According to the LA Times and echoed by many other outlets,  “France’s foreign ministry says deadly sarin gas used in a chemical attack in Syria this month that killed 87 people “bears the signature” of President Bashar Assad’s government. A six-page report by French intelligence services claims the nerve agent came from hidden stockpiles of chemical…

1.  The 2013 sarin attacks in Syria, despite efforts to pin it on Assad, were never proven to come from the Syrian government. On the contrary, the chemical weapons were probably supplied to al-Nusra Front ‘rebels’ by agents of Turkey.  In 2014 Seymour Hersh wrote: British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the…

I wrote about Syria’s earlier gas attacks, in 2013.  There was never any evidence linking Syrian government troops or the Assad government to the attacks then.  No proof in the document given to the UN.  And the US report making the case to Congress admittedly was full of unsubstantiated claims and guesswork.  After initially pushing for action, France did a…