I Started Something I Couldn't Finish

 The ex-Russian diplomat on al-Jazeera's Inside Syria was telling us that "some groups" carried out the chemical attacks in Damascus. Maybe it was groups of tooth fairies. He also repeated the claim that Turkish police caught rebels with a tub of sarin a few months ago. A friend told me he'd seen this on a blog recently*. It's a lie.** Steve Hynd also tells us of "a bleak picture of what some within the opposition stand for," on the basis of an Amnesty report that there are isolated cases of opposition abuses. Try reading 10 THINGS WORSE THAN EATING A DEAD MAN’S HEART*** if you don't understand the difference between the régime and the opposition.

 I did have another thought as to why Assad launched an attack on this level. Apart from the military advantage gained by killing oppositional civilians and encouraging more to flee, it may be a test to see how much proof can be gathered about the attack. If they can squeeze through this one, maybe they can get away with further, bigger attacks. If I were in Syria, that would be my fear, not US attacks.

 * "In May this year, Turkish forces “found a 2kg cylinder with sarin gas after searching the homes of Syrian militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front” ."[http://stevehynd.com/…/its-quite-possible-that-both-sides-…/]

 ** "More False Reports of Sarin Usage by Assad's Opposition in Syria

 The Long War Journal says:

 While Adana mayor Hüseyin Avni Cos denied that the suspects were captured with sarin gas and warned against labeling them as part of any terror organization, the Turkish mainstream dailies Sabah and Milliyet are reporting today that the suspects were in fact members of the al Qaeda-linked Al Nusrah Front and were captured with sarin gas.

 While it may be very useful for the pro-Assad forces to believe unquestionably these Turkish newspaper reports, more observant readers will question how they know more than the Turkish government is reporting and especially, how could they possibly know, on the same day as the arrests, that the seize chemicals are sarin, while the government is saying there was no gas found and the chemicals found have yet to be tested.

 The Daily Star of Lebanon quoted the governor of Adana, where the arrest were made:

 "We cannot reveal any organisation names right now, but their links will be evident after the questioning," governor Huseyin Avni Cos was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency."there is no gas or anything of that sort captured as claimed," adding that they had found"some chemicals" that were still being studied by experts."   [http://claysbeach.blogspot.co.uk/…/more-false-reports-of-sa…]

 The Hynd article also talks about a Russian claim that rebels used chemical weapons at Khan al-Assal. At best nothing but a claim.[http://claysbeach.blogspot.co.uk/…/syria-sarin-blame-game-i…]

 *** "I am proud that people demand we condemn these acts while not asking the regime to do the same because it means that people have come to expect this kind of filth from Assad’s party but they hold the opposition to much high standards."[http://racanarchy.com/…/10-things-worse-than-eating-a-dead…/]