by Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post:
With absolutely no fanfare in either the alternative or mainstream media, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh has released a leaked Pentagon/DIA assessment of the chemical warfare capability of Jobhat al-Nusra/Al-Nusra Front (also known as Al-Qaeda), a fact that Western governments and Western media simply would not admit during their “chemical weapons” propaganda volley against the Syrian government. The document is from June 20, 2013.
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The documents were released in Hersh’s article entitled “When the Intelligence is Inconvenient” and can be found on his Substack page. The entire article can be read in full with a subscription.
A brief excerpt from the article reads:
On Sunday Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Jonathan Karl of ABC’s This Week that he remained “very confident in Ukraine’s ultimate success” in the ongoing war with Russia. He depicted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to escalate its attacks inside Russia as “their decision, not ours.”
Blinken’s wrong-headed confidence and his acceptance of a significant escalation in the Ukraine war defies belief, given the reality on the ground today in the war. But it also could be based on insanely optimistic assessments supplied by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA’s assessments, as I have reported, are now the intelligence of choice inside the White House.
As a journalist who has written about national security matters for many decades, how can I explain a process that is clearly contrary to the best interests of the people of the United States and its leadership?
The Road To Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault On Syria
More importantly than Hersh’s quotes, however, are the quotes from the DIA assessment itself.
The al-Nusrah Front associated sarin production cell is the most advanced sarin plot since al-Qaeda’s pre-9/11 effort. Arrests in Iraq and Turkey have disrupted the cell’s operations; however we assess the intent to produce advanced chemical weapons (CW) remains. Previous IC focus had been almost entirely on Syrian CW stockpiles; now we seen ANF attempting to make its own CW.
. . . . .
To continue with a sarin effort they will need to recruit scientific expertise. Less difficult will be obtaining needed chemicals; Ghani has a chemical facilitation route already.
. . . . .
Al-Nusrah’s relative freedom of operation within Syria leads us to assess the group’s CW aspirations will be difficult to disrupt in the future.
. . . . .
Under the section “Turkey-based Chemical Facilitators:”
The first part of this effort we saw in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. April-May several Turkey and Saudi-based chemical facilitators were attempting to obtain sarin precursors in bulk, tens of kilograms, likely for the anticipated large-scale production effort in Syria. Three of these individuals were detained by the TNIO in late May;
. . . . .
Turkey based Barack is still at large. He attempted to help procurement, and offered to help produce a chemical for the cell. He allegedly has a PhD from an unnamed Western university.
Section IV – “Use of the Baghdad Chemical Market:”
The Baghdad market has supported at least seven CW efforts since 2004
Section V – “Syria-based ANF Links”
Supervising their work was Abd al-Ghani, the Aleppo-based ANF emir for military manufacturing. SIGINT from April-May shows Ghani talking with both Adil and Kifah about sarin production.
. . . . .
The Syria-based part of this effort may have begun as early as late 2012. Abu Muhammad Al-Hamawi, the ANF emir for Hamah, was attempting to obtain phosphorous trichloride, a key sarin precursor, in December, 2012.
Section VII – “Disrupting Future CW Efforts:”
We believe ANF continues to intend to make sarin. What indicator and warnings might we see?
Evidence of restart is most likely through discussion of precursor acquisition, unless ANF is able to obtain needed chemicals within Syria. The IC learned about the sarin cell from SIGINT of the Turkey-Saudi-based chemical facilitators.
You can read the entire assessment at this link
Hersh’s publication of the DIA/Pentagon assessment is just one more nail in the coffin of Western governments claims that only the Syrian government had access to chemical weapons. Indeed, this document shows that intelligence agencies were aware that al-Nusra Front did indeed have not only the intent but the ability to operate a network of chemical weapons production on an international level. Coupled with the fact that the terrorists also had access to sarin and individuals with knowledge of how to produce such a chemical only demonstrates the deceit Western governments were and are willing to engage in for purposes of geopolitics and imperialism.
