Statement by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, At a St

[Sand Wind]

Last edited Mon Sep 16, 2013, 05:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: U.S. Mission to the United Nations

Statement by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, At a Stakeout on Syria



The Council heard this morning from the Secretary General on the findings of Dr. Sellstrom and his team of chemical weapons experts. Before I say anything else, let me do as I assume my colleagues has done which is to express the great admiration that the United States has and President Obama has personally for the inspectors who put their lives on the line to try to bring back this evidence so the world would know what happened on August 21st.

It is no secret that they ran into significant security problems on the ground, but that did not stop them from moving forward. And again, seeking and in the end succeeding in bringing this important information back. So we have great admiration for them.

As you have already heard from the Secretary General and from my colleague Ambassador Lyall Grant, the UN report confirms unmistakably that chemical weapons were used in Syria on August 21st.

Now, the mandate of the chemical weapons team, was as you well know, not to investigate culpability, but the technical details of the UN report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large-scale chemical weapons attack. We will analyze the UN’s findings in greater detail, very carefully.


Read more: http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/214290.htm

---

Technical details of UN report make clear that only Assad could have carried out this large-scale CWattack

USA: Sarin gas of a higher quality than by Saddam + Assad's 122mm rockets use; On-site weapons professionally made.

Days prior to attack, Assad forces prepared for attack: distributing masks; Rockets fired from Regime area.

350 liter Sarin in chemical gas attack on Damascus suburbs. Sarin quality was higher than Saddam Hussein's


Cyrillic writing on them. No wonder Russia has been so obstinate :

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[Benton D Struckcheon]

1. Heh. n/t

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. A compelling case has been made that Sarin was used and all the implications point at the government

The UN team should turn this data over to the world court so that charges can be made against members of the Assad Government and its military.

Under International Law it is not necessary to sign a treaty banning these weapons to be charged for war crimes for their use.

[leveymg]

13. No. The 140mm rockets killed about 100 people - the rest were killed elsewhere by improvised rockets

of the type that are widely used in the Mideast by groups including Hezbollah and al-Qaeda.

Also, there is nothing in the UN report about the quality of the sarin used being such that only the gov't could have made it. These are serious misrepresentations by Ms. Power.

The larger 333mm improvised munitions (IRAMs) that killed the vast majority of people in eastern Damascus are cannibalized rocket motors with no guidance or stabilization and what appear to be truck mufflers bolted on top. They are not significantly more sophisticated than the improvised rocket assisted munitions (IRAMs) that various opposition groups and al-Qaeda has been observed using in several countries in the region.

The 333mm IRAMs are locally or regionally manufactured in workshops, not Russian munitions. The smaller, 144 mm artillery rockets are standard Soviet era munitions and the Syrian military has them in large numbers - but, they only carry about 2 liters of Sarin and only accounted for about one-in-seven of the fatalities, according to the HRW report.

The fact that two different types of munitions -- one improvised, the other standard military -- were used on different areas with very different effects is potentially significant. It's been established to a reasonable certitude that the smaller, more accurate, but less deadly military rockets were launched from either the military airfield or one of several nearby bases in the southwestern part of town near the suburb of Moadamiyeh that suffered relatively light casualties (about 100 killed.)

We now know based upon the UN report that larger improvised rockets, the ones that had a capacity of approximately 50 liters each, that killed most were launched from a location almost due west from Zamalka/Ein Tarma. Since these IRAMs have very short range, it is now clear that they were launched from the adjacent area known as Jobar, which is a contested area - not "regime-controlled territory" as the State Dept. report initially claimed. The UN study also contradicts the initial published reports that quoted opposition witnesses that the eastern launch site was likely the October Military Museum grounds. That is located about 2 kilometers to the north of the flight path determined for the larger rockets. So, we still don't know who launched the improvised rockets, and it appears that there is yet another party that has been using virtually identical rockets since that group reportedly introduced them to Syria late last year - Hezbollah, three of the members of which reportedly succumbed to Sarin gas exposure in Jobar that night.

Finally, the UN report says nothing about the quality or origins of the Sarin used, merely that the samples taken showed traces of Serin. While there variation is not great, about 10-20%, the percentage of victims who tested positive for Sarin poisoning was somewhat less for those from the eastern area where the improvised munitions were used. It is not known what accounts for this variation, but we might speculate that potentially this could be due to a Sarin of a different concentration or origin being used. If that were found to be the case, it would be further indication that potentially a militia or other third-party group was responsible for rocketing that area.

[JDPriestly]

15. We shall see. This report suggests that it is rather certain that the Assad government used

chemical weapons. Whether others also used them is uncertain.

But I should think that no one in that area will dare to use them now.

The important thing is to stop the use of chemical weapons by the party or parties using them. And I think that has probably been accomplished.

[brisas2k]

17. Not if the CIA suppied rebels have been involved in it

[JDPriestly]

18. That remains a possibility, but is less likely than it was before the report.

[leveymg]

19. Only a relatively small number were military rockets observed to come from the direction of gov't

Last edited Mon Sep 16, 2013, 08:39 PM - Edit history (2)

bases in the western part of the city. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that came out last week showed that the vast majority of those killed were located in a small area in the western part of the city, and that they killed by improvised rockets. Nobody has been able to pin down who made or fired the improvised munitions.

The State Dept initially claimed that all the rockets were fired from "regime-controlled territory" but the HRW and UN reports now make it clear that was not the case, and in fact they came from a contested area where both the rebels and Hezbollah militia were operating. Three Hezbollah fighters who were in that area were previously hospitalized in Beirut for sarin exposure. See, http://www.yalibnan.com/2013/09/04/hezbollah-admits-assad-behind-poison-gas-attack-in-syria/ In a separate report in July, the Syrian gov't claimed to have found a cache of corrosive chemicals stockpiled by the opposition in the same neighborhood. http://rt.com/news/damascus-syria-chemical-weapons-082/

There's more to this that indicates the Assad gov't alone isn't behind this, but I will post that later.

[leveymg]

21. Some other major inconsistencies and misrepresentations in this matter:

Last edited Tue Sep 17, 2013, 10:34 AM - Edit history (1)

Much has been made about statements made to the press by US and UK officials following the release of the UN Syrian chemical weapons report. Some of these require scrutiny, as they are representations that do not appear in the actual UN report, and at closer examination do not line up with the documented evidence.

The following extract from a Reuters report via The Jerusalem Post of the exchange with reporters that followed release of the report: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Britain-France-US-UN-report-leaves-no-doubt-that-Assad-regime-used-chemical-weapons-326297

[div class="excerpt" UK Ambassador to the UN Lyall Grant stated,
"In response to a question Mr Sellstrom (a scientist who headed the UN study) confirmed that the quality of the sarin was superior both to that used in the Tokyo subway but also to that used by Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war," he told reporters.

"This does not point to a cottage industry chemical," said Lyall Grant, taking a swipe at earlier comments by Churkin. Churkin said in July that a Moscow analysis found "cottage industry" quality sarin gas was used in an alleged March 19 attack, which he blamed on the rebels.

The report, itself, makes no reference to the quality or origins of the sarin. It appears that Grant is quoting Sellstrom about samples of sarin taken from the western impact site where standard Soviet-provided military munitions were used. It is not at all clear that the same agent was used at the Ein Tarma target site, where improvised rockets were used.

The investigators studied five impact sites and were able to determine the likely trajectory of the projectiles at two sites: Moadamiyah and Ein Tarma.

As pointed out in my response above, the trajectory indicates the improvised devices were launched from a contested area, not from a regime-controlled territory as initially claimed by the State Dept. Report. Furthermore, the HRW and UN evidence now indicates there were two neighborhoods targeted, each by a separate force with different weapons, not 12 as is still claimed by the US Government.

Eliot Higgins, who blogs under the name of Brown Moses and has been tracking videos of weapons used in the Syria conflict, wrote that he has not seen the opposition using the munitions identified in the report: a variant of the M14 artillery rocket and a 330 mm caliber artillery rocket.

This last item that goes to "technical evidence" is completely disingenuous. The Brown Moses blig itself in June pointed out that the larger devices are virtually identical to improvised rockets that have been used by Hezbollah militia since they first appeared in Syria late last year.

Finally, we come to Samantha Power's own statement, and based on the facts we know contradict it, her words do not have an authentic ring: http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/214290.htm

Let me also remind you of what we know coming into today's briefing. In the days before the attack, Assad’s chemical weapons experts prepared for an attack. They distributed gas masks to regime troops. They fired rockets from a regime-controlled area into 12 neighborhoods that the regime had been trying to clear of opposition forces. And here again I want to underscore, it defies logic to think that the opposition would have infiltrated the regime-controlled area to fire on opposition-controlled areas.

[John2]

3. There is no

case made by Ban Ki Moon. I think a case can be made for manufacturing evidence and manipulating evidence to start a war against Ban ki Moon, with evidence to prove it. I think Ban Ki Moon is in the pockets of the United states and certain of her Allies. There should be counter charges. If they supplied chemicals to the rebels, I think they should be charged with War crimes. So much for your authority. So get in line with your War crime allegations.

[Posteritatis]

4. Ah yes, the "nuh-uh!" and "NO U" rebuttals. Classics of the genre. (nt)

[Sand Wind]

6. This is the one who keep asking :

"One other thing though out of curiosity, How long you been an American and just how old are you?"

Just after having advocating for military strikes against the US by Iran and Russia...

[geek tragedy]

22. Your loyalty to Assad would be touching if

it were not repulsive.

[azurnoir]

5. Did you leave out the paragraph that said the found evidence had been handled/moved prior to

the inspectors arrival by accident? also if the writing is Cyrillic why aren't the numbers?

here is the entire document, appendix 5 is the salient part and what is partially cited by the OP, leaving out the mentioned paragraph, sorry it is a scribed document and I can not copy/paste the paragraph I mentioned, or I would do so

http://www.scribd.com/doc/168606795/U-N-Report-on-Chemical-Attack-in-Syria

[another_liberal]

7. Well before the Damascus gas attack took place . . .

Some Syrian rebel factions were boasting of having seized chemical weapons from Assad's stockpiles well before the Damascus gas attack took place. Those same rebel factions have in their ranks deserters from the Syrian army who had been trained in the use of chemical munitions. Those same rebel factions carried out conventional rocket attacks on the Damascus suburb where Assad's own home sits. Those same rebel factions threatened publicly they intended to carry out their own gas attacks against government forces.

For anyone to state that only government forces could possibly have carried out the sarin gas attacks in Damascus a month ago is far worse than just misleading.

NO WAR WITH SYRIA! NOT NOW, NOT EVER!

[arewenotdemo]

10. Samantha Power is the worst.

I believe that if she had her way, the U.S. would be using R2P to train and arm the Chechen rebels.

[another_liberal]

24. Samantha Power . . .

I know almost nothing about Samantha Power, except that she appears to be an arch-interventionist who thinks the answer to just about every humanitarian crisis in the World is to launch air strikes and send in the Marine Corps.

[Posteritatis]

37. Wasn't the impression I got from her books, but hey. (nt)

[another_liberal]

55. Every hunmanitarian crisis I have seen her comment on . . .

Military intervention has been her answer for every hunmanitarian crisis I have seen her comment on. Here is an over view of her record:

"Her advocacy of humanitarian intervention has been criticized for being tendentious and militaristic, for answering a "problem from hell" with a "solution from hell." Furthermore, Power's advocacy of deploying the United States armed forces to combat human rights abuses runs contrary to the idea that the main purpose of the military is the furnishment of national defense."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Power#Views

[AngryAmish]

65. She is just jizzing in her pants at the thought of invading Syria

[leveymg]

26. It would be great if you linked sources for that.

Thanks!

[another_liberal]

33. I relented . . .

Did a quick search for you on google. Here are some more recent articles concerning the Rebels and the likelihood of their having chemical weapons:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159391#.Ujeg2H8piSY

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10039672/UN-accuses-Syrian-rebels-of-chemical-weapons-use.html

http://www.euronews.com/2013/07/10/russia-claims-evidence-of-chemical-weapons-use-by-syrian-rebels/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/05/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE94409Z20130505

http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/09/01/which-syrian-chemical-attack-account-is-more-credible/

As to their rocket attack on Assad's neighborhood:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0

http://www.businessinsider.com/syrian-rebels-say-they-attacked-assads-convoy-in-the-heart-of-damascus-2013-8

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/08/syrian-rebels-claims-to-have-struck-assads-motorcade-with-rockets-in-upscale-damascus-neighbourhood/

These are not the articles I originally read, however, they are good substitutes, and in some cases contain even more info than the originals did.

As to the defectors who have joined rebel forces from the Syrian Army: Surely that is common knowledge, right?

[lovuian]

8. Does this mean that the UN will bomb Syria and announce Assad a criminal?

When will the UN troops go into Syria?

Has the UN declared Assad a criminal and will send UN troops?
I think this is a better strategy than just having the US troops going in.

[Sand Wind]

9. That could be the best strategy of all.

So keep ask Russia.

[Wolf Frankula]

11. Will You Be one of the First In

Are You expecting others to die for your interests. When are YOU joining up? When are YOU putting your life on the line. Or do you have 'other priorities?'

Wolf

[KoKo]

12. Sorry...I'd believe very little of what she says along with Susan Rice.

[2banon]

66. +!

[JDPriestly]

14. Now this is the way to handle such situations.

And this is very damning:
]

Cyrillic writing on them. No wonder Russia has been so obstinate : I take it the writing was on the rocket.

Now the world knows the truth. It is not conjecture.

Russia and Assad have a lot of questions to answer. Assad should resign of his own accord, and peace talks should begin.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration and Secretary of State Kerry acted flawlessly in this. I am very proud of them. So far it has not been necessary for us to compound the injuries by taking military power, yet it was evident from the beginning that if the evidence justified taking military action, Obama was prepared to do it.

In a situation so horrible, I'm sure that there will be additional developments. But I also think that the Obama administration did the right thing to wait until the evidence from the
UN was available. If the situation does not improve in Syria soon, the Obama administration and France will have broader international support for any effort they undertake.

This is diplomacy and strategy at its best. Diplomacy and strategy benefiting all people of the Middle East. The last thing needed in the Middle East is more knee-jerk violence that merely feeds the fires of hate.

[azurnoir]

16. what is very damning is the fact the UN team states unequivocally that the evidence

had been moved/handled prior to their arrival but don't let the facts slow ya down

eta

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=596259

[JDPriestly]

20. Russia's quick response to offer an agreement suggests to me that Russia knows very well

who used the chemical weapons.

If Russia did not know, it would not have offered to have Syria give up these weapons so quickly after the US threatened to bomb. Russia knows full well what the score is.

So that is a factor in addition to the UN inspectors' report.

[leveymg]

25. There is another explanation for why Russia AND Assad moved quickly to give up CWs: loss of control

over the chemical weapons and their possible proliferation to militias that launched without Syrian Government authorization. Please see my posts in this thread above about that.

[joshcryer]

36. Why not admit to that?

They claim the rebels did it but don't confess that they lost control of the munitions. In that case you have to assume that rebels made the Sarin, which is preposterous at the amounts we've figured were dispersed.

"350 liters of sarin are unaccounted for. The rebels have sarin."

Well damn, the US has to go after the rebels now, huh?

And Russia gets to say "we need to shut down this rebel threat."

[leveymg]

44. That was also a red-line, remember?

In the same speech in Aug 22 2012, Obama said we would attack if we found out that Syria was proliferating chemical weapons to terrorist groups, most pointedly, Hezbollah. Out of the oven and into the frying pan.

Everyone would say, we need to shut down Bashar. If true, how stupid can you get?

As it is, I think it's pretty well accepted that the Defense Minister lost control over his own forces that night. That's compounded many times over if there's truth to the German claim that Hezbollah was on the phone with the Iranian Ambassador in Beirut saying that Assad was stupid enough to give the order. That tells me Hezbollah was on the line that night, and maybe Hezbollah fired first or someone gave a false authentication order. I don't know if I believe that, but Hezbollah is also fragmented, and it could have happened a dozen different ways.

We really need to be allowed to hear the intercepts - like that's going to happen.

[joshcryer]

46. I don't buy it.

Somehow, magically, Bashar is allowed to go to the international community to dispose of his chemical weapons, but he couldn't have pleaded with the international community that he lost control of them? That would've been a big no-no? It makes no sense to me.

Hell, Russia could've been leading this thing. "Assad lost control over the sarin, we need to get rid of the terrorist threat because sarin winds up being released in urban areas in EU or the United States by terrorists."

Shit, the US would even be able to use drones to get the rebels with the gas, Assad could call up Obama and be all "hey, the terrorists with sarin are at XYZ, we need you to come blow 'em up with your drones, we'll even let you use our army base." Make it an open statement, be public about it, it'd be hilarious.

I frankly do not think that "terrorists" or "rebels" have any sarin at all. I think it is all a PSYOPS. If you want the intercepts to be released, as do I, I'd hope you'd want hard evidence of the so called rebel sarin gas threat, as well. It seems as if that ultimately only one side is expected to show its evidence. And since no sides are showing any evidence we have to figure this crap out on our own. And what we keep figuring out is that it's just increasingly unlikely the rebels were behind it. As if that really matters anyway.

[leveymg]

49. It would cause an uproar and goes so far against the conventional narrative it could set off

the very thing that all sides, except the Israelis and the opposition want to avoid, a wave of American public opinion favoring some sort of intervention. Everyone else just wants to maintain the status quo of a charnel house with the meat grinders operating on a regular, predictable schedule of dead Jihadis and dead Alawites.

I agree that it was probably not the opposition who launched. If it was anyone, it was a broken arrow or turned faction or just a complete pysops where someone with the right authorization codes got on a com channel and started issuing orders which were obeyed until someone woke up the Defense Minister.

In the end, I still think there's something fishy about those ugly flying truck mufflers and the Hezbollah tie-in. Too much overkill there. Perfect weapon for a provocation. I would really like to find out about whether someone has compared the two Serin samples.

On the other hand, there's no question the BP-16 chemical rockets are standard ordinance and the quality of that sarin is first-rate by regional standards. No real coincidence that they appear to have been launched from the 4th Armoured base, and that there's been an effort by DEBKA to create a legend about the one-armed, peg-legged brother. General Assad and the entering columns of foreign-led commandos that they wrote about on Sept 17th. Now, that was a provocation! It it appears to have almost worked.

I would really like to find out about whether someone has compared the two Sarin samples.

The truck mufflers still bother me.

[Uncle Joe]

63. How heavy is the Al Qaeda presence in those contested areas?

If anyone would have great motivation for creating this crisis, it's them.

They would love nothing more than to bring two of their primary enemies, the U.S. and Russia to conflict in a greater war over Syria.

[azurnoir]

30. it's part of the UN inspection teams report

the part left out by the OP accidentally I'm sure

or are you too simply countinhg on the fact that one can not cut and paste from scribed?

[geek tragedy]

23. The Kremlin's talking points have gone out apparently nt

[azurnoir]

28. and you're claiming the UN team is quoting them?

or simply taking advantage of the fact you can not cut and paste from scribed, becuase it's right there in the UN inspection teams report

[geek tragedy]

29. Obfuscate away. All evidence points to the regime.

And, yes, stuff does get disturbed in a war zone. They're not laboratories.

This is approaching the Birthers' claims that the font was wrong on the short form.

[azurnoir]

31. I was citing the UN inspection teamns report so you're cherry picking that? n/t

[geek tragedy]

32. You claimed it was damning that the scene had been disturbed

whilst people were removing the corpses of those who were massacred by Assad's Sarin.

This is damning towards the Assad regime, and its apologists in Moscow and elsewhere.

Putin/Assad 2016.

[azurnoir]

39. The UN team said the evidence had been handled/moved prior to their arrival

it's right here appendix 5 under limitations

http://www.scribd.com/doc/168606795/U-N-Report-on-Chemical-Attack-in-Syria

nothing about the circumstances albeit I'm starting to find the spinning your the second one with a 'theory' sort of amusing

[geek tragedy]

52. No they didn't. That's your attempt to spin their words to give cover to your boy Assad.nt

[azurnoir]

53. My 'boy' Assad? just where do you get that from?

is your 'reasoning' that black and white, you eiuther fer us or agin us? sounds like it from that comment

[geek tragedy]

54. You sound exactly like his defense lawyer will if they ever get him out of power alive.

You're acting as an apologist, trying in vain to deny that the evidence all points to Assad, to the point of misrepresenting the one section of the report you're willing to discuss because you think it acquits Assad.

Apologism half as shameless on behalf of Obama gets derided routinely around here.

Being anti-war does not mean being pro-Assad. At least it shouldn't.

But, some always need to take the anti-US, pro-dictator side of the debate.

[azurnoir]

56. you appear to say that being anti-war means being anti-US or something

my original point was that the OP made a glaring omission in their post and take note the UN's mission was to verify whether or not Sarin was used, nothing more, and certainly not by who

[geek tragedy]

57. The facts released by the UN establish that it was the regime

who conducted the attack, even if they were not allowed to draw the obvious conclusion. The UN investigators found that the attack was carried out against rebel-held territory, from government held areas, using ordinance possessed exclusively by the regime.

All the denialists and apologists have is Putin's op ed.

[azurnoir]

58. The report established nothing of the sort that was not the mission of the UN team

but quite predictably it's being spun as such by those perhaps that are frustrated at this past weeks developments

[geek tragedy]

59. So you, Putin, and Larry "whitey tape" Johnson say.

Everyone else can read with their own eyes.

P.S, I opposed US military involvement assuming that Assad did it.

[azurnoir]

60. show us where the UN's mission was to establish who used Sarin

my point is that the UN mission was not to establish who did it, but simply if it was done at all, anything else is your own wishful thinking

and BTW name calling does little to establish any type of veracity on your part, why is it that you feel the need to resort to that and I do not?

hmmmm

[geek tragedy]

61. It was not allowed to pursue that line.

However, the salient facts establish the perpetrators beyond a reasonable doubt, for those willing and able to look at them in that light.

The hypothesis of a false flag attack is insupportable given what we know.

[azurnoir]

62. the hypothesis is your very own

nothing either way has been established, and the UN was not allowed, so your claiming they were prevented?

[joshcryer]

35. They did not say that.

They said that people were bringing evidence to them to look at meaning that it could have been moved around but not that the munitions in particular had been moved. They never said "these munitions appear to have been moved."

[azurnoir]

38. it does not say that it says the evidence was moved /handled prior to the teams inspections

it is here in appendix 5 under limitations

http://www.scribd.com/doc/168606795/U-N-Report-on-Chemical-Attack-in-Syria

[joshcryer]

40. It does not say that munitions used as evidence were moved!

Limitations: As with other sites, the locations have been well traveled by other individuals prior to the arrival of the Mission. Time spent on the sites was well used but limited. During the time spent at these locations, individuals arrived carrying other suspected munitions indicating that such potential evidence is being moved and possibly manipulated.

Obviously any individuals bringing munitions from another site would be forensically questionable. Nevermind that the Syrian government bombarded the entire area for days before the inspectors arrived.

[azurnoir]

41. That is NOT the statement from the UN report you made up that entire statement

the word potential is not used at all I would urge anyone to read appendix 5 limitation to see what the UN team really says

http://www.scribd.com/doc/168606795/U-N-Report-on-Chemical-Attack-in-Syria

[joshcryer]

42. I typed it EXACTLY as your link, page 22.

Please stop being dishonest. I didn't make up anything, you just apparently can't read your own link.

[azurnoir]

43. OMG I wish I could say I can't believe the dishonesty in your statement

but there it is and again here is the link appendix 5 limitations the only thing that was correct was that it's on page 22

http://www.scribd.com/doc/168606795/U-N-Report-on-Chemical-Attack-in-Syria

[joshcryer]

45. Admit it, you got caught misrepresenting the evidence.

The munitions themselves were not said to have been moved. Fact.

[azurnoir]

47. you got caught attempting to spin it

what are to believe Assad incriminated himself?

[joshcryer]

48. the munitions weren't moved, you lied

Please quote where the UN says that the munitions used as evidence were moved.

[azurnoir]

51. now your just making that up what exactly was the UN using as evidence

what does the OP go on about-gumdrops? The report is about munitions fragments that were found in the ara of the gas attack, now any reasoning person could ascertain they did not find whole munitions

[joshcryer]

64. The pictures show mostly whole munitions!

WTF!

It's not like the munitions blew themselves apart when they landed, they were intact, their job was to disperse gas, not blow up. One of the munitions was embedded into the ground.

[Aerows]

34. Married to Cass Sunstein

I wouldn't believe anything that came out of her mouth unless it was left to dry for a few weeks, ran over by a herd of buffalo, then took a ride on Disney's Space Mountain.

I still wouldn't believe it then. Cass Sunstein is the Larry Summers of bad advisors, and Power is just carrying on the trend of being awful at a job by being married to him (he's a balding 58 year old, and she is 16 years his junior).

I'm a Democrat. These two are just creeps.

[geek tragedy]

50. You may not be aware of this, but

it's fairly sexist to judge a woman's professional standing by her husband's record.