Bernie Sanders Getting Advice From Former Colin Powell Aid, Conspiracy Theorist

[wyldwolf]

Senator Bernie Sanders, looking to shore up his credentials on foreign policy, is seeking advice from a patchwork of experts, including Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and who has speculated that Israel might have carried out chemical attacks in Syria.

“This could’ve been an Israeli false-flag operation, it could’ve been an opposition in Syria,” he added, saying that the attacks also could have been carried out by Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. (The United States believes the Syrian government was in fact behind the chemical attacks.)

“But we certainly don’t know with the evidence we’ve been given,” he added. “And what I’m hearing from the intelligence community is that that evidence is really flaky.”

In an interview on Friday, Mr. Wilkerson was not remorseful about suggesting that Israel might have played a role in the attacks. But he said he was merely listing those who could have played a part, and wasn’t trying to fan flames against Israel.

An aide to Mr. Sanders did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/26/bernie-sanders-is-getting-advice-from-expert-who-cited-possible-israeli-ties-to-chemical-attacks/

[monicaangela]

1. Great choice!

[newthinking]

2. Wilkerson was not a neocon and has turned his back on the neocons - Nice try

He has been posted a fair amount here. He is a regular on many liberal news and analysis sites.

He has done a service to the nation by coming forward and exposing the darker side of US MIC.

Lawrence Wilkerson, Collin Powell's former Chief of Staff, reflects on his life journey from "cold warrior" to harsh critic of US foreign policy Pt1

?list=PL3A5B3AC6A87AFC24

[newthinking]

9. Seymore Hersch also first exposed the misinformation: MIT study link included

So they use what looks to be trumped up claims to call him a conspiracy nut. Heaven knows that those who have been in high office know that we and others have created false flags or lied about intelligence.

Given that the claims about the gas attacks were first debunked by Seymore Hersh and then followed up by an MIT study it does sound at least like the claims are war propaganda:
http://web.mit.edu/sts/Analysis%20of%20the%20UN%20Report%20on%20Syria%20CW.pdf


Fair.org (Longstanding liberal media factcheck site)
Which Syrian Chemical Attack Account Is More Credible?
http://fair.org/blog/2013/09/01/which-syrian-chemical-attack-account-is-more-credible/


Fair exposes both sides of the war narrative:

UPDATE 2: Dale Gavlak, whose track record was one of the main reasons to give credence to the Mint Press piece, says in comments below that she had little if anything to do with the piece:

Mint Press News incorrectly used my byline for an article it published on August 29, 2013, alleging chemical weapons usage by Syrian rebels. Despite my repeated requests, made directly and through legal counsel, they have not been willing to issue a retraction stating that I was not the author. Yahya Ababneh is the sole reporter and author of the Mint Press News piece. To date, Mint Press News has refused to act professionally or honestly in regards to disclosing the actual authorship and sources for this story.

and this:
http://fair.org/blog/2013/09/17/un-report-provides-information-not-intelligence/
FAIR criticized US media for insufficient skepticism in its coverage of the US government report on Ghouta released on August 30 by Secretary of State John Kerry (FAIR Blog, 9/1/13), which explicitly blamed the Syrian government for the attack. The contrast between the two reports is striking: While Kerry’s report avoided providing specific details to back up its claims–“in order to protect sources and methods,” Kerry said–the UN report strove for maximum transparency, describing, for example, where samples were taken, how they were handled to avoid contamination, how they were tested and what results were obtained.

I did not travel to Syria, have any discussions with Syrian rebels, or do any other reporting on which the article is based. The article is not based on my personal observations and should not be given credence based on my journalistic reputation. Also, it is false and misleading to attribute comments made in the story as if they were my own statements.

I would appreciate your removing all references to me from your story.

Without Gavlak’s byline, and with the allegations of unprofessional behavior on the part of Mint Press News, there’s little reason to take the Mint Press story seriously. We leave this post up for the historical record.

What we do know is that essentially we don't know which side used the weapons. We may never know thanks for the prevalence of war narratives and lack of honest and thorough investigations and reporting.

[roguevalley]

12. He's a man who isn't an neocon bloodsucking baby

eating, sadistic, soulless, genocidal old corpse like holiday vacay buddy, Kissinger.

[whatchamacallit]

3. Be a scared...

At least he's not getting advice from a war criminal.

[nichomachus]

4. And this is worse than

Hillary getting advice -- and six-figure checks -- from the people who destroyed the economy for profit? Heaven knows, she profited from it. From "dead broke" to multi- multi-millionaire in a few years.

[haikugal]

5. .

Aren't you dizzy?

[hifiguy]

6. Wilkerson is not a conspiracy theorist.

He was one of the first insiders to blow away the Iraq WMD lie.

Weaksauce is weak.

[Depaysement]

7. -1,000,000

He had the decency to express remorse for the war your candidate heartily supported, solely for political reasons.

What libelous crap.

[beam me up scottie]

8. Why did you rewrite the title? The NYT title wasn't Fox newsy enough for you?

Now that's some Truthiness in reporting right there, with a capital T!

[UglyGreed]

10. Gotta grab the clicks

it's way the world works

[Fawke Em]

11. Cool! Lawrence Wilkerson was one of the first to expose the Bush Administration.

Not sure why you think doing so makes him a conspiracy theorist, but to each his own.

I certainly find Wilkerson far more palatable than Henry Kissinger!

[roguevalley]

13. and consider this. Bernie isn't a feckless fraud who would

Last edited Fri Feb 26, 2016, 10:36 PM - Edit history (1)

vote for a war lie to protect his ass from then prevailing public wrath. He wouldn't talk to someone who wasn't credible. He's that smart and people canny.


edited: added war for clarity

[Fawke Em]

14. True.

One of the biggest reasons I can't vote for Hillary is that she's a neo-con. My son is half Arabic, ergo, he has family there. What the neo-cons have done to the region is inexcusable to me.