Obama finally “got it” that his red line and his hawkish posturing left him standing on the brink, alone.  Hollande might jump off the cliff with him, but then again, he might not.  US Ambassadors had fanned out to foreign capitals, but were being rebuffed — no one wanted to join a coalition of hubris. …

Here is the report and it says very little. The report makes the case that a CW attack occurred.  I think by now everyone agrees it occurred.  The issue of import, however, is who did it, not whether it happened. The report also tells us, as if we didn’t already know, that Assad has chemical…

Meryl Nass, MD 45 Beals Ave. Ellsworth, Maine 04605 (H) 207 412-0004 (C) 207 522-5229 EMAIL:  merylnass@gmail.com

From the Associated Press/ Toronto Star: WASHINGTON— The intelligence linking Syrian President Bashar Assad or his inner circle to an alleged chemical weapons attack is no “slam dunk,” with questions remaining about who actually controls some of Syria’s chemical weapons stores and doubts about whether Assad himself ordered the strike, U.S. intelligence officials say… Administration…

NBC News queried 700 adults on Aug 28-29, 2013.   The most interesting answer I found to be the following: Q12  Do you think that President Obama should or should not be required to receive approval from Congress before taking military action in Syria? Should be required to receive approval ………………. 79 Should not be…

Finally, those who first jumped on the bandwagon start asking for proof.  From the WaPo: French officials also are calling for a delay in action until U.N. inspectors conclude their report. “Before acting, we need proof,” said Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a minister and government spokeswoman, according to Bloomberg News. The latest developments suggest that Washington’s allies…

Yesterday’s top fun quote, from Conservative Member of Parliament Adam Holloway: Friends stop their friends getting into their cars at the end of an evening and driving away drunk:  I think it is one job of a British Prime Minister to stop American Presidents driving drunk, as George W Bush did (in my opinion) with Iraq…

Identifying an attack with a nerve agent (organophosphate) is not at all difficult.  The symptoms are characteristic:  pinpoint pupils, increased secretions from all orifices, suffocation.  They are the same symptoms experienced by agricultural workers accidentally sprayed with organophosphate insecticides. (I treated one such case 30 years ago.) This is said to be the poison in…