According a new Associated Press report a White House official says the US thinks it is "extremely unlikely" Turkey used chemical weapons against Kurds. The comments came late on Saturday following widespread reports which emerged earlier in the day that Turkish forces launched a chemical gas attack on Kurdish militias in the northern Syria village of Aranda on Friday, sending at least six civilians to the hospital.
In response, counter-terrorism expert Max Abrams appropriately quipped concerning the White House's hasty excusal of US ally Turkey as a culprit: sounds scientific, right?
Sounds scientific https://t.co/R9iOkZ9IBa
— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) February 17, 2018
Investigative criteria is as follows: Turkey’s a NATO ally https://t.co/sbW1VD7E8I
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 18, 2018
Clearly, if a long-time US partner in Syria and NATO ally is to blame for a heinous chemical attack it couldn't possibly be true according to the White House version of events. Yet, imagine if this were Assad or Russia being blamed...

As we described previously, multiple local and regional sources including medical personnel operating inside Afrin alleged the attack took place during Turkey's ongoing 'Operation Olive Branch' - which has involved both Turkish soldiers and local jihadist proxies including the Free Syrian Army conducting joint ground attacks against Kurdish YPG forces (Kurdish "People's Protection Units"). Syrian state-run SANA news agency and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) - an opposition monitoring group - also quoted local doctors in their reports.
And as Reuters reported, "the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters that Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies hit the village on Friday with shells. The Britain-based monitor said medical sources in Afrin reported that six people in the attack suffered breathing difficulties and dilated pupils, indicating a suspected gas attack." But predictably, Turkish officials slammed the reports, saying that Turkey has "never used" chemical weapons in Syria, describing this week's accusations that either its military or allied forces had done so as "baseless" and according to one official, "black propaganda".
The AP described the specific delivery method of the alleged gas attack as follows:
SANA on Saturday said Turkey fired several shells containing “toxic substances” on a village in Afrin on Friday night, causing six civilians to suffer suffocation symptoms.
However, more interesting is the White House's "extremely unlikely" comment when questioned about the incident. The AP summarizes the exchange as follows:
A White House official says the United States thinks it is "extremely unlikely" Turkey used chemical weapons against the Kurds.
The official says that they are aware of the reports, but cannot confirm them and called for the protection of civilians.
It should be immediately clear for anyone paying attention to Syria chemical attack allegations going to back to 2013 that the United States has been quick to blame the Syrian government for any and all claimed gas attacks based on the mere words of anti-Assad militant and pro-opposition media groups.
Both Obama and Trump administrations have admitted at various times to relying heavily on opposition produced "open source material" and "social media reports" including unverifiable YouTube videos to accuse Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of launching massive chemical attacks on civilians. Last April, for example, the White House conducted a massive Tomahawk missile strike on Shayrat air base near Homs in response to opposition media reports of a Sarin gas attack on al-Qaeda held (HTS) Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib.
And what was touted as a 4-page "intelligence report" released by the White House cited "open source" videos to make the case that the Syrian government was behind the chemical attack. As investigative journalist Robert Parry observed at the time, "All the Important People who appeared on the TV shows or who were quoted in the mainstream media trusted the images provided by Al Qaeda–related propagandists and ignored documented prior cases in which the Syrian rebels staged chemical weapons incidents to implicate the Assad government."
In the case of Friday's purported chemical attack on the Syrian Kurdish village of Aranda by Turkish forces, there is also plenty of available open source material, including Kurdish media videos and photographs of civilians receiving treatment for a possible gas attack in a local hospital.
While none of this is to suggest that at this point we know exactly what happened at Aranda, the episode does provide yet further confirmation of one increasingly self-evident truth: all chemical attack claims out of Syria are simply fodder for manipulation by the White House and media pundits to serve Washington's geopolitical ends.
The standard Washington logic is as follows: should NATO ally Turkey or US-backed rebels commit chemical attacks or other atrocities, these will be immediately dismissed as "extremely unlikely" - in the White House's own words; while at the same time any American friendly group on the ground such as anti-Assad insurgents will be taken at their word and on the flimsiest of evidence should claims be made that Assad is using gas - no matter how much evidence stacks up against such claims.
And what might Turkish President Erdogan be thinking right now? With not even the pretense of any kind of investigation or UN assembly meeting or diplomatic action called for by the White House, but instead an immediate brushing aside of the allegations as "extremely unlikely" - Erdogan has now been given a blank check to carry out atrocities against Syrian Kurds using any means at his disposal.
Comments
Maybe it was North Korea then.
I always get a good laugh when I hear these word regardless of the situation.
"Oh, they'd never do that."
Programming successfully swallowed whole and undigested.
In reply to Maybe it was North Korea… by Troll Magnet
Turkroaches went full retard and abandoned Attaturk's system that kept them mostly civilized. They have thus in a few short years devolved fully back into desert monkeys. Retake Constantinople, and wall off the rest. Let them fight it out among themselves. If they try to seize our nukes in the country before we can get them out--detonate them.
In reply to I always get a good laugh… by Cognitive Dissonance
I'm with you on reclaiming the Byzantine capital.
In reply to Turkroaches went full retard… by tmosley
Wait until the Turks slaughter US/CIA assholes over there illegally invading Syria.
Not much support for NATO ally then.
In reply to I'm with you on reclaiming… by Ecclesia Militans
Reclaim the Byzantine capital for what?
Western style corruption, lying murder and theft?
In reply to I'm with you on reclaiming… by Ecclesia Militans
Rape and pillage, making it capitalist society where the millionaires own all the industries and run the Gov't.
In reply to … by BennyBoy
Or the Russians.
In reply to Maybe it was North Korea… by Troll Magnet
russian trolls did it ;)
In reply to Maybe it was North Korea… by Troll Magnet
Erdogan had no choice but to go rogue after Obozo abdicated any semblance of commitment to the region. Fuck, look at the map. The guy has varsity problems on every border, you think he's gonna wait for the blue hats to solve his problems? I wouldn't.
In reply to Maybe it was North Korea… by Troll Magnet
probably the kurds gazed themselves to death ... the burden of proof is upon them to prove whyte house they did not do it.
Send in the White Helmets. They'll soon get to the truth of the matter.
In reply to probably the kurds gazed… by Pandelis
Max Blumenthal...lol.
Always eager to finger everyone but Isra...
In reply to Max Blumenthal...lol. by nmewn
I think he was accusing the Turks?
In reply to Always eager to finger… by Troll Magnet
Whats with the obsession with gas?
Is it the Jewish media drilling the holohoax into our minds for the past 75 years?
Do they think that thats our red line or something?
Oh and what's the difference between a cow and a holocaust?
-You can only milk a cow for about 5 years.
It's intricately intertwined with our rationalizations and justification for state sanctioned murder of others. Gas is indiscriminate and wide ranging. The myth of war is civilian casualties are not intended and avoidable. Gas kills everyone it comes in contact with, including 'innocent' civilians. Plus it's gruesome and a horrible death, as if blowing someone up into a thousands pieces or shooting bullets into someone that are designed to rip and tear flesh isn't.
And when the state is killing the 'conditioned' troops on the other side, we only kill enough of them to get them to finally understand how righteous we are and how wrongeous they are. Then we stop. Sometimes. Unless the MIC says to continue.
The list of 'war' myths would fill 100 pages of single space text. But we are comforted by them because it allows us to ignore the death and destruction 'we' rain down upon everyone else.
It's only a problem when the state does it to you and me.
In reply to Whats with the obsession… by 1.21 jigawatts
They hate gas because it's cheap. $200 a pop instead of millions.
There's the difference.
In reply to Whats with the obsession… by Cognitive Dissonance
Hard to hide behind walls and basements. Moar deaths/dollar. No destruction of buildings. Just clear the corpses and move in. baddaboom baddabing in like Flint.
In reply to They hate gas because it's… by shovelhead
One should remember the use of chemical weapons by the ton load against the Vietnamese.
Agent Orange
In reply to Whats with the obsession… by Cognitive Dissonance
+1
Great point.
In reply to One should remember the use… by Ehross
Museums are now installing talking holograms of "Holocaust survivors" so that future generations will be able to hear them droning on about their fairy tales.
In reply to Whats with the obsession… by 1.21 jigawatts
I wonder how much concessions are at a Shoah museum?
If prices are hyperinflated, maybe the goy staff members can stage an uprising with a charismatic leader.
Lol
In reply to Museums are now installing… by Juggernaut x2
They should sell fake chocolate-filled gold fillings. That would be hawt!
In reply to I wonder how much… by Alexander De Large
Judging by the number of claimants being shoah victims, it appears that maybe not so many casualties as they claim?
In reply to Museums are now installing… by Juggernaut x2
Museums are now installing talking holograms
It's also being taught in Israeli grade schools at a very young age to keep it going for generations.
In reply to Museums are now installing… by Juggernaut x2
That joke is good but don't tell it in Germany, Austria or Italy because you will be immediately arrested, prosecuted and jailed. Free speech stops at the word "Holohoax".
In reply to Whats with the obsession… by 1.21 jigawatts
"Oh and what's the difference between a cow and a holocaust?
-You can only milk a cow for about 5 years. "
LOL, another difference is that the cow is real.
In reply to Whats with the obsession… by 1.21 jigawatts
WW3 on the brink. Just a matter of time.
Dinty Moore canned stew was on sale being cleared out of inventory. I stocked up. Gonna be eating a lot of that in the ole bunker.
In reply to WW3 on the brink. Just a… by WIZARD OF OOZER
Blah, blah, blah! Non-lethal chemical gas attack means tear gas. Thank God the fascist police in America don't use non-lethal chemical gas attacks on innocent civilians!
Didn't Clinton use that in Waco?
In reply to Blah, blah, blah! Non-lethal… by Koba the Dread
It's okay, they are the exceptional people and can do no rong.
The international laws are to be obeyed by everyone else. Does not applicable to murica.
In reply to Didn't Clinton use that in… by PrivetHedge
+1
Another great point. You want to talk about a 'war crime'... And look at how that whole fiasco was spun, wrapped up and forgotten. Site mowed over in short order - just like OK city. And guess from whom they learned those tactics...?
In reply to Didn't Clinton use that in… by PrivetHedge
SOHR and White Helmets... can't ever be wrong, 'cuz they're see-eye-aye assets
ZeroHedge doubting our president and hating America again.
The Turks are NATO allies, and are completely blameless. Scientific studies have overwhelmingly shown that when NATO members do anything besides teach kids how to garden, or help domestic spy agencies give poor Black people AIDS, it is because:
LOL, most people missed the sarcasm though ;)
In reply to ZeroHedge doubting our… by Alexander De Large
The tragedy of this comment is that others believe it to the point of downvoting it.
In reply to ZeroHedge doubting our… by Alexander De Large
Holy Shit - stop the music...!!!
I think an MDB award is in order...
9.5, 9.5, 9.1, 9.5, 9.5
In reply to ZeroHedge doubting our… by Alexander De Large
I am from Turkey. Turkish army does not have any either chemical weapon or nuclear weapon. YPG is a terrorist group Turkish army could clean from terrorist in one day but they are using civilians as an shield. Thats why operations lasting more.
They are firing rockets from Afrin http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/teenager-killed-as-rockets-fired-from-…
A week ago a villager in Afrin reported cars arriving with al nusra and 20 cylinders of chlorine gas and the white helmets rehearsing pretending to save people.
That could be what happened here.
In reply to I am from Turkey. Turkish… by mehmet mahmudoglu
Armenian...er...Kurdish genocide.
In reply to A week ago a villager in… by keep the basta…
Thus far we have 6 people with "breathing difficulties". I would expect a NATO army to be rather better equipped than some shoddy third-world middle-eastern backwater like Syria. Even Saddam Hussein managed to kill thousands of Kurds with his gas attack, and he was a mad idiot, according to the propaganda. Therefore, I don't think that Turkey is using gas, purely because there aren't thousands of casualties. It's supposed to be a weapon of mass destruction, not a weapon of mild annoyance to a select few.
Has he? Really? A tad over-emotive, don't you think, Tyler?
In reply to Armenian...er...Kurdish… by Arnold
merican neocons should be gassed at home
Antisemite!!!!
In reply to merican neocons should be… by Omega_Man
Neo-cohens.
In reply to merican neocons should be… by Omega_Man
Poison gas is the latest false flag flavor.
The Turks helped set up fake chemical attacks in Syria....but they get off scot free! Meanwhile, NATO jumps at anything to pin the blame on Syria for chemical attacks.
NATO are dirty little rats.
The people behind the "gas" attack are most likely the "Israelis" as they have the most/greatest need , for killing Syrians/Iranians and Turks than anyone in the reagion...
And as Reuters reported,.....total bullshit ....
Pagination