Sy Hersh’s latest is a must-read: Syria: Whose SARIN?
http://www.lrb.co.uk/2013/12/08/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin
It is extremely telling that Sy could not find anyone in this country to publish this investigative piece so embarrassing to the powers that be (as well as to lazy journalists). Like Mearsheimer and Walt when they did their major piece on the Israel Lobby, Sy had to go to the London Review of Books.
Consortiumnews.com, however, is always ready to post VIPS memos – and especially those like this one (link below) – on a priority basis, when needed. So VIPS was already on record with some of the basics of Sy’s story two months ago.
We did catch a lot of heat for posting this one (below) but, in order to be relevant, we had to move very quickly, since it appeared that Congress was going to vote in the next day or two on whether to attack Syria. (This was before the Russians came to our rescue and threw Obama a lifeline.)
Obama Warned on Syria Intelligence
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), Sept. 6, 2013
And why did Obama change his mind about attacking Syria? It could be, as Sy suggests, that someone was able to get to him and warn him that folks like John Brennan were trying to start another war.
It seems at least equally likely that Gen. Martin Dempsey got to Obama on Aug. 30, after Kerry told a press conference, 35 times, that “we know” the Syrian government was behind the chemical attacks on Aug 21. VIPS has good reason to believe that its memo to Dempsey (see below) got into the right hands early on the afternoon of Aug. 30 and may actually have had some impact. (Needless to say, this does not happen with every such memo!) On Aug. 31, Obama said this:
“Our military has positioned assets in the region. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whenever we choose. Moreover, the Chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive; it will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now. And I’m prepared to give that order.” (Emphasis added)