New leaked OPCW documents reveal Douma inconsistencies
- 4 years ago
DOUMA, SYRIA — Wikileaks has posted several documents that further exposes the coverup within the OPCW of what really happened during the alleged Douma gas attacks.
On the night of April 7, 2018, Syrian military helicopters allegedly dropped chlorine bombs on the town of Douma, killing dozens of civilians.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a fact-finding mission to investigate two sites where gas cylinders were found: a rooftop balcony and a bedroom.
According to the official OPCW report, the rooftop bomb first struck a corner of the balcony wall.
This initial impact decreased the cylinder's velocity and changed its trajectory, causing it to hit the concrete floor hard enough to make a hole and fracture the valve, but without sufficient energy to fall through.
At the bedroom location, the official report maintains that the chlorine-filled cylinder fell parallel to the roof of a building and crashed through the concrete."
"It fell through and briefly impacted the floor, then continued forward on an altered trajectory that landed it on the bed. The harness and valve remained intact, and its contents were not discharged.
In a newly-leaked memo on Wikileaks, a scientist who was part of the Douma fact-finding mission told OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias that over 20 inspectors have expressed concern over inconsistencies in the official findings.
The memo's author claims that except for one FFM member who was a paramedic, all others on the ground in Douma were excluded in the production of the final report.
Instead, OPCW gathered a separate "core" group that operated from "Country X", believed to be Turkey, to create said report.
Wikileaks had also released the first draft of the report, in which investigators say they were unable to explain "the relatively moderate damage to the cylinder...compared to the destruction caused to the rebar-reinforced concrete roof."
Blood and other samples taken from alleged victims who fled to Turkey found no trace of any nerve agent – a finding left out in the final report. No trace was detected in surrounding buildings or vegetation in Douma, either.
Another crucial finding involves the symptoms of the victims in the alleged chemical attack as being inconsistent with exposure to chlorine-containing choking or blood agents like chlorine gas, phosgene, or cyanogen chloride.
These directly contradict the final report, which states the investigation found "reasonable grounds that the use of a toxic chemical as a weapon took place."
In a report on CounterPunch, OPCW whistleblower 'Alex' said chlorinated organic chemicals are present in the natural environment, so to serve as an indicator of a chemical attack, chlorine levels should be significantly higher than what is already present.
In an email exchange with FFM leader Sami Barrek from July 2018, an investigator raised concern that the final report mentioned the presence of chlorinated organic chemicals at the scene, but excluded the fact that only very low levels were recovered.
Earlier in May, a leaked OPCW engineering assessment by ballistics expert Ian Henderson had found that the characteristics of the cylinders and surrounding scene were inconsistent with being dropped from an aircraft. It concluded that there is a higher probability they were manually placed at the two sites.
In CounterPunch, Alex mention an incident that could explain why the OPCW was ignoring so many dissenting voices.
In July 2018, Alex claims the OPCW was visited by US officials from an unknown US agency, who told them emphatically that "the Syrian regime had conducted a gas attack, and that the two cylinders found on the roof and upper floor of the building contained 170 kilograms of chlorine.
The Americans, along with the British and the French, had launched retaliatory airstrikes against Syria for the chemical attack on Douma.
If it turns out that the attack was in fact a false flag operation masterminded by the rebels, it would be a massive blow to the narrative already established by the Western powers.
On the night of April 7, 2018, Syrian military helicopters allegedly dropped chlorine bombs on the town of Douma, killing dozens of civilians.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a fact-finding mission to investigate two sites where gas cylinders were found: a rooftop balcony and a bedroom.
According to the official OPCW report, the rooftop bomb first struck a corner of the balcony wall.
This initial impact decreased the cylinder's velocity and changed its trajectory, causing it to hit the concrete floor hard enough to make a hole and fracture the valve, but without sufficient energy to fall through.
At the bedroom location, the official report maintains that the chlorine-filled cylinder fell parallel to the roof of a building and crashed through the concrete."
"It fell through and briefly impacted the floor, then continued forward on an altered trajectory that landed it on the bed. The harness and valve remained intact, and its contents were not discharged.
In a newly-leaked memo on Wikileaks, a scientist who was part of the Douma fact-finding mission told OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias that over 20 inspectors have expressed concern over inconsistencies in the official findings.
The memo's author claims that except for one FFM member who was a paramedic, all others on the ground in Douma were excluded in the production of the final report.
Instead, OPCW gathered a separate "core" group that operated from "Country X", believed to be Turkey, to create said report.
Wikileaks had also released the first draft of the report, in which investigators say they were unable to explain "the relatively moderate damage to the cylinder...compared to the destruction caused to the rebar-reinforced concrete roof."
Blood and other samples taken from alleged victims who fled to Turkey found no trace of any nerve agent – a finding left out in the final report. No trace was detected in surrounding buildings or vegetation in Douma, either.
Another crucial finding involves the symptoms of the victims in the alleged chemical attack as being inconsistent with exposure to chlorine-containing choking or blood agents like chlorine gas, phosgene, or cyanogen chloride.
These directly contradict the final report, which states the investigation found "reasonable grounds that the use of a toxic chemical as a weapon took place."
In a report on CounterPunch, OPCW whistleblower 'Alex' said chlorinated organic chemicals are present in the natural environment, so to serve as an indicator of a chemical attack, chlorine levels should be significantly higher than what is already present.
In an email exchange with FFM leader Sami Barrek from July 2018, an investigator raised concern that the final report mentioned the presence of chlorinated organic chemicals at the scene, but excluded the fact that only very low levels were recovered.
Earlier in May, a leaked OPCW engineering assessment by ballistics expert Ian Henderson had found that the characteristics of the cylinders and surrounding scene were inconsistent with being dropped from an aircraft. It concluded that there is a higher probability they were manually placed at the two sites.
In CounterPunch, Alex mention an incident that could explain why the OPCW was ignoring so many dissenting voices.
In July 2018, Alex claims the OPCW was visited by US officials from an unknown US agency, who told them emphatically that "the Syrian regime had conducted a gas attack, and that the two cylinders found on the roof and upper floor of the building contained 170 kilograms of chlorine.
The Americans, along with the British and the French, had launched retaliatory airstrikes against Syria for the chemical attack on Douma.
If it turns out that the attack was in fact a false flag operation masterminded by the rebels, it would be a massive blow to the narrative already established by the Western powers.