their aim [has been] to control a human being without the person being aware of their efforts.” An individual can thus be directed to commit any number of acts, including murder and political assassination. “They use drugs, they use electroshock, they use hypnosis, and ultimately electromagnetic energy. That seemed to be what paid off the most for them.”[2] Robinson, a former US military veteran, also claims to be a victim of such practices.
May’s personal characteristics and behavior indeed fit the profile of many targeted individuals. He was single, changed his occupational status and living arrangements frequently over a short period leading up to the November 20 event (perhaps to avoid continued harassment), and was even in contact with FFCHS members for support as he protested what he perceived as electronic surveillance and harassment on social media.
On Sept. 7, May called police in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to report that someone had installed a camera in his apartment. As the Miami Herald reports, “He told police he could hear voices coming through the walls, and the voices were talking about him. One evening, for instance, he heard the voices commenting on his actions as he applied lotion after a bubble bath.”[3] According to Las Cruces broadcast journalist Laura Thoren, when May “filed the report police told him to ‘switch apartments.’” Aaron Alexis made similar complaints to police in the weeks leading up to his September 16, 2013 assault on the Navy Yard military base.
O Canada! The land of Mounties and beavers and hockey and…hate speech tribunals? Yes, it’s no secret that Canada is no friend of free speech, and as citizens get fined for criticizing police and lawyers get prosecuted for criticizing a government agency, things are only getting worse. Join James in today’s Thought for the Day to find out more.
The original air date of this show was June 7, 2015 hour one. The link to review the information in this interview is here: http://flowofwisdom.com/2015/06/07/ri…
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IMAGE from 
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