Michel Chossudovsky: The Staging of a US NATO Sponsored Disaster?

The Western media suggests, in chorus and without evidence, that a frustrated and desperate president Bashar al Assad is planning to use deadly chemical weapons against his own people. Last week, US officials revealed to NBC News that "Syria's military has loaded nerve gas chemicals into bombs and are awaiting final orders from al Assad". Western governments are now accusing Syria of planning a diabolical scheme on the orders of the Syrian head of State. Meanwhile, the media hype has gone into full gear. Fake reports on Syria's WMD are funneled into the news chain, reminiscent of the months leading up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. The evolving media consensus is that "the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al Assad appears to be entering its twilight" and that the "international community" has a responsibility to come to the rescue of the Syrian people to prevent the occurrence of a humanitarian disaster. "Fears are growing in the West, that Syria will unleash chemical weapons in a last ditch act of desperation". Recent reports that the embattled government of Syria has begun preparations for the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people. After two years of civil war, and more than 40,000 deaths, events in Syria may be heading to a bloody crescendo. The antiwar critics have largely underscored the similarities with the Iraq WMD ploy, which consisted in accusing the government of Saddam Hussein of possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction. The alleged WMD threat was then used as a justification to invade Iraq in March 2003. The WMD Iraq ploy was subsequently acknowledged in the wake of the invasion as an outright fabrication, with president George W Bush, and Prime Minister Tony Blair actually recognizing that it was a big mistake. In a recent statement, Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for "lying" Blair and Bush to face trial in the Hague's International Criminal Court. The Syria WMD saga is in marked contrast to that of Iraq. The objective is not to justify an all out humanitarian war on Syria, using chemical weapons as a pretext. An examination of allied planning, as well as the nature of US NATO support to the opposition forces, suggests a different course of action to that adopted in relation to Iraq and Libya. The purpose is indeed to demonize Bashar Al Assad, but the objective at this stage is not the conduct of an all out "shock and awe" war on Syria, involving a full fledged air campaign. Such an action would, under present conditions, be a highly risky undertaking. Syria has advanced air defense capabilities, equipped with Russian Iskander missiles, as well as significant ground forces. A Western military operation could also lead to a response from Russia, which has a naval base at the port city of Tartus in Southern Syria. Moreover, Iranian forces from its revolutionary guards corps are present on the ground in Syria. Russian military advisers are involved in the training of the Syrian military!