Kerry Pushes Syria War, Claiming Evidence ‘Clear’

Doctors Without Borders Said 355 Dead, Kerry Says 1,429

As everyone else in the world collectively catches a little bit of sanity with respect to the US notion of attacking Syria, the Obama Administration is still going full steam ahead toward the strikes, even though at this point the attacks will be coming without much of anything in the way of international support, and with polls still showing solid American opposition to the war.

Secretary of State John Kerry, leading the charge for war in Syria for months, is continuing to take the helm in pushing the case in speeches, not so much providing evidence for their allegations but reiterating the claims and insisting that the evidence is “clear.”

Incredibly, Kerry doesn’t seem to be keeping up with the allegations that have already been disproved, reiterating rebel claims of 1,429 killed as an unquestionable fact even though Doctors Without Borders already put the real figure at 355 dead nearly a week ago.

President Obama delivered a brief statement shortly thereafter, insisting he hasn’t made a final decision on attacking Syria, but bracketing that claim with clear signals that the decision, as previously reported, was made long ago. The president was also pressed on asking the UN or Congress, and expressed disappointment with the UN’s opposition to the war, while dodging the Congress question entirely.

It is telling that the official narrative of the administration remains wholly unchanged from what the rebels were pushing last week, and keeps getting put forward again and again as the obvious truth, yet intelligence officials, whose job it would be to verify these claims, concede that they are “no slam dunk” and that there is much they simply don’t know about what happened.

That’s the difference between the political leadership and the experts though, and with the political leadership determined to see this war happen at all cost, growing doubts about their story seem to be going in one ear and out the other.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.