Little Doubt: Experts Attest to Use of Nerve Gas in Syria

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/experts-chemical-weapons-likely-used-in-syria-attacks-a-917965.html


A man holds the body of a child allegedly killed by a nerve gas attack in Syria on Wednesday.

Gruesome scenes played out Wednesday morning in footage of the overcrowded hospitals of Arbeen, a suburb east of Damascus. People writhe on the floor screaming, as more and more dead fill the hallways. Doctors and nurses try to revive the victims with onion juice and garlic. They rub onion halves on their skin, pour cold water over them as they twitch uncontrollably.

"What else can we do? We don't have anything else," says Abu Ahmad, a pharmacist who lives in Arbeen. The area has been under the control of the rebels since the beginning of the year and, for the past few months, almost entirely cut off from the outside world by the military forces under Syrian autocrat Bashar Assad. Some 10,000 people still live there.

As of Wednesday, the death toll in Arbeen was 63. But if what the opposition is reporting turns out to be true, that is only a small sliver of the carnage: Up to 1,300 people were allegedly killed in a toxic gas attack by the Syrian army that day.

Shocking videos have been uploaded to YouTube. In them, children are seen to make up a large percentage of the dead. The videos have already had political consequences, as governments around the world reacted with horror. On Wednesday evening, the UN Security Council announced the need for "clarity" about the reported use of chemical weapons, but they didn't reach agreement about launching an investigation.

[David Krout]

1. Why didn't NYT Times find any experts to provide proof?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/world/middleeast/syria.html?pagewanted=all

[Arctic Dave]

2. Do you realize how much gas would need to be used to kill that many people.

Either that or they would all have to be in a very tight area while being gassed.

Seems highly unlikely you could do that with a few shells when you factor in dispersement patterns, winds, physical environment, etc.