March 8, 2017
Ron Paul Institute for
Peace and Prosperity

Trump Invades Syria

Without Congressional authorization, without UN authorization, and without the authorization of the government of Syria.

by Daniel McAdams

Although the Syrian army, with its ally Russia, has made significant gains against ISIS over the past week or so, the Washington Post is reporting tonight that President Trump has for the first time sent regular US military personnel into that country in combat positions. This is an unprecedented escalation of US involvement in the Syrian war and it comes without Congressional authorization, without UN authorization, and without the authorization of the government of Syria. In short it is three ways illegal.

According to the Post, US Marines have departed their ships in the Mediterranean and have established an outpost on Syrian soil from where they will fire artillery toward the ISIS "headquarters" of Raqqa. . . .

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Daniel McAdams is director of the The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

News from Syrian Republic, News from Syrian Girl

The Judgment of the international Military Tribunal: "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." (September 30, 1946)

General Smedley Butler, "'War Is A Racket'," The Wisdom Fund, September 11, 2001

P. H. Liotta, "'Chaos as Strategy'," Parameters, Summer 2002

NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe

["About 10 days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon, and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. . . . He says, "We've made the decision we're going to war with Iraq." This was on or about the 20th of September. . . .

So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, "Are we still going to war with Iraq?" And he said, "Oh, it's worse than that." . . . "This is a memo that describes how we're going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran."--Gen. Wesley Clark, "'Seven Countries in Five Years'," democracynow.org, March 2, 2007]

John Pilger, "The Crime of the Century," New Statesman, December 10, 2009

"American Patriots Question 9/11," The Wisdom Fund, September 11, 2011

"Syria and Sarin Gas: US Claims Have a Very Familiar Ring," The Wisdom Fund, April 28, 2013

Robert Parry, "More NYT 'Spin' on the Syria-Sarin Case," consortiumnews.com, April 28, 2013

[The notion that killing with gas is more reprehensible than killing with bullets or shrapnel came out of World War I, in which chemical weapons, introduced by the Germans in 1915, were used extensively. The British emphasized the weapons' inhumane aspects as part of their ongoing program to entice the United States into taking their side in the war.--John Mueller, "Erase the Red Line: Why We Shouldn't Care About Syria's Chemical Weapons," The Wisdom Fund, April 30, 2013]

[Assad refused to sign a proposed agreement with Qatar that would run a pipeline from the latter's North field, contiguous with Iran's South Pars field, through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey, with a view to supply European markets - albeit crucially bypassing Russia--Nafeez Ahmed, "Syria intervention plan fueled by oil interests, not chemical weapon concern," theguardian.com, August 30, 2013]

"A Short History Of The War On Syria, 2006-2014," moonofalabama.org, September 14, 2013

Anthony Deutsch, "Syria hands over remaining chemical weapons for destruction," reuters.com, June 23, 2014

[Al-Qaeda in Iraq is the embryo of ISIS, which turned into IS. Jabhat al-Nusra is the al-Qaeda franchise in Syria, approved by CEO Ayman al-Zawahiri.--"ISIS Created by Qatar, Saudis, U.S.," The Wisdom Fund, September 24, 2014]

Thierry Meyssan, "John McCain, Conductor of the 'Arab Spring' and the Caliph," voltairenet.org, August 18, 2014

VIDEO: Serena Shim, "Turkey's Pivotal Role in Syria's Insurgency," PressTV, 2014

Vanessa Beeley, "Who are Syria's White Helmets," 21stcenturywire.com, June 21, 2016

Robert Parry, "Getting Fooled on Iraq, Libya, Now Russia," Consortiumnews.com, September 14, 2016

Journalist Who Went To Syria Schools Colleague On Syrian Realities, December 16, 2016

"Massive White Helmets Photo Cache Proves Hollywood Gave Oscar to Terrorist Group," clarityofsignal.com, February 27, 2017

Robert Parry, "The Kagans Are Back; Wars to Follow," Consortiumnews.com, March 15, 2017

Andrew Rettman, "Israel-EU gas pipeline to compete with Russia," euobserver.com, April 4, 2017

[Experts suggest it could have been jihadi rebels. It wouldn't be the first time.--"Is Assad to blame for the chemical weapons attack in Syria?," dw.com, April 4, 2017]

AGENT ORANGE was a powerful mixture of chemical defoliants used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War . . .
In addition to the massive environmental impact of the U.S. defoliation program in Vietnam, that nation has reported that some 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange. In addition, Vietnam claims half a million children have been born with serious birth defects, while as many 2 million people are suffering from cancer or other illness caused by Agent Orange.

BEST ANALYSIS TO DATE Ray McGovern, RT International, April 7, 2017 -- Ray McGovern chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief

Steven Nelson, "Lawmakers Say Proof Lacking Before Trump Bombed Syria," usnews.com, April 7, 2017

"Former British Ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford, refutes BBC propaganda," yournewswire.com, April 7, 2017

[Rather pointed out that no matter what someone's opinion on whether the airstrike was the correct course of action, the media's job is to ask difficult questions, not drool over the spectacle of war--Hilary Hanson, "Dan Rather Slams Journalists Who Hailed Donald Trump's Bombs As 'Presidential'," huffingtonpost.com, April 8, 2017

"Trump's National Security Advisor Planning 'Full-Scale War' in Syria," russia-insider.com, April 9, 2017

[there are three options: a classical US-executed false flag; a Syrian strike on a location which happened to be storing some kind of gas; the US fed bad intelligence to the Syrians and got them to bomb a location where the US knew that toxic gas was stored. . . . This is most likely a false flag attack.--The Saker, "A multi-level analysis of the US cruise missile attack on Syria and its consequences," thesaker.is, April 11, 2017]

[the report contains absolutely no evidence that this attack was the result of a munition being dropped from an aircraft. In fact, the report contains absolutely no evidence that would indicate who was the perpetrator of this atrocity.--Theodore A Postol, "Assessment of the White House Intelligence Report Issued on April 11, 2017," unz.com, April 12, 2017]

"BRICS Issues Joint Statement: Illegal Military Intervention in Syria Is Unacceptable," russia-insider.com, April 14, 2017

Enver Masud, "SYRIA BRIEFING," The Wisdom Fund, April 15, 2017

Robert Fisk, "Mother of All Hypocrisies: Trump Cares for Some Syrian Babies Not Others," counterpunch.org, April 18, 2017

Jason Ditz, "Chemical Weapons Watchdog Spurns Russian Call for New Syria Probe," antiwar.com, April 20, 2017

Jacky Murphy, "Declassified CIA Documents Reveal US Goal Was To Destroy Syria All Along ," neonnettle.com, April 23, 2017

Alex Emmons, "Members of Congress Demand Trump Provide Legal Justification for Syria Attack," theintercept.com, April 25, 2017

"Syrian government made Sarin used in Khan Sheikhoun, France says," bbc.com, April 26, 2017

Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Angus McDowall, "Israel strikes Iran-supplied arms depot near Damascus airport," trust.org, April 27, 2017

"Mattis' Politicized Intelligence on Syrian Chemical Claim," Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, April 29, 2017

Philip Giraldi, "Who Is Destroying Syria?," theamericanconservative.com, May 3, 2017

[Sarin is odourless and invisible. Videos of the attack also show responders without protective clothing, handling victims, which would be highly dangerous in dealing with victims of sarin.--Peter Hitchen's, "My Questions to the Foreign office about Syria and Chemical Weapons," mailonsunday.co.uk, May 3, 2017]

[Where is the evidence? The fact that all the stories first appeared in August 2016 is interesting. As it turns out, they're all based on a single report published by Amnesty International.--Ted Faison, "Syrian Prison Executions -- Anatomy of a Smear Campaign?," antiwar.com, May 20, 2017]

[Syria still accounts for the biggest numbers, with 12 million people (65 per cent of the population) displaced internally or living outside the country as refugees.--Adrian Edwards, "Forced displacement worldwide at its highest in decades," unhcr.org, June 19, 2017]

Jim Kavanagh, "Resist This: the United States is at War With Syria," counterpunch.org, June 21, 2017

[by helping its Sunni allies provide weapons to al Nusra Front and its allies and by funneling into the war zone sophisticated weapons that were bound to fall into al Nusra hands or strengthen their overall military position, U.S. policy has been largely responsible for having extended al Qaeda's power across a significant part of Syrian territory. The CIA and the Pentagon appear to be ready to tolerate such a betrayal of America's stated counter-terrorism mission. Unless either Congress or the White House confronts that betrayal explicitly, as Tulsi Gabbard's legislation would force them to do, U.S. policy will continue to be complicit in the consolidation of power by al Qaeda in Syria, even if the Islamic State is defeated there.--Gareth Porter, "How America Armed Terrorists in Syria: Another Middle East debacle," theamericanconservative.com, June 22, 2017]

[On April 6, United States President Donald Trump authorized an early morning Tomahawk missile strike on Shayrat Air Base in central Syria in retaliation for what he said was a deadly nerve agent attack carried out by the Syrian government two days earlier in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun. Trump issued the order despite having been warned by the U.S. intelligence community that it had found no evidence that the Syrians had used a chemical weapon.--Seymour M. Hersh, "Trump's Red Line," welt.de, June 25, 2017]

Ray McGovern, "Intel Behind Trump's Syria Attack Questioned," consortiumnews.com, June 25, 2017

[The danger with Trump's "retaliatory" strike, based on zero evidence of a chemical weapons attack, is that it could have killed Russian soldiers and dragged Putin into a highly dangerous confrontation with the US. Also, the intelligence community fears that the media have promoted a false narrative that suggests not only that a sarin attack took place, but paints Russia as a co-conspirator and implies that a UN team did not in fact oversee the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile back in 2013-14. That would allow Assad's opponents to claim in the future, at a convenient time, yet another unsubstantiated sarin gas attack by the Syrian government.--Jonathon Cook, "Hersh's new Syria revelations buried from view," jonathan-cook.net, June 26, 2017]

Harriet Agerholm, "Donald Trump threatens Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over 'planned new chemical attack'," independent.co.uk, June 27, 2017 -- another attack based on false intelligence?

Philip Giraldi, "Make No Mistake, We Are Already at War in Syria," theamericanconservative.com, June 30, 2017

[So that's McCain's War. Eleven million refugees, a destroyed country, 400,000 civilians dead and a decimated army of a nation that poses a zero threat to the American homeland. And all for the purpose of hazing the rulers of Tehran who never did have a program to get a nuke, according to Washington's own 17-agency NIEs (national intelligence estimates); and gave it up anyway with ironclad mechanisms for international enforcement.--David Stockman, "The Tweet That Is Shaking the War Party," antiwar.com, July 31, 2017]

Rania Khalek, "How a Free Syrian Army Unit Uncovered the Rebels' Israeli Connection and Switched Sides," alternet.org, August 8, 2017

John Wight, "The End of the CIA's Dirty War in Syria," counterpunch.org, August 10, 2017

["There will be neither security cooperation, nor the opening of embassies, nor a role for certain states that say they want to find a way out [of Syria's war], unless they explicitly cut their ties with terrorism."--M.K. Bhadrakumar, "Assad lays down new rules in winner-takes-all Syrian future," atimes.com, August 22, 2017]

[Chemical weapons have only very small amounts of explosives in the "burster mechanism" -- enough to open up the bomb to disperse the chemical, but not enough to cause a crater in the pavement. If a chemical munition had contained enough high explosives to create a large hole in the pavement, it would have burned up the chemical to be dispensed and could not have caused the mass casualties seen in Khan Sheikhoun.--Gareth Porter, "Have We Been Deceived Over Syrian Sarin Attack," alternet.org, September 13, 2017]

Daniel McAdams, "Scandal: The Pentagon's $2 Billion Underground Syria Weapons Pipeline," antiwar.com, September 18, 2017

"SOHR: Israeli warplanes hit near Damascus airport," aljazeera.com, September 22, 2017

Robert Naiman, "WikiLeaks Reveals How the US Aggressively Pursued Regime Change in Syria, Igniting a Bloodbath," truth-out.org, October 9, 2017

Andrew deGrandpre, "A top U.S. general just said 4,000 American troops are in Syria. The Pentagon says there are only 500," washingtonpost.com, October 31, 2017

Mark Katkov, "Pentagon Says It's Staying In Syria, Even Though ISIS Appears Defeated," npr.org, November 17, 2017

DELETED AT WASHINGTON POST: "US has no evidence of Syrian use of sarin gas, Mattis says," washingtonpost.com, February 2, 2018

[Today's intervention is part of Israel's plan to fragment Syria and gobble up its water and fertile land resources.--Eric Margolis, "The Syrian Madhouse Gets Even Crazier," ericmargolis.com, February 2, 2018]

"It's 2002 Again - New York Times Makes Bogus WMD Claims," moonofalabama.org, February 28, 2018

[Assad has basically defeated the rebels in Western Syria. His Russian and Iranian allies have troops on the ground near the U.S. frontlines. Turkey has invaded north and west of U.S. positions to battle America's Kurdish partners. Turkey's President Recep Erdogan (a NATO ally) has even warned the U.S. military to stay out of its path.--Danny Sjursen, "The U.S. Military: Proud Owners of One-Third of Syria," nationalinterest.org, April 10, 2018]

Scott Ritter, "Trump's Rush to Judgment on Syria Chemical Attack," theamericanconservative.com, April 11, 2018

Patrick Cockburn, "How Can We Know If a Chemical Weapons Attack Took Place in Syria?," counterpunch.org, April 12, 2018

Tyler Durden, "A Map Of The Coming War: Who Is Who (And Where) In Syria," zerohedge.com, April 12, 2018

"Tucker Carlson Goes on Epic Rant Against War in Syria," April 9, 2018

Robert Fisk, "As Theresa May gears up for war in Syria, we should remember what hypocrites we are about chemical warfare in the Middle East," independent.co.uk, April 12, 2018

[U.S./UK/French Gang wanted to strike before the OPCW investigators had a chance to ascertain what happened.--Ray McGovern, "Attacking Syria: Thumbing Noses at Constitution and Law," consortiumnews.com, April 14, 2018]

Jon Schwarz, "DONALD TRUMP ORDERED SYRIA STRIKE BASED ON A SECRET LEGAL JUSTIFICATION EVEN CONGRESS CAN'T SEE," theintercept.com, April 14, 2018

Whitney Webb, "How the US Occupied the 30 Percent of Syria Containing Most of its Oil, Water and Gas," ronpaulinstitute.org, April 14, 2018

"Pentagon Hides Attack Failure," moonofalabama.org, April 16, 2018

[Then someone at the door, a White Helmet, shouted "Gas!", and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other. Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia - not gas poisoning.--Robert Fisk, "The Search for the Truth in Douma," counterpunch.org, April 17, 2018]

[White Helmets were created in Turkey by James Le Mesurier, a former British MI5 agent. The group has received at least $55 million from the British Foreign Office and $23 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as millions from the Kingdom of Qatar, which has backed a variety of extremist groups in Syria including Al Qaeda.--Ann Wright, "Beware of White Helmets Bearing News," consortiumnews.com, April 21, 2018]

[According to the testimony provided at the OPCW, the victims shown in a video from the site of the alleged attack were actually suffering from the effects of inhaling dust after a bombing raid, not gas.--Jonathan Cook, "The west closes its ears to Douma testimony," jonathan-cook.net, April 28, 2018]

Janice Kortkamp, "An American Housewife in Syria," eurasiafuture.com, May 30, 2018

Sheila Carapico, "War of Aggression: The Saudi & UAE Slaughter in Yemen isn't a Proxy Conflict with Iran," juancole.com, June 6, 2018

"State Department: Trump authorizes release of some funds for Syria's White Helmets," cbsnews.com, June 14, 2018

Robert Fisk, "This moment will go down in history: the US has given up on the overthrow of Assad in Syria," independent.co.uk, June 26, 2018

"How a victorious Bashar al-Assad is changing Syria," economist.com, June 28, 2018

[Three weeks earlier, the Americans had told the rebels of southwestern Syria below the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that they were on their own, and could expect no more military assistance. Even the White Helmets, the first-responder heroes or propagandists of the rebel war (take your pick, but be sure they will soon be described as "controversial") have been rescued with their families from the rebel lines by the Israelis and dispatched to safety in Jordan.

The Israelis are a bit miffed that they weren't thanked by the White Helmets' civil defence units for their humanitarian assistance - but what do they expect when they spent their time attacking Iranian, Hezbollah and Syrian forces during the war, supplying medical aid to the Nusrah Islamist fighters who came to their lines and never - ever - bombed Isis?--Robert Fisk, "Are We About to Witness the Last Battle of the Syrian War?," independent.co.uk, July 30, 2018]

[As a new military confrontation over Syria is impending, thought out by Israel, prepared by the British and executed by the US, the West's future depends greatly upon two mavericks, . . . One is for capitalism, another one is a socialist, but both are considered soft on Russia, . . . Both are enemies of Wall Street and the City, both stand against the Deep State, against NATO, both are enemies of globalism and of world government. One is a friend of Israel, another is a friend of Palestine, but both are charged with racism and anti-Semitism.--Israel Shamir, "Trump and Corbyn," unz.com, August 26, 2018]

[There were few figures in recent American life who dedicated themselves so personally to the perpetuation of war and empire as McCain. . . .

He was uniquely ruthless when it came to advancing imperial goals, barnstorming from one conflict zone to another to personally recruit far-right fanatics as American proxies.--Max Blumenthal, "The Other Side of John McCain," consortiumnews.com, August 27, 2018]

"The Dike Breaks - Netherland Ends Support For 'White Helmets' Terrorist Propaganda," moonofalabama.org, September 15, 2018

[The Syria Campaign, set up by a New York PR agency, Purpose, funds a group known as the White Helmets, who claim falsely to be "Syria Civil Defence" . . .

The White Helmets are appendages to the jihadists with whom they share addresses. Their media-smart uniforms and equipment are supplied by their Western paymasters.--John Pilger, "Hold the Front Page, the Reporters are Missing," counterpunch.org, September 20, 2018]

"Jordan says nearly 300 Syrian 'White Helmets' leave for West," reuters.com, October 17, 2018

[This president can have all the foreign policy ideas he wants, but the Pentagon, State, the intelligence apparatus, and the rest of what some call "the deep state" will either reverse, delay, or never implement any policy not to its liking.--Patrick Lawrence, "Don't Hold Your Breath on US Troop Withdrawal from Syria'," theamericanconservative.com, December 19, 2018]

Mark Perry, "Trump's Decision to Leave Syria Was No 'Surprise'," theamericanconservative.com, December 20, 2018

[The 1,200-word memo written by James P. Rubin, . . . argues that the U.S. should topple the Assad regime so as to weaken Iran and allay the fears of Israel--Daniel Lazare, "The Memo That Helped Kill a Half Million People in Syria," consortiumnews.com, January 13, 2019]

"Douma chemical attack video was staged -- BBC Syria producer," RT, February 14, 2019

Sagex Petroleum had officially undertaken the search for hydrocarbons in Syria. . . . According to this research Syria owns underground reserves at least as rich as those of Qatar!--Thierry Meyssan, "Before Our Very Eyes, Fake Wars and Big Lies: From 9/11 to Donald Trump," Progressive Press (February 22, 2019), p. 51

[Genie's advisory board includes Rupert Murdoch, Dick Cheney and Jacob Rothschild. --Conal Urquhart, "Israel grants US Genie exploration rights in Golan Heights," petroleum-economist.com, April 19, 2019]

Caitlin Johnstone, "OPCW Chemical Weapons Assessment Contradicting Official Syria Narrative Is Authentic," consortiumnews.com, May 17, 2019

Ben Norton, "US congressional panel outlines next phase of dirty war on Syria: Occupy oil fields and block reconstruction," thegrayzone.com, November 5, 2019

Ben Norton, "The OPCW and Douma: Chemical Weapons Watchdog Accused of Evidence-Tampering by Its Own Inspectors," counterpunch.org, November 15, 2019

Scott Ritter, "Chemical Weapons Watchdog Is Just an American Lap Dog," truthdig.com, December 18, 2019

[Henderson's assessment concluded, "observations at the scene of the two locations, together with subsequent analysis, suggest that there is a higher probability that both cylinders were manually placed at those two locations rather than being delivered from aircraft." Henderson's findings were excluded from the final OPCW report.--Dave DeCamp, "Author of Leaked OPCW Engineering Report on Douma Speaks at UN Security Council," antiwar.com, January 20, 2020]

[Current and former staff members of the OPCW have denounced the organization's IIT report alleging Syrian government sarin use at Ltamenah, criticizing its reliance on rumor, hearsay, "scientifically flawed" claims and the influence of unqualified, secret "experts" aligned with the Western-backed opposition.--Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté, "OPCW insiders slam 'compromised' new Syria chemical weapons probe," thegrayzone.com, April 28, 2020]

Dave DeCamp, "Syrian Government Slams US-Kurdish Oil Deal," antiwar.com, August 2, 2020

Gareth Porter, "OPCW executives praised whistleblower and criticized Syria cover-up, leaks reveal," thegrayzone.com, August 21, 2020

Ex-OPCW chief Jose Bustani reads Syria testimony that US, UK blocked at UN, October 5, 2020

Ilya Tsukanov, "US Sneaks 20 More Tankers of Stolen Syrian Oil Out of Country, Report Claims," sputniknews.com, October 10, 2020

Ben Norton, "Leaked Docs Expose Massive Syria Propaganda Operation by Western Govt Contractors & Media," consortiumnews.com, October 12, 2020

OPCW chief dodges questions on Syria cover-up after new leaks, attacks on whistleblowers, The Gray Zone, January 3, 2021

Biden's humanitarianism is a cover for imperialism, RT, April 7, 2021

Former hostage responds to top diplomat calling Al Qaeda a US 'asset' in Syria, The Grayzone, April 11, 2021

President's Advisor Discusses Presidential Election, May 26, 2021

Padraic Flanagan, "BBC admits Syria gas attack report had serious flaws," dailymail.co.uk, September 4, 2021

[In the summer of 2012, President Barack Obama signed a secret order authorizing the CIA and other U.S. agencies to support rebels in Syria seeking to oust Syrian leader Bashir al-Assad - a nationalist who had allied with Iran and stood up to U.S. proxy Israel.--Jeremy Kuzmarov, "A Company Family: The Untold History of Obama and the CIA," covertactionmagazine.com, October 1, 2021]

[Postol said "I could not do the stuff with the Patriot missiles I did today. Nobody has the courage to publish things anymore that go against conventional wisdom on certain key topics related to national security."--Jeremy Kuzmarov, "Prestigious Weaponry Expert Censored After Demonstrating that a Deadly Poison Gas Attack - Blamed on the Syrian Government - Was Really a False-Flag Operation by U.S.-Funded Terrorists," covertactionmagazine.com, November 22, 2021]

Ukraine crisis: Why doesn't the West show the same outrage for wars in the Middle East?, CGTN, March 11, 2022

> Col. Richard Black: U.S. Leading World to Nuclear War, Schiller Institute, April 26, 2022

[Hundreds of fuel tankers filled with Syrian oil are smuggled every month into the Iraqi Kurdistan Region by the US occupation army and its proxy Kurdish militias--News Desk, "Washington's theft of Syrian oil continues unimpeded," thecradle.co, December 23 2022]