To think that it is a genuine possibility that the Sarin attacks have been falsified by the us to legitimise air strikes

[Beadoren]

As above really...

Have we been totally conditioned by the media to believe that the uk/us are the good guys and Russia are the bad guys. I think the us have form for things like this, does video constitute proof? All just rings a bit of the whole Iraq war thing. Do they just have different agendas in Syria than Russia?

And Kelly arrives supports my point. Listen, no one is denying the Holocaust or that man made climate change isn't real and happening (though why would you trust Trump's explanation as he clearly states that climate change isn't happening). Please stay on topic.

No way would I trust the 'official explanation' not after the WMDs fiasco and Northern Ireland.

Elendon, it was very directly on topic.

Remove your tin foil hat, OP. It's frying your brain.

ISIS are disgusting, absolute animals. I don't think that anyone on here would dispute that but the argument about ISIS does not IMO nullify any arguments about Assad and the Syrian government though. Two wrongs and all that.

So Kelly why do you support a known Climate Change denier's point of view on this (Trump)?

So OP, who was responsible for the chemical attack in Syria which happened a few years ago, because Assad said he didn't do that one either. By your reasoning it must have been Obama?!

Considering the past records of the USA I'm taking it all with a huge pinch of salt. Frankly I wouldn't trust the USA as far as I could throw Trump and to me this is all about the USA once again throwing its weight about to prove itself as the greatest world power.

I'm not sticking up for Russia but to me it is just slightly too handy for a sarin attack to occur as Trump comes to power so they can fly in and save the day. It's like weapons of mass destruction all over again.

the USA have just let off the strongest non nuclear weapons in another country again rings of USA trying to flex its muscles to show the world how powerful they are.

Peter Gabriel's song "games without frontiers" keeps springing to mind since Trump came to power.

Jesus wept OP, Scandal opened your eyes?!
Now I like it and watch it, but it's hardly a docu-drama. It's pure melodrama.

If someone said they didn't do it and someone said they did we automatically agree with the people who say that other person is lying? The attacks could have been carried out by internal break off groups or other groups looking to overthrow the government.

Other governments in other countries have in the past trained and weaponised these groups to disable the government of that country from within. I wouldn't put in past any leader of the free world to agree to this type of warfare if it can remove those in power that they don't like.

YABU. I had lovely syrian neighbours who were terrified of Assad. They hated him my neighbour told me how her brother was shot fown dead by assads army for just driving down the road. No reason just did it.

Its a scary time to be alive trumps a nutter. Assads a nutter. Putins a Nutter. Theresa May is a self serving cock womble.

Elendon, because the evidence supports his view.

Whilst I don't think it was falsified, I think it is being used.
Trump is "making America great again" by trying to show his power to the world with his attack on Syria, putting his aircraft carriers around North Korea and dropping the 'mother of all bombs' on Iraq all in a couple of days. Sarin gas attack is a good excuse.

Syria is extremely difficult to get involved in. Assad, whilst a nasty dictator, did keep a relatively stable and secular country until the civil war started. The rebels include Islamic extremists, including ISIS, and if they gain power life would be much worse for many than it was under Assad. Out of the frying pan into the fire. By meddling- providing weapons to random sides and dropping bombs- all that the west and Russia are actually doing is prolonging the war. We're not actually trying to end the war because we don't want Assad, but we don't actually want the rebels to win either. It's a mess.

Nothing good will come from this but then someone needs to be held accountable for the horrific attacks. Assad needs removing but then really so does trump and putin.

Sorry Kelly the evidence supports his view on Climate change not happening or on the gas attacks?

Seems to me Trump twists evidence to give him the go ahead to do what he wants. He's not at all trustworthy, but certainly worthy of sceptical eye.

Syria, that's what we're discussing

I don't think most media outlets see trump as a hero. I think most media and us are going wtf?

This is a massive turnaround in policy. He was elected on a America first, isolationist, Hilary is a war mongerer ticket- but then his daughter thinks we should bomb the Middle East, we bomb it. He has just bombed Afghanistan too. He is unpredictable and inconsistent and reckless.

While it's good to be sceptical and watch out for fake news, your interpretation leads us into 'sandy hook didn't happen territory'.

Syrians have been gassed by Assad who is supported by Putin.
Please don't deny it.

No of course it is, I'm just saying I didn't really get how much the CIA and other intelligence agencies are involved in international politics. Its widely know that the CIA have assassinated world leaders who don't want to dance to their tune. I don't think scandal is real though life creature but I think nodding along and not ever questioning the veracity of what we are being told because we assume our gorvernment are the good guys and believing the spin the media are putting on things is very naive.

I'm not saying this didn't happen. It's horrendous and the pictures are horrible and I feel so much for the people involved but I just find it a bit convenient and I think it's given Trump a big excuse to swing his dick around and show Syria, Russia, china and North Korea who's the biggest hardest leader with the best bombs and the biggest balls in one fell swoop. And to show the Americans who were worried about him being a Russian puppet that he very much is not.

If you remove Assad who takes over?

Trump is a man who said: 'The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.'

twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/265895292191248385?lang=en-gb

Talk about 'wacky conspiracy'? Trump is your go to man.

I don't know what you mean.

Do you think it happened or it didn't happen?

I think gassing civilians, including children with Sarin (or similar) is truly abhorrent and discussions around 'were the pictures falsified' is trivialising the war crimes.
The use of chemical weapons is banned by several international treaties including the Gas Protocol and the Stature of International Conflict.
Assad would be happy to have independent international scrutiny if his regime were blame free. Even in his interview he contradicted himself three times.
The BBC have not sent in reporters to a highly dangerous situation because someone has used makeup on a few kids to make Assad look bad. Those were real children suffering appalling injuries.
That doesn't make Trumps unilateral action correct. It is a global problem that needs addressing through the U.N. Bombs rarely solved anything - you don't get rid of darkness by closing the curtains. It needs to be brought about by international diplomacy and all nations need to work together on a solution. As ever, a few powerful men are responsible for the killing and maiming of many innocent bystanders.

The idea that Assad did the attack is laughable. Out of the list of people who would benefit from this he is at the bottom. People seem to lose all their critical and logical faculties when it comes to these issues. And instead they're convinced by the ludicrous "madman" cliché. That Assad would perpetrate this attack, which is 100% deleterious to his aims, because he is simply psychotic.

Instead the most likely explanation is that ISIS, who are rapidly losing this war, did it to provoke intervention from the US. This explanation is corroborated by evidence on the ground from the bomb crater and the extraordinarily rapid, well produced and social media friendly videos that surfaced immediately following the attack.

That's the problem BogQueen. There's no organised opposition just lots of rebel forces. And the West's last few attempts at regime change (or support for regime change) haven't exactly worked out well.

Badcat If Trump wanted to save the day in Syria, or the previous POTUS, then they would target Assad directly. The Tomahawk strike was small, laid down a marker to stop the attacks. As the U.S. and UK have both been doing Tomahawk strikes, mostly unremarked upon in the media, for the last 20 years or so, it is routine military business.

It's worked out very well for some ...