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Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
The OPCW's report vs. the New York Times coverage of the Douma |
2020-02-07 |
Whenever WikiLeaks publishes suppressed information about some geopolitical event, it's useful to go back and look at how our media covered the same event. It's a good way to learn how our media create new "truths", especially when it comes to war. This WL release from October last year proved as educational as any: "Engineering Assessment of Two Cylinders Observed at the Douma incident - Executive Summary": https://wikileaks.org/opcw-douma/document/20190227-Engineering-assessment-of-two-cylinders-observed-at-the-Douma-incident/   Here's how the New York Times covered the same event: NYT on April 24 2018: "Our investigation found that the Syrian government dropped a chlorine bomb" NYT on April 25 2018: "Douma Chemical Attack: How Assad Gassed his own people" https://web.archive.org/web/20190302114708/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/24/world/middleeast/douma-syria-chemical-attack-augmented-reality-ar-ul.html https://web.archive.org/web/20190618164001/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/25/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-attack-douma.html Originals: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/24/world/middleeast/douma-syria-chemical-attack-augmented-reality-ar-ul.html Video is only available at original url: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/25/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-attack-douma.html   The NYT based their conclusion on a simple premise: If the gas-cylinders were dropped from the sky, Assad is guilty, because no one else had aircraft in the airspace above Douma that day. In their own words:
[where "opposition fighters" is code for "jihadists we like". Otherwise they'd be "terrorists."] The NYT goes on to list three pieces of physical evidence which they claim prove the gas-cylinders were dropped from an aircraft. The 3 pieces of evidence, as listed by the NYT: 1) Indentation near the nose of the bomb 2) Lattice imprint on the bomb 3) Bomb's rigging found in the debris   As it turns out, the OPCW report directly addresses all 3 items. Here's what the OPCW report says regarding each claim: NYT claim #1: indentation near the nose [is evidence that the bomb was dropped from an aircraft] OPCW findings:
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Ie. simulations showed that a cylinder of that weight would have crashed through the concrete slab, which it didn't. The OPCW concluded that:
  NYT Claim #2: Lattice imprint on the bomb is evidence that the bomb was dropped from an aircraft. OPCW findings:
The damage on the cylinder's nose "was caused by an impact under an angle of 20 deg," meaning the cylinder fell almost vertically. However, the "criss-cross" pattern was made by a horizontal impact, which means it was not formed at the impact site. Â Â NYT claim #3: Bomb's rigging found in the debris is evidence that the bomb was dropped from an aircraft. OPCW findings:
The OPCW overall conclusion [pg 8]:
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Which directly contradicts the NYT. Thank you WikiLeaks, for once again exposing the deceptive practices of our "most respected" names in news. Â Â The findings above are all related to the gas-cylinder found on the upper floor balcony. There was a 2nd gas-cylinder, found in a bedroom. The NYT makes no claims regarding this 2nd cylinder. I suppose we'll never know why they ignored it. We can only speculate that it was because the OPCW found
Comically, sketches on page 13 of the OPCW report show that the bomb's tail fins were wider than the hole in the ceiling. I recommend reading the OPCW report in full. It lists many other findings that don't align with the pre-cooked version our media have hammered home since 2018. Commentary: The NYT's coverage of Douma makes it clear the Judith Miller hoax was not a one-off event. It happened by design, and today there are other Judith Millers in place, ready to inject pro-war bullshit into our news-stream at the bidding of their security-state handlers. This is how our media is meant to work, and we can be sure the new Judith Millers will re-activate whenever a "crisis initiation" campaign gets under way. |
Posted by:Herb McCoy |
#4 I was tired and disorganized last night — Thursdays are full of running around on my own errands and those of the family — I didn’t even do my own articles, never mind dealing with formatting. I got a few articles up this morning, but I had plenty of reason today to be glad that others covered my usual territory. As can be seen I didn’t get to the bottom articles until this evening... but I did make time today for an unexpected tooth extraction. Yay. |
Posted by: trailing wife 2020-02-07 23:19 |
#3 What she is attempting to tell you is your post looks like a POS. Please clean them up before final posting. |
Posted by: Besoeker 2020-02-07 21:50 |
#2 Oooh. You pissed off TW? |
Posted by: Frank G 2020-02-07 21:39 |
#1 Herb, this is what your article looks like with the p, /p formatting you sometimes insist on using instead of using the return button to add a blank line between unformatted paragraphs the way you do otherwise. |
Posted by: trailing wife 2020-02-07 21:03 |