Syrian Kurdish leader says Assad not to blame for attack

[Catherina]

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]

1. Precisely

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]

5. sadly

you are probably correct

[denverbill]

10. You neglected Al Quaida.

A group which has absolutely no problem killing civilians if they think it helps their cause.

[Scootaloo]

27. Exactly this

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]

2. You know what's truly sad..and I mean really sad. Some will say it's my fault but when I first heard

....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]

34. Not so sure, TBH.....Assad himself, sadly is a puppet of TPTB....as was his father. nt

[totodeinhere]

3. It's hard to know who to believe but it's worth noting that the Kurds have

been some of Assad's strongest supporters.

[HooptieWagon]

4. There is certainly motivation for the rebels to use CWs.

I doubt the culprit will be known with certainty. And neither side is our "friend"....there is no "win" in US involvement.

[pscot]

6. I no longer believe anything that anyone

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]

7. This is a wing of the PKK, a terrorist org, so they're just as big of a liar

as anyone else on either side.

[former9thward]

9. Ohhhh, terrorists everywhere!

If you think they are terrorists then go over there and fight them. I won't hold my breath on that.

[geek tragedy]

11. They were terrorists when the USG supported them against Saddam.

World's full of groups like this.

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. When did guerrilla armies become "terrorist orgs"?

One might even call the PKK an army of national liberation.

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. I'll answer my own question: In the fall of 2001, I reckon.

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]

15. FARC and their rightwing counterparts meet any definition of 'terrorists'

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]

17. FARC, the paramilitaries, and the Colombian state have all probably committed war crimes.

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]

19. FARC targets civilians

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]

22. Funny how something with no popular support can last half a century.

[geek tragedy]

26. Geography, guns, and money.

I guess Santos would have pulled somewhere less than 69% if there were a burgeoning demand for Marxist dictatorship in Colombia

[geek tragedy]

14. When they start murdering civilians instead of having the balls

to engage the armed forces.

[Comrade Grumpy]

18. I believe the US military has killed a lot of civilians. Are they terrorists?

[geek tragedy]

21. is the US military doing so instead of engaging armed forces?

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]

23. If you want to call every guerrilla army a terrorist formation I can't stop you.

I just don't find it very useful.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. I believe the US military calls it "collateral damage." But they're still just as dead.

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. You mean like when the Colombian military killed all those people and dressed them up as FARC?

You remember, the false positives scandal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_positives_scandal

[geek tragedy]

25. Certainly the responsible elements of the Colombian military

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]

8. This was a hoax ("We now accept that email was fabricated and..."), but who was behind it? Shudder.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/article-2311199/Britam-Defence-David-Goulding-Philip-Doughty.html

I hope the administration knows.

[dipsydoodle]

16. That was from April this year.

Unassociated with the OP.

[proverbialwisdom]

33. Considering the speculation reported in the OP, the origin of the recent hoax is germane, IMO.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/article-2311199/Britam-Defence-David-Goulding-Philip-Doughty.html

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]

28. ‘IDF intercepted Syrian regime chatter on chemical attack’

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 IDF’s 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 Assad’s regime was responsible for the use of nonconventional weapons.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-intercepted-syrian-regime-chatter-on-chemical-attack/

[Comrade Grumpy]

29. A "German report, which cited an ex-Mossad official who insisted on remaining anonymous."

Well, that seals it.

A first-hand account from a disinterested party who identifies himself so his credibility can be assessed. Or not.

[democrat2thecore]

30. Well then, Israel, hate to be blunt but: FIGHT YOUR OWN DAMN WARS! -nt

[branford]

32. Wow. You do know that Israel thinks no better of the rebels than they do of Assad.

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.

[dkf]

31. Ex-Mossad. Sigh.

[kelliekat44]

35. Yeah, we should believe an IDF report because we want to. nt