Syria

Yeah, but the Kurds also protect a sizable Christian population, so you could always play the Religious Right angle to woo his support.

 

Spreading democracy or spreading misery ?

 

Where are Assad's chemical weapons? Do they exist? Doubtful

 

They do

 

I

If Assad had chemical weapons there is no compelling evidence he used them that I am aware of.

 

Dozens Suffocate in Syria as Government Is Accused of Chemical Attack


OPCW Confirms Chemical Weapons Use in Syria | Arms Control Association

How Syria continued to gas its people as the world looked on

 

Making a wild assumption about to whom you are speaking, I would say it wasn’t on his approved FSB talking points.

 

I think it could happen if they disarmed. Maybe not likely, but it is a possibility. Depends on how much of the ISIS-type contingent is still standing. I don't think Syria has the long history of fighting warlords that Afghanistan has, or the volatile mixture of three angry religious groups that Iraq has. Syria desperately needs outside help--there has been a water shortage for a while now, and the infrastructure is badly damaged. The question is whether or not they would be willing to give up their weapons for that help.

 

I know about the chemical attacks mentioned by VAgr1. There's no evidence Assad had anything to do with them.

 

So you’re thinking someone else controlled and had the chemical weapons?

 

Other entities manufactured chemical weapons that were used to justify attacks by the US/Israel against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Not a single military or geopolitical strategist/analyst that I've cited this year believes that any of the big 3 chemical attacks blamed on Assad were anything but false flag attacks by Al Qaeda/salafis/takfiri jihadis.

Given his foreign policy knowledge I can predict that duggers_dad would agree with me. Given his intelligence I can predict that if ETGator1 (a day trader) would agree Assad was not responsible for the chemical attacks he was blamed for (if he looked at the evidence provided by the blog Moon of Alabama (MoA)).

Here's just one of many MoA articles that debunks the US gov't/MSM account of a chemical attack blamed on Assad. Note how the US response benefitted Islamic State:

"The "Sarin Attack on Khan Sheikhun", which the White House and its Ambassador to the UN blamed on the Syrian government, did not happen - at least not in the way that was claimed. They Syrian government had no motive at all to mount such an attack. It was in the mid of a winning streak. The incident benefited al-Qaeda in Syria which dominates the area in question but was losing on the battle field. In "response" to the claimed attack the U.S. bombed the Syrian military airport Al Syairat. This was the main air base for the Syrian airforce involved in fighting the Islamic State in eastern-Syria. The attack amounted to U.S. air support on request of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The Trump administration initiated these events for domestic purpose. They let Trump to look sufficient belligerent and presidential and dispelled false allegations of association with Russia by the Democrats and the media. To justify the attack the White House released a report written by the National Security Council, not by intelligence services. The report was full of holes and ridiculous assertions."
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/...n-sheikhun-summary-report-by-prof-postol.html

 

Al Qaeda is on our side in Syria

 

Hollywood has nothing on mainstream media

 

Obviously just a cooking mishap …

 

I suppose next you’ll say that Syria wasn’t a leading manufacturer and supplier of captagon, making their GNP by drugging the Middle East and Europe.

 

I remember many years ago I connected in Singapore from Bali on my way to Europe, and when you land they hand out customs forms given it was an international flight. Since I was connecting I didn’t need to use it and brought it home. My friend was reading it and thought it was crazy that it specifically mentioned importing captagon as warranting lashes or death. Neither of us even knew what captagon was. Don’t know if that’s changed, but it they weren’t fans.

 

Irrelevant to the discussion

 

Considering that he was the President of Syria at the time and that the chemical attacks were the work of the Syrian military possibly with a little help from Assad's Russian friends it's reasonable to infer that he was behind the use of the chemical munitions. By the way the use of chemical weapons seems to be an Assad family thing. His father used them back in 1982.
The Hamah Massacre - February 1982 | Sciences Po Mass Violence and Resistance - Research Network
Memories of Violence: Hama 1982 (Chapter 4) - The Rule of Violence