Why Wont the Media Tell the Real Story of Trumps Military Strike in Syria?

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Jul 1, 2017
By Jonathan Cook / AlterNet


If you wish to understand the degree to which the supposedly free western media are constructing a world of half-truths and deceptions to manipulate their audiences, keeping us uninformed and pliant, there could hardly be a better case study than their treatment of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

All of these highly competitive, for-profit, scoop-seeking media outlets separately took identical decisions: first to reject Hersh’s latest investigative report, and then to studiously ignore it once it was published in Germany last Sunday. They have continued to maintain an absolute radio silence on his revelations, even as over the past few days they have given a great deal of attention to two stories on the very issue Hersh’s investigation addresses.

These two stories, given such prominence in the western media, are clearly intended to serve as “spoilers” to his revelations, even though none of these publications has actually informed their readers of his original investigation. We are firmly in looking-glass territory.

So what did Hersh’s investigation reveal? His sources in the U.S. intelligence establishment told him the official narrative that Syria’s Bashar Assad had dropped deadly sarin gas on the town of Khan Sheikhoun on April 4 was incorrect. Instead, they said, a Syrian plane dropped a bomb on a meeting of jihadi fighters that triggered secondary explosions in a storage depot, releasing a toxic cloud of chemicals that killed civilians nearby.

More:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_wont_media_tell_real_story_of_trumps_military_strike_in_syria_20170701

[SwissTony]

1. A couple of other links...

Ray McGovern...

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/06/26/hershs-big-scoop-bad-intel-behind-trumps-syria-attack/


and Hersch himself (German publication, text in English)...

https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article165905578/Trump-s-Red-Line.html

[saidsimplesimon]

3. Thank you, Tony,

Ray McGovern and Judi. Merkel "concerned" about rump fiasco on trade. She has her own agenda. At the moment, she is proving she has the "chops" to play with the "boys".

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/eu-us-trade-conflict-threatens-to-escalate-ahead-of-g-20-a-1155342.html

[FakeNoose]

2. I believe it will all come out eventually

...once Cheeto is really gone, we'll hear the awful details on everything.

One thing I'm sure of, everybody in the White House has Trump stories they're holding back and not allowed to tell until after he's gone. Patience, it won't be long now.

[Nitram]

4. I'm not sure anymore that Hersh is a reliable source. He has espoused some rather dubious theories.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Because the OPCW says it was sarin, that spread from a crater in the middle of a road?

Sarin used in April Syria attack, chemical weapons watchdog confirms

The nerve agent sarin was used in an attack in April on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun and was likely to have spread from a crater in a road where a projectile had hit, the global chemical weapons watchdog has confirmed.

A report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) also found that hexamine – a known component of the Syrian regime’s stockpiles – was contained in samples taken from the scene and from the blood and urine of victims.
...
The account matches that of victims and witnesses, who had said the sarin spread from a rocket, or shell, fired from a Syrian jet that had circled above the rebel-held town shortly after 6.30am on 4 April.
...
The OPCW report made no mention of such a warehouse, and a Guardian inspection of the area within hours of the attack found only abandoned buildings, none of which had been recently hit.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/30/sarin-was-used-in-syria-khan-sheikhun-attack-says-chemical-weapons-watchdog

[Igel]

6. Time makes a difference.

Today we defend Assad in claiming that an attack his military launched that struck militants isn't responsible for the deaths caused by a secondary explosion.

But we've condemned the US because we're responsible when an attack to strike militants produces a secondary explosion.


We condemn single-source leaked stories and when somebody in authority confirms, contrary to law, leaked classified information. We laud single-source leaked stories and condemn the person in authority when he refuses to confirm, in keeping with law, leaked classified information.

[shadowmayor]

7. Bri Wi the beauty of our weapons

Amazing how quickly America, both sides of the aisle, lined up behind the phony Sarin story and cheered the missile attacks. Absolutely disgusting. Dig deeper and it seems that the first rounds of gas attacks in 2013 were an attempt by Turkey and ISIS to goad President Obama into full-scale war in Syria. Fortunately for all of the world, Obama smelled a rat, listened to those who really knew what was going on, and said no - at great cost to his "manly leadership" role that Fox Noise and our newspapers demand. It may have been his finest moment, and one hardly acknowledged at all - again on both sides of the wall.

When our democratic leaders are in alignment with the likes of McCain, or other war-mongers, I always am suspicious.

If MSNBC can bring on Hewitt and other right wing idiots, how about an in-depth discussion with Sy Hersh?