Stephen Lendman: Fabricated Intelligence and the WMD Pretext:

Obama heads closer to war on Syria: A previous article discussed spurious allegations of Syrian chemical weapons use. Obama calls using them a game changer. He also said that their use crosses a red line. Syrian officials categorically deny using them. According to Information Minister Omran al Zoabi: Even if Syria does have chemical weapons, our leadership and our military will not use them either against Syrians or against Israelis, above all for moral reasons, and secondarily on legal and political grounds. On April 24, The New York Times headlined US Says it Suspects Assad Used Chemical Weapons, saying: American intelligence agencies now assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons, but it said it needed conclusive proof, before President Obama would take action. On April 25, the White House Office of Legislative Affairs director Miguel Rodriguez addressed Syria. His letter to Senator John McCain, (R. AZ) and Carl Levin (D. MI) said: At the president's direction, the United States government has been closely monitoring the potential use of chemical weapons within Syria. We have kept the relevant committees of Congress fully informed of our assessment on this issue, consistent with our statutory obligations. Our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin. This assessment is based in par on physiological samples. Our standard of evidence must build on these intelligence assessments, as we seek to establish credible and corroborated facts. For example, the chain of custody is not clear, so we cannot confirm how the exposure occurred, and under what conditions. We do not believe that any use of chemical weapons in Syria, would very likely have originated with the Assad regime. Thus far, we believe that the Assad regime maintains custody of these weapons, and has demonstrated a willingness to escalate its horrific use of violence against the Syrian people. Because of our concern about the detiriorating situation in Syria, the president has made it clear that the use of chemical weapons, or transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups, is a red line for the United States of America. Given the stakes involved, and what we have learned from our own recent experience, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient, only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision making. In the interim, the administration is prepared for all contingencies, so that we can respond appropriately to any confirmed use of  chemical weapons, consistent with our national interests.