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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Deja Vu all over again.

The Obama Administration has already begun to intervene in the Syrian Civil War with weapons and with advisors to train the Syrians in their use. The announcement that the Syrian Government's use of chemical warfare agents provides the basis and justification for this intervention. But "[t]he evidence is secret and we have to take it on faith…" -- (Colum Lynch Washington Post U.N. reporter).

Sound familiar? The chain of custody does not have any transparency. From the Washington Post story:  "Western governments have relied on physical evidence smuggled out of the country by rebels or intelligence operatives. Precisely who acquired the evidence and what methods were used to guard against tampering may be unknowable. If you are the opposition and you hear that the White House has drawn a red line on the use of nerve agents, then you have an interest in giving the impression that some chemical weapons have been used."

Rachel Maddow begins her show's report on this question with a description of Spanish police arresting a group of men Al-Qaeda recruited to fight in Syria. The U.S., once again, finds itself fighting on the same side as Al-Qaeda (The Mujahadeen in Afghanistan in the 1980s evolved into the Taliban and the foreign fighters there evolved into Al-Qaeda. Remember that Osama Bin Laden received his training from the C.I.A. as a matter of public record).

Really? We're doing this again!? How did U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East turn into Lucy, Charlie Brown and the football?

In this segment Rachel Maddow interviews Lynch about the questionable evidence and the already growing U.S. intervention in the Syrian Civil War. As Lynch finishes his explanation of how we may never see a "smoking gun" proving Syrian government's use of chemical weapons, Maddow adds:

Even while recognizing that people's inability to trust assertions from western governments on things like this without actually seeing it proven is an earned distrust because of our history.


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Also, John Stewart's substitute host on the daily show, John Oliver, interviews Fareed Zakaria, during which we hear a far more cogent and informative analysis of the situation in Syria than you could ever hear on the "serious" news shows.



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