“In the coming days the American people will learn that the [US]Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib.”
Former DIA Colonel Patrick Lang
Former DIA Colonel Patrick Lang
Patrick Lang — a former DIA Colonel — does not mince words about the US attacks on Syria. Lang claims that Donald Trump’s decision to launch cruise missile strikes on a Syrian Air Force Base was based on a lie. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
Patrick Lang is truly a top expert on the Middle-East. The former DIA Colonel is highly respected for his deep knowledge and absolute honesty.
[NOTE: Many years ago, Lang helped me to understand a very ‘murky’ dossier regarding Libya. I trust his analysis 100%. Last week — knowing full well that ‘the shit was going to hit the fan’ — I asked him permission to reproduce his posts on my blog. Colonel Lang kindly agreed.]
ANALYSIS by retired Col. Patrick LANG
Donald Trump’s decision to launch cruise missile strikes on a Syrian Air Force Base was based on a lie. In the coming days the American people will learn that the Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib. Here is what happened.
- The Russians briefed the United States on the proposed target. This is a process that started more than two months ago. There is a dedicated phone line that is being used to coordinate and deconflict (i.e., prevent US and Russian air assets from shooting at each other) the upcoming operation.
- The United States was fully briefed on the fact that there was a target in Idlib that the Russians believes was a weapons/explosives depot for Islamic rebels.
- The Syrian Air Force hit the target with conventional weapons. All involved expected to see a massive secondary explosion. That did not happen. Instead, smoke, chemical smoke, began billowing from the site. It turns out that the Islamic rebels used that site to store chemicals, not sarin, that were deadly. The chemicals included organic phosphates and chlorine and they followed the wind and killed civilians.
- There was a strong wind blowing that day and the cloud was driven to a nearby village and caused casualties.
- We know it was not sarin. How? Very simple. The so-called “first responders” handled the victims without gloves. If this had been sarin they would have died. Sarin on the skin will kill you. How do I know? I went through “Live Agent” training at Fort McClellan in Alabama.
There are members of the U.S. military who were aware this strike would occur and it was recorded. There is a film record. At least the Defense Intelligence Agency knows that this was not a chemical weapon attack. In fact, Syrian military chemical weapons were destroyed with the help of Russia.
This is Gulf of Tonkin 2. How ironic. Donald Trump correctly castigated George W. Bush for launching an unprovoked, unjustified attack on Iraq in 2003. Now we have President Donald Trump doing the same damn thing. Worse in fact. Because the intelligence community had information showing that there was no chemical weapon launched by the Syrian Air Force.
Here’s the good news. The Russians and Syrians were informed, or at least were aware, that the attack was coming. They were able to remove a large number of their assets. The base the United States hit was something of a backwater. Donald Trump gets to pretend that he is a tough guy. He is not. He is a fool.
This attack was violation of international law. Donald Trump authorized an unjustified attack on a sovereign country. What is even more disturbing is that people like Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and NSA Director General McMaster went along with this charade. Front line troops know the truth. These facts will eventually come out. Donald Trump will most likely not finish his term as President. He will be impeached, I believe, once Congress is presented with irrefutable proof that he ignored and rejected intelligence that did not support the myth that Syria attacked with chemical weapons.
It should also alarm American taxpayers that we launched $100 million dollars of missiles to blow up sand and camel shit. The Russians were aware that a strike was coming. I’m hoping that they and the Syrians withdrew their forces and aircraft from the base. Whatever hope I had that Donald Trump would be a new kind of President, that hope is extinguished. He is a child and a moron. He committed an act of war without justification. But the fault is not his alone. Those who sit atop the NSC, the DOD, the CIA, the Department of State should have resigned in protest. They did not. They are complicit in a war crime.
About Patrick Lang
Walter Patrick “Pat” Lang, Jr. (born May 31, 1940) is a commentator on the Middle East, a retired US Army officer and private intelligence analyst, and an author. After leaving uniformed military service as a Colonel, he held high-level posts in military intelligence as a civilian. He led intelligence analysis of the Middle East and South Asia for the Defense Department and world-wide HUMINT activities in a high-level equivalent to the rank of a lieutenant general.
ZNetwork is funded solely through the generosity of its readers.
Donate
8 Comments
Paul Street, yes it’s sad that Paul D doesn’t want to read different opinions. And who is this “WE” that Paul D changed the comment to?
Michael, keep up the good work in providing a range of articles.
Thanks for publishing this very interesting account. The DIA analysis of Syria in August 2012, disclosed inthe Benghazi hearings, was a very clear and accurate analysis. I note the efforts to censor this information from Z Comms. There is some disgusting neo-mccarthyism going on that needs to be rejected. We need real facts not mindless insinuations and anti-Russia anti-Syria hysteria.
Thank you Michael Albert for posting this reflection from Col. Lang. It is essential reading. Paul D…wow. You tantrum is shameful. . Sad to see. One does not have to be a backer of Assad or Putin to question the official White House narrative on the chemical release in Syria. My sense is that Ray McGovern and Intel Today are quite right to find Lang’s take on the incident credible. I wish I could share Lang’s confidence that this will undo Trump I don’t, particularly when there are U.S. lefties like you gullible enough to buy the White House’s dubious rationalizations for its missile attack (and stupid and vicious enough to call those who know better purveyors of “conspiratorial nonsense.”) . Should I tell ZNet to remove your comments on the grounds that you have become a leftist for Trump?
“It turns out that the Islamic rebels used that site to store chemicals,…”
“In fact, Syrian military chemical weapons were destroyed with the help of Russia.”
Confusing statements like these do not aid our understanding or establish the Colonel’s cred.
Where did these chemical weapons come from??
Corection: WE don’t need ZNet directing it’s readers to it.
“In the coming days the American people will learn that the [US]Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib.”
I see… so this Col. Lang is clairvoyant? What is this conspiratorial nonsense doing on ZNet? Since when has Znet become a mouthpiece for the “leftists for Assad and Putin” (and until this attack, Trump) who are becoming indistinguishable from right wingers like this career military war pig?
Michael, remove this article – I know where to go to read crap like this, I dont need Znet directing its readers to it.
have you read sy hersh on the last time assad supposedly used gas on his own people.
“the irony is that, after Assad’s stockpile of precursor agents is destroyed, al-Nusra and its Islamist allies could end up as the only faction inside Syria with access to the ingredients that can create sarin, a strategic weapon that would be unlike any other in the war zone. There may be more to negotiate.”
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin
What is sad about this non-discussion is that “conventional” weapons are in danger of being constructed as humane.