Watchdog Agency Concludes Chlorine Used as Weapon in Syria

[The Magistrate]

40. I Expressed An Opinion On The Utility Of Chlorine As a Weapon, Ma'am

I think it could serve the purpose of turning people out of shelters below ground level to make them vulnerable to other weapons. I expect that is what it is being used for.

I have consistently been of the opinion the United States should take no overt action, and especially no action with our armed forces, against Assad. This is because, as the situation developed, it is clear whichever side wins will massacre its defeated opponents. If you have ranged yourself behind the side which wins, you are hung with responsibility for the massacre; if you have ranged yourself behind the side which loses, you are revealed to be a weak ally who cannot protect a client. Either way loses considerable prestige. A sound argument could have been made for strong intervention in the very early stages, when Assad was conducting a campaign of torture and murder against civil dissent without much of anything by way of armed resistance, but that moment has long passed.

Attacks on I.S.I.L. targets within the borders of Syria will not involve Assad's forces, unless he is so foolish as to direct his people to attempt to engage our aircraft. He is clearly unable to exercise governmental authority there, sufficient to prevent the armed forces there from aggression against a neighboring state. That state, and its allies, are entitled to take action they consider necessary to deal with that aggression