Needing A New Enemy: Western Nations Hoping to Bomb Syria

 Recently declassified C.I.A documents show the  U.S. government discovered that Iraq was using chemical weapons in its war with Iran, a war which the Americans encouraged Saddam Hussein to start in the hopes of exploiting the ongoing political turmoil  roiling Iran following the Islamic Revolution.  

Not only did the American government know of these weapons deployed against Iranian troops it would seem that they also helped to cover it up.

In 1988, during the waning days of Iraq's war with Iran, the United States learned through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that Hussein's military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a lethal nerve agent.The intelligence included imagery and maps about Iranian troop movements, as well as the locations of Iranian logistics facilities and details about Iranian air defenses. The Iraqis used mustard gas and sarin prior to four major offensives in early 1988 that relied on U.S. satellite imagery, maps, and other intelligence. These attacks helped to tilt the war in Iraq's favor and bring Iran to the negotiating table, and they ensured that the Reagan administration's long-standing policy of securing an Iraqi victory would succeed. But they were also the last in a series of chemical strikes stretching back several years that the Reagan administration knew about and didn't disclose.

On March 16 1988 Iraqi military forces launched against the Kurdish village of  Halabja killing somewhere between 3,200 and 5,000 people most innocent civilians.

The five-hour attack began early in the evening of March 16, 1988, following a series of indiscriminate conventional (rocket and napalm) attacks, when Iraqi MiG and Mirage aircraft began dropping chemical bombs on Halabja's residential areas, far from the besieged Iraqi army base on the outskirts of the town. According to regional Kurdish rebel commanders, Iraqi aircraft conducted up to 14 bombings in sorties of seven to eight planes each; helicopters coordinating the operation were also seen. Eyewitnesses told of clouds of smoke billowing upward "white, black and then yellow"', rising as a column about 150 feet (46 m) in the air
Survivors said the gas at first smelled of sweet apples;^[9] they said people died in a number of ways, suggesting a combination of toxic chemicals (some of the victims "just dropped dead" while others "died of laughing"; while still others took a few minutes to die, first "burning and blistering" or coughing up green vomit).^[10] It is believed that Iraqi forces used multiplechemical agents during the attack, including mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX;^[3] some sources have also pointed to the blood agent hydrogen cyanide (most of the wounded taken to hospitals in the Iranian capital Tehran were suffering from mustard gas exposure)

With clear evidence that the Iraqi armed forces had carried out the attack neither the Iraqi military or Saddam Hussein suffered any consequences for having used chemical weapons against a civilian population which is a clear violation of international law.


Today the drums of war are beating as Western governments prepare to  launch a military strike against Syria for a chemical weapons attack that took place more than a week ago.  

Why the sudden outrage over these attacks?  Is there some difference between the attacks carried out by Iraq in the 1980's and today?   Let's face it the second Gulf War was fought in an attempt to gain control of Iraq's oil reserves by major western oil companies while Syria has no natural resources whirt stealing.  Perhaps the Pentagon wants to show off its new toys in a revival of Shock and Awe.

American forces are "ready" to launch strikes on Syria if President Barack Obama chooses to order an attack, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel says.
"We have moved assets in place to be able to fulfil and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take," Mr Hagel told the BBC.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said there is "undeniable" proof that Syria used chemical weapons.
The UK Parliament is to be recalled on Thursday to discuss possible responses.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who has cut short his holiday and returned to London, said MPs would vote on a "clear motion" on the crisis.
Syrian opposition sources have said they have been told to expect a Western intervention in the conflict imminently.

Assaf AboudBBC Arabic, Damascus

A good number of Syrians, in particular those supporting the regime, believe the visit of the UN chemical weapons investigation team is nothing but a move to justify a military attack on Syria. The opposition, however, thinks that these visits will lead to some evidence being unearthed, proving that chemical weapons have been used against civilians by the Syrian regime.

Above all, fear and discomfort are palpable among those living in the capital. People are haunted by the possibility of a Western military strike on Syria, discussion of which is dominating the headlines of satellite channels.

"I don't want Syria to become another Iraq... Enough bloodshed," cried one Syrian woman.

"We, and thousands like us across Syria, will face any country that tries to attack us," threatened a young man, pointing at his weapon, which he uses to protect his neighbourhood. "These are Syria's problems and it is up to us, Syrians, to solve them."