As I said before, any accusation that someone used chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war is going to hard to verify. I'm sure the white coats can verify that chemical weapons were used, but who is responsible for the attack is going to be pretty hard to prove.
And so you have hundreds of people dead, with suggestions that they died in a chemical attack. Syrian rebels claim that the Assad regime did it, and the regime denies it and suggests that any attack came from the rebels. Countries that already sided with the rebels are inclined to believe the rebels, and countries that back Assad are inclined to believe him. How is the rest of the world ever going to figure it out? I doubt it ever will. But people will still see what they want to see.
The pro-Assad side does have one point: It was a pretty senseless attack (with no real military value to anyone), and came on the same day that the Assad regime allowed a U.N. team to arrive in Syria to investigate a prior chemical weapons use allegation. From where I sit, it looks like the Syrian rebels, desperate for international aid and trying very hard to show the world what a monster Assad is, have more of an incentive to wage an attack like this than Assad. If the Syrian government is behind this latest attack, it would be an incredibly stupid move. Then again, it's not exactly unheard of for a political leader under fire (literally or figuratively) to make a stupid move.
And so you have hundreds of people dead, with suggestions that they died in a chemical attack. Syrian rebels claim that the Assad regime did it, and the regime denies it and suggests that any attack came from the rebels. Countries that already sided with the rebels are inclined to believe the rebels, and countries that back Assad are inclined to believe him. How is the rest of the world ever going to figure it out? I doubt it ever will. But people will still see what they want to see.
The pro-Assad side does have one point: It was a pretty senseless attack (with no real military value to anyone), and came on the same day that the Assad regime allowed a U.N. team to arrive in Syria to investigate a prior chemical weapons use allegation. From where I sit, it looks like the Syrian rebels, desperate for international aid and trying very hard to show the world what a monster Assad is, have more of an incentive to wage an attack like this than Assad. If the Syrian government is behind this latest attack, it would be an incredibly stupid move. Then again, it's not exactly unheard of for a political leader under fire (literally or figuratively) to make a stupid move.
