Syrian Blood Tests Positive For Sarin Gas, U.s. Sp

[nemesis]

Syrian Blood Tests Positive for Sarin Gas, U.S. Spies Say

http://www.wired.com...-tainted-blood/

A U.S. Army chemical weapons crew takes samples from an M55 rocket. Photo: U.S. Army

Updated 4:49 p.m.

The U.S. intelligence community has uncovered strong evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. Several blood samples, taken from multiple people, have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, an American intelligence source tells Danger Room. President Obama has long said that the use of such a weapon by the Assad regime would cross a “red line.” So now the question becomes: What will the White House do in response?

In March, the Assad regime was accused of using chemical weapons during an attack on the city of Aleppo. The blood samples were taken by Syrian opposition groups from alleged victims of that strike. But American analysts can’t be entirely sure where the blood came from or when the precisely exposure took place.

“This is more than one organization representing that they have more than one sample from more than one attack,” the source tells Danger Room. “But we can’t confirm anything because no is really sure what’s going on in country.”

What’s clear is that the samples are authentic, and that the weapons were almost certainly employed by the Assad regime, which began mixing up quantities of sarin’s chemical precursors months ago for an potential attack, as Danger Room first reported.

“It would be very, very difficult for the opposition to fake this. Not only would they need the wherewithal to steal it or brew it up themselves. Then they’d need volunteers who would notionally agree to a possibly lethal exposure,” the source adds.

The U.S. military tests for evidence of nerve gas exposure by looking for the presence of the enzyme cholinesterase in red blood cells and in plasma. (Sarin messes with the enzyme, which in turn allows a key neurotransmitter to build up in the body, causing rather awful muscle spasms.) The less cholinesterase they find, they more likely there was a nerve gas hit.

The problem is, some pesticides will also depress cholinesterase. So the military employs a second test. When sarin binds to cholinesterase it loses a fluoride. The pesticides don’t do this. This other test exposes a blood sample to fluoride ions, which reconstitutes sarin if it’s there, in which case it can be detected with mass spectrometry.

Blood samples are drawn from a [Edited Out]ed finger tip into a 10 milliliter tube. They can be kept fresh for about a week before they have to be used in the blood analyzer, a gizmo about the size of a scientific calculator that produces varying shades of yellow depending on the cholinesterase level.

According to the Financial Times, one blood sample was analyzed by American analysts, while the other was examined by Britain’s Defence Science Technology Laboratory.

Exactly when the results came back isn’t clear. But only days ago, the Obama administration was throwing cold water on reports from Israeli and British officials of chemical weapon use in Syria. (“We have not come to the conclusion that there has been that use,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday.) But that changed Thursday morning, when the White House issued a letter (.pdf) to Senators Carl Levin and John McCain confirming the sarin discovery.

“Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specially the chemical agent sarin. This assessment is based on physiological samples,” the letter reads. “Our standard of evidence must build on these intelligence assessments as we seek to establish credible and corroborated facts. For example, the chain of custody is not clear, so we cannot confirm how the exposure occurred and under what conditions.”

It’s not at all clear how the Obama administration will now respond. While everyone from the President on down has warned the Assad regime not to use its chemical arms, the White House has been extremely careful not to “pin the administration down on any particular course of action while at the same time not giving Assad any comfort,” Steven Simon, who served as the National Security Council’s director for the Mideast until December, tells Danger Room. “There’s no automaticity to any response.”

That was underscored by a White House official briefing reporters on background on Thursday afternoon. The official, who refused to be quoted by name, said that the next step for the administration would be “further investigation,” including by the United Nations, to confirm that chemical weapons were used deliberately by the Assad regime.

But the U.N. is already looking into the claims that chemical weapons were used during the March attack in Aleppo. One of the many reasons that the Obama administration has been very careful about going public with these sarin reports is that they’re worried about spoiling that U.N. inquiry. “It could bias the investigation and hurt the U.N.’s ability to get in country,” the intelligence source tells Danger Room.

The White House official said it would be premature to declare that Obama’s red line has been crossed. “It’s precisely because we take the red line seriously that we feel like there needs to be clear, factual, evidentiary bases for our decisions,” the official said. “Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction” — a reference to the infamous incorrect assertions that Saddam Hussein possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons before the Iraq invasion — “it’s very important that we are able to establish this with certainty.”

Members of Congress with access to intelligence immediately went further.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, issued a statement saying, “It is clear that ‘red lines’ have been crossed and action must be taken to prevent larger scale use.” Feinstein appeared to mean military action to remove Assad from power: “I urge the United Nations Security Council — including Russia — to finally take strong and meaningful action to end this crisis in Syria.”

Her House counterpart, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), was a bit more cautious. “President Obama correctly said that Syria’s use of chemical weapons would be a red line for the United States,” Rogers said in his own statement this afternoon. “Now that we have confirmed their use, the question is what is our plan for transition to a post-Assad Syria? I have laid out several steps, short of boots on the ground. The world is waiting for American leadership.”

– with Greg Miller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A4yNMGnMSs&feature=player_embedded

Edited April 26, 2013 by nemesis

[Saintly_Jinn23]

Sounds just a little fishy, but even if its true that the military used small scale chemical weapons, it doesn't change the fact that Syria is effectively under siege. It's like pushing a dog into a corner and getting mad when it bites you, when it only bit you because you surrounded it and threatened it.

What I don't like is how they keep saying "Post Assad Syria," when it is this attitude that Assad must step down before negotiations and cease fire that is effectively barring negotiations. The US government is just forcing Syrians to not reconcile until it can get public approval to intervene like in Libya.

EDIT: Just watched the video. Interesting how much finger pointing there has been in this war. The US and SNC say the regime killed these civilians and the regime supporters say the FSA and Al-Nusra did it.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Saintly_Jinn23

[nemesis]

Brother , i think the above post is about the FSA using Chemical weapons and not the Syrian Army. Here is another video of Turkey funding Chemicals to the FSA .

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=805_1366954777

[hasanhh]

Brother , i think the above post is about the FSA using Chemical weapons and not the Syrian Army. Here is another video of Turkey funding Chemicals to the FSA .

http://www.liveleak....=805_1366954777

(salam)

I agree, or rather, 'concurr'.

Manufacturing of Sarin is widely available. We had it in chemistry, where it was only discussed.

As you may remember, 20March1995, Aum Shinryiko used it in the Tokyo subways. Extremeists tend to know each other so maybe there is a contact.?

I do not know the blood chemistry of cholinesterase, but this report seems simplistic to me.

And as the article says, some pesticides do this and their effects can be altered with acids and bases. There are also industrial chemicals that do this, (not named) will do this "on contact" (where it is rated "deadly" on the same scale as cyanide is rated "highly toxic"). Another cholinesterase blocker is also available from a little 'out in the garage' combinations. The problem with the last two is they always kill the user,too.

I also do not think you can field test which inhibitor or blocker was used. This stuff is also "non-persistant" which means it lasts in air less than 10 minutes.

[The Green Knight]

May be the purest among the Salafag bandits can miraculously call upon and fart sufficient amounts of Sarin gas in critical times of great needs? I bet there are miraculous perks that come with pure Salafagi Islam.