a pleasant surprise from the BBC

[Mark Kohut]

We sorta have a nice agreed-upon 'rule' for the Plist.

NP on the subject line so we don't have to waste a moment before we trash
posts like these.

Your milage may vary.

On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 5:18 AM Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de>
wrote:

> Here is the transcript of an interview given by Jonathan Steele (former
> Senior Middle East Correspondent for the Guardian) to the BBC World
> Service
> (with link to the original broadcast):
>
> 'Jonathan Steele: “I was in Brussels last week … I attended a briefing
>   by a whistleblower from the Organisation for the Prohibition of
> Chemical Weapons. He was one of the inspectors who was sent out to Douma
>   in Syria in April last year to check into the allegations by the rebels
>   that Syrian aeroplanes had dropped two canisters of chlorine gas,
> killing up to 43 people. He claims he was in charge of picking up the
> samples in the affected areas, and in neutral areas, to check whether
> there were chlorine derivatives there …
> Paul Henley: And?
> JS: … and he found that there was no difference. So it rather
> suggested there was no chemical gas attack, because in the buildings
> where the people allegedly died there was no extra chlorinated organic
> chemicals than in the normal streets elsewhere. And I put this to the
> OPCW for comment, and they haven’t yet replied. But it rather suggests
> that a lot of this was propaganda…
> PH: Propaganda led by?
> JS: … led by the rebel side to try and bring in American planes,
> which in fact did happen. American, British and French planes bombed
> Damascus a few days after these reports. And actually this is the second
>   whistle blower to come forward. A few months ago there was a leaked
> report by the person who looked into the ballistics, as to whether these
>   cylinders had been dropped by planes, looking at the damage of the
> building and the damage on the side of the cylinders. And he decided,
> concluded, that the higher probability was that these cylinders were
> placed on the ground, rather than from planes.
> PH: This would be a major revelation…
> JS: … it would be a major revelation …
> PH: … given the number of people rubbishing the idea that these could have
> been fake videos at the time.
> JS: Well, these two scientists, I think they’re non-political – they
> wouldn’t have been sent to Douma, if they’d had strong political views,
> by the OPCW. They want to speak to the Conference of the Member States
> in November, next month, and give their views, and be allowed to come
> forward publicly with their concerns. Because they’ve tried to raise
> them internally and been – they say they’ve been – suppressed, their
> views have been suppressed."'
>
>
> https://timhayward.wordpress.com/2019/10/27/major-revelation-from-opcw-whistleblower-jonathan-steele-speaking-to-the-bbc/
>
> --
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>