Leaked Report: Douma “Chemical Attack” Likely Staged
Kit Knightly
An apparent classified internal report from OPCW suggests that the Douma chemical attack – which allegedly took place in April 2018 – was in fact staged.
The report, signed by Ian Henderson (an investigative team leader for the OPCW), is an analysis of the two key locations which were used as evidence of the Syrian government launching a chemical attack using chlorine gas in Douma, last year.
These locations, referred to as Location 2 and Location 4 respectively, were made famous by these photographs:
The photographs, “analysed” in depth by Bellingcat and other establishment mouthpieces, were claimed as the “smoking gun”, proof of the Assad’s guilt. However, the OPCW fact-finding mission appears to see things rather differently.
The report is fifteen pages long, detailed and thorough, but the most important paragraph is saved for the end (emphasis ours):
In summary, 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 dropped.”
So there you have it, an apparently genuine OPCW report (kept from the public for as yet unclear reasons), which appears to support the prevailing view of the alt-news community: Douma was staged.
People like Vanessa Beeley and Piers Robinson et al, who have been relentlessly smeared in the mainstream media, have been shown to be right. Again.
This is not the first hole that has been blown in the Douma chemical bomb story (pun very much intended).
Firstly, initial reports from US-backed NGOs were that sarin had been used, not chlorine. This was dropped from the narrative after a preliminary OPCW report found “no evidence” of sarin being deployed.
Also, within days of the alleged attack, noted war reporter Robert Fisk was on the ground in Douma, talking to doctors who claimed no chemical attack had taken place at all.
Later, other witnesses came forward – including a young boy prominently featured in the “shocking footage”. They testified, at the OPCW meeting in The Hague, that no such attack had ever happened.
So, this report is but the latest piece of evidence which seriously undermines the establishment narrative of the so-called, “Douma chemical attack”.
You can read the full report here, or see the embedded version below. We suggest you download it and share it widely. This is exactly the kind of document that could get memory-holed.
The Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (WGSPM) have released their detailed analysis of the report, we suggest you all read it here. They are an excellent group, and have done sterling work on this topic.
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[…] of articles include Caitlin Johnstone, Craig Murray, Jonathan Cook, Tony Cartalucci, Martin Jay, Kit Knightly, John McEvoy, Philip Roddis, Citizens Electoral Council (Australia), Martin Odoni, James […]
[…] (an investigative team leader for the OPCW” and is best summarized by Kit Knightly’s May 14th “Leaked Report: Douma ‘Chemical Attack’ Likely Staged” at Off-Guardian.org (a terrific website of investigative journalism that exposes lies by mainstream […]
[…] by Kit Knightly’s May 14th “Leaked Report: Douma ‘Chemical Attack’ Likely Staged” (https://off-guardian.org/2019/05/14/leaked-report-douma-chemical-attack-likely-staged/) at Off-Guardian.org (https://off-guardian.org/, a terrific website of investigative journalism […]
[…] (an investigative team leader for the OPCW” and is best summarized by Kit Knightly’s May 14th “Leaked Report: Douma ‘Chemical Attack’ Likely Staged” at Off-Guardian.org (a terrific website of investigative journalism that exposes lies by […]
[…] Click here to read the full article entitled “Leaked Report: Douma ‘Chemical Attack’ Likely Staged” written by Kit Knightly. […]
[…] (an investigative team leader for the OPCW” and is best summarized by Kit Knightly’s May 14th “Leaked Report: Douma ‘Chemical Attack’ Likely Staged” at Off-Guardian.org (a terrific website of investigative journalism that exposes lies by mainstream […]
[…] then it has gotten a lot of play all across the alternate media (you can read our original report here, but there were many others […]
Blackstone Intelligence presents an in depth analysis of the US march to war with Iran happening right now, for Israel.
There are no depths these scumags won’t sink to. We are ruled by criminals…….big fat criminals committing big fat crimes, lying all the time, using (often not so) sophisticated yet effective systems of control to keep the masses blind to their ways.
Now the US is marching to war with Iran, for Israel. Here we go again.
This report by Kit is STELLAR!!! It is so well-documented and yet stunningly brief (compared to the enormous size of its significance). America’s and UK’s and France’s 14 April 2018 missiles-invasion of Syria was ‘justified’ entirely on the basis of the lie (from the Western sponsors) of the entire fabricated ‘event’, that Syria’s Government had murderously sarin-attacked and thereby slaughtered lots of people in Douma.
The case now for a prosecution against U.S., UK, and France, for violating the U.N. Charter and perpetrating a war-crime by that attack, seems extremely strong, if not open-and-shut conclusive.
However, I think that Kit should also have mentioned and linked to Tim Hayward of “The Working Group” for his having been the first person to make public — on May 13th at https://timhayward.wordpress.com/2019/05/13/evidence-that-douma-chemical-attack-was-staged-opcws-unpublished-engineers-report/ — this (suppressed) finding by the Engineer.
Sure it was staged … like so very many other events. So very, very many. This evening I commented to my housemate that I wish I knew someone who’d been at one of these staged events and she replied that I did – I’d mentioned to her a Balinese man I’d met in a cafe who’d told me his father worked in a hotel next to the one where the alleged 2002 “Bali Bombing” had occurred and his father told him that when he was called to go and help there was nothing really going on – no injured people to help. Can’t believe I’m so obsessed with fakery and that had completely slipped my mind. Bali Bombing and Sydney Siege – they love alliteration. I haven’t come round to the Sydney Siege being staged although it certainly shows a lot of the hallmarks. My stumbling block is Katrina Dawson… Read more »
Well, er … maybe the Lindt Cafe siege was for real.
Maybe the building lockdown I was subjected to from 11am to 4pm was also real. I needed to buy lunch that day too 🙁 .
The “staged” aspect was certainly real – the siege took place just across the road from a television station.
Hi Jen, When this happened I was clueless about staged events so I did not scrutinise but if I had been at the time I would have gone down to Martin Place to see if I could find anything out. I worked for the Transport Management Centre and I’m sure, if it was a staged event, at least one of my colleagues would have known what was going on – not that they would have told me I’m sure even if I’d asked. I’m sorry you missed your lunch. That would have really pissed me off, real or not. I know a guy who worked in the Lindt cafe who was off that day and he’s been traumatised by the event (as is a little girl I know who was in the class of the boy who allegedly died in the Barcelona van rampage which I have absolutely no doubt… Read more »
While the Lindt Cafe siege was real enough, and the various people you mention in your comment did things that seem either illogical or incomprehensible, at the same time it is perhaps possible that in some of its aspects the siege was “staged”. Monis picked the cafe because (a) it is close to Channel 7 studios, and (b) it is just across the road from the Reserve Bank and (until recently) the Westpac Banking Corporation had its main office close by as well. State Parliament House is not far away either. The Commonwealth Bank and the ANZ Bank head offices are a few blocks away. The law courts are another short walk away in another direction. So Monis could have been making some sort of statement by his choice of cafe to hold up that as yet no-one has bothered to “read” and decipher. Monis did have a history of… Read more »
Jen, Whatever they tell us about Monis needs to be taken with a grain of salt (unless we have clear evidence to support it) if the incident were staged, right? No doubt, at least some of it is true though and this could well be a situation where leniency was offered to him in exchange for acting in this event. What I do when I consider whether an event is staged or real is take all the pieces of available evidence (that I can be bothered to look at) and check: —Can all of it be accommodated under “staged”? —Is there any that only fits “real” or tends to fit it much better than it fits “staged”? —Is there any that only fits “staged” or tends to fit it much better than it fits “real”? —Which hypothesis overall is supported better by the evidence? As the evidence clearly shows from… Read more »
All I will say to your garbled reply is that you cannot expect people to behave and react to major events in ways that you believe you yourself would behave and react. Zero emotion in the face of a significant life-changing event is just as likely as extreme emotion. It can take a long time for the significance to sink in. People do not always behave according to a narrow range of expected stereotypes. Also your attitude to events, on the basis of whether they are staged or not staged, seems to be a problem: it’s probably leading you to concentrate on particular details that would confirm your view that such-n-such an incident is staged, and to ignore other details that would contradict your view. You have to do more than look at only those pieces of evidence “that you can be bothered to look at” that answer “yes” or… Read more »
If you come across a single piece of evidence that supports real over staged, please let me know what it is, Jen. Also, if you happen to catch the SWAT finger-twinkler in any research you happen to do, please let me know your explanation for it in the context of the event.
And just to add, I am rather lazy, it’s true, which makes these events perfect for me. As they tell us it’s them with their ludicrous contradictions, smiling grievers, etc and because they’re really very scrupulous in not giving us a single thing that can be brandished to favour real, they simply don’t require huge amounts of research.
… and I find them so nauseating. It’s not just laziness. It causes me pain to wade through their bullshit. I so admire other hoax analysts for their ability to plough through it all in minute detail.
Actually, I tell a lie, Jen, though not intentionally. The SWAT guy is not twinkling his fingers, he’s beckoning the escaping hostage but in a very unperturbed, lackadaisical manner completely inconsistent with expectations in such a situation. (It’s at 11 minutes in if you’re interested – https://153news.net/watch_video.php?v=4MAUD4MM9KK6. Such a shame YouTube has banned all the hoax videos) What prompted me to issue a $5,000 Occam’s Razor challenge was that friends, family and others responded exactly as you are in regard to these events – “People show grief in different ways”, “It could be this …”, “It could be that …”. Sure, especially if we’re talking about one instance. But when a whole event comprises all these things which don’t seem quite normal or are, in fact, completely at odds with normal, that’s a different matter. And the thing is there is absolutely NOTHING in any staged event – nada, niente,… Read more »
Actually, Jen, that video is probably very difficult to watch cos of poor bandwidth and it’s awfully long anyway. This YouTube video, Sydney siege hostages’ contradictory accounts of moments before execution, is only 1:31 and gives very contradictory accounts – exactly the kind of contradictions that Robert Stuart painstakingly documents in “Saving Syria’s Children”: Response to the HuffP.
Why are we not surprised by this. At all. Most people with even half a brain knew it was a staged false flag last year when Douma happened. Does anyone of us here need anymore proof at what the real role of the vile slime masquerading as ‘journalists’ is. I noted Francis Lee mentioned Udo Ulfkotte in his comment. I’ve done the same elsewhere. Call them out for who they are. If you’re discussing the media with anyone, refer to these creatures by their real names: stenographers, presstitutes, paid mouthpieces, propagandists. And if the person you’re talking to asks why you’re using those names, tell them exactly why. Again Kit, thanks for your work.
We all know Olivia Solon and Luke Harding and George monbiot and a whole host of other propagandists will not mention this report. EVER
The western media’s output consists of a combination of trivia and outright propaganda. In Orwellian terms it is minitru (The Ministry of Truth) in 1984, and it is not futuristic anymore – it is here. See below Excerpts from the film ‘Network’ produced in 1976 by Sidney Lumet. Starring Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, and William Holden A magnificently pointed critique of the media in 1976 and a prescient anticipation of the MSM in our own benighted age. Howard Beale: [calmly strolling toward the audience] So. A rich little man with white hair died. What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? And *why* is that woe to us? Because you people, and sixty-two million other Americans, are listening to me right now. Because less than three percent of you people read books! Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers! Because the only… Read more »
It seems pretty clear that the western security and intelligence agencies, MI6, CIA, Mossad, BND, and the rest, are merging into a global blob over which governments have long surrendered control. Moreover, the MSM mainstream media have also become willingly dragooned into being extensions of this global surveillance and propaganda apparatus. The liberal press in particular, is little more than an asset of the above organizations. Our own lovely Guardian is now just another PR firm working for the AZ empire. This has been pointed out by (the late) Udo Ulfkotte in his seminal work Journalisten Gekaufte (Bought Journalists) who p0inted that nearly all the German journalists were working for the CIA/NATO.
Extrodinary as it may seem, the Israeli publication ‘Haaretz’ seems to be the only dissenting voice in this choir of the MSM newspeakers.
See Gideon Levy – Haaretz ”The Two Step Zionist Tango” on youtube.
Leaked report or not the sad reality is repeat a lie often enough and the masses will take it as gospel Carla Del Ponte statements when the first lies of chemical weapon use by The SAA and the Syrian Arab Republic were floated around. Her words, “The more we investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Ghouta the more it appears likely that the rebels the opposition are to blame”‘ To this day western MSM all still repeat the lies that Assad has used chemical weapons in Syria. The barbarity of the west and the war crimes NATO and all its member states have committed is beyond belief, just like The Iraq fiasco WMDs lies no one in the west will be held accountable while the western shills have proceeded in filing charges of War crimes against Assad. What a dystopian world we live in . Long Live Suria… Read more »
Is there something wrong with my browser? I am struggling to find any content on the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media website. Most of the navigable links on the Home page just lead to the same heading on an empty page with a search function. Unless I already know what I’m searching for (which I don’t) that’s not much use. I’ve accessed the detailed analysis on the Douma incident from your link above, but I cannot for the life of me work out where it is on the Group’s actual website, or how I’m supposed to navigate my way there.
Try going to the website homepage, click on the drop-down triangle next to “Research Areas” and then click on “Chemical and Biological Events” when it appears. You get a blank page with the search function, so type “Douma” or “2018” or any other significant word that might be a keyword into the search field and you get these results:
Assessment by the engineering sub-team of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission investigating the alleged chemical attack in Douma in April 2018
Briefing note on the final report of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission on the alleged chemical attack in Douma in April 2018
Failing that, you can try checking Tim Hayward’s own blog.
Thanks. But the Working Group knows what reports etc they have published and I don’t. It would still make more sense to me that they offer a drop-down menu with the names of their reports. They might have published other stuff that I would be interested in, that I know nothing about. How am I supposed to find such material?
This commentary from the Working Group on Syria very important to reflect on: …….. 4. The hijacking of OPCW The cover-up of evidence that the Douma incident was staged is not merely misconduct. As the staging of the Douma incident entailed mass murder of civilians, those in OPCW who have suppressed the evidence of staging are, unwittingly or otherwise, colluding with mass murder. …….. That’s right, collusion in mass murder. Any people in the corridors of power, journalists or OPCW need to now step forward and divulge details of what they know about any aspect of the war in Syria, support for terrorism which we pay through income taxes and warmongering. The whole thing is collapsing bit by bit. I would be interested in knowing if anyone associated with Bellingcat has the courage to come forward with any examples of their possible collusion with warmongering, lying, terrorism and covering up… Read more »
Has the OPCW been asked to comment on this document? Seems an elementary task for a reporter to perform. It would be almost unthinkable that they wouldn’t want to respond.
Just because most of us here, including me, are prepared to accept it as genuine, it should be second nature for a responsible journalist to contact the press office at OPCW…_
Section 2 of the last link in Kit’s analysis and commentary describes the OPCW’s reaction to being asked about the ‘leaked’ report.
Section 2? Got me…_
Yes, Section 2 entitled ‘Commentary on the Engineering Assessment’: sentences beginning “In response to an enquiry on 11 May 2019, the OPCW press office stated…” and “The OPCW also attempted to suggest that the report…”.
That shows the OPCW do not claim ownership of the document alleged to have been leaked to this articles author. This, I believe is the relevant section you refer to that includes the OPCW position. “In response to an enquiry on 11 May 2019, the OPCW press office stated that “the individual mentioned in the document has never been a member of the FFM”. This statement is false. The engineering sub-team could not have been carrying out studies in Douma at Locations 2 and 4 unless they had been notified by OPCW to the Syrian National Authority (the body that oversees compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention) as FFM inspectors: it is unlikely that Henderson arrived on a tourist visa. The OPCW press office also attempted to suggest that the report of the engineering sub-team was not part of the FFM’s investigation. This statement also is false. The sub-team report… Read more »
Digger, I do not disagree with your desire to rely on irrefutable evidence before jumping to conclusions (indeed, it is absence of this that is sadly absent from our own Western Governments’ and MSM’s narrative of events) but there are a couple of points that lead me to believe that the OPCW are evading the truth about this report. Nowhere does the OPCW deny that the report is genuine. Nor does the OPCW go so far as to say that the report isn’t correct in its conclusions. If you read the OPCW’s responses literally, their ‘rejection’ of ownership of the report seems to revolve around the logistical technicality of whether a sub-group effectively sub-contracted by the FFM can be classified as being employed by the OPCW. If we assume that they are not technically OPCW employees then what they say is not lies but is disingenuous with the truth. It… Read more »
Absence of evidence is just that.
Facts are facts, opinions are ten a penny…_
You seem selective over the facts you consider worth emphasising. Henderson has thus far not denied the authenticity of the report. The OPCW has thus far not denied the authenticity of the report. Until they do their silence on the matter carries an obvious implication.
Yes, it does carry an “implication”, but without further investigation and evidence, no proof.
All facts must be conclusive and completely supportive of the claims. That is not the case here.
Obfuscation seasoned with silence are the best ingredients when playing the plausible deniability gambit.
I do suspect the truth is very close to this document, but that’s all it leads to, a strengthening of my opinion.
It’s journalism Jim, but not as we know it…_
You seem to be concern trolling here. Hope that’s a false impression. The only obfuscation thus far is from the OPCW, whose failure to repudiate the report has only one interpretation. Until they claim it’s false the ethical and legal presumption must be it’s true. All else is smoke-blowing.
“concern trolling” must be the most sophisticated ad hominem I have ever received. I have to give you a thumbs up for that…_
I sympathise with DiggerUK’s position on this. The OPCW has stated that Henderson was “never part of the FFM”.
Responding with “The engineering sub-team could not have been carrying out studies in Douma at Locations 2 and 4 unless they had been notified by OPCW to the Syrian National Authority…” does not in any way refute the OPCW statement. To be honest it’s a rather weak non sequitur.
The questions that needed (need) to be asked are:
1. Was Henderson in Syria?
2. Was he there on behalf of the OPCW?
3. If he wasn’t there as part of the FFM what was his role?
4. Is the report genuine?
5. Did Henderson write it?
6. For what audience did he write it if not for the OPCW/FFM?
I think it is very unfair to accuse DiggerUK of “concern trolling” when his concerns are justified.
Henderson has proven connections with the OPCW. The OPCW has not so far claimed the report is fabricated or does not originate with them, which they surely would, if either of these things was true.
Under these circumstances it’s reasonable to infer that their claims about Henderson are technicalities or nitpicks designed to blow smoke.
We await developments. But unless the OPCW repudiates the report we have only one conclusion to draw – that it’s genuine and reflects genuine conclusions drawn by its people on the ground.
I don’t wish to be a total pedant but lots of people have proven connections with the OPCW. That does not mean that any of them were in Syria on the FFM team.
They haven’t been asked if the report is genuine and originates with them, so they have wriggle room there.
I agree with your sentiments and your inferences. But the OPCW should have been asked specific questions. Since it appears the WG now has a mole (Moles?) inside the OPCW, I don’t think the OPCW would dare to lie in answer. So they would have had to say nothing.
Refusing to answer questions to which it would be perfectly easy to answer ‘No’ would considerably strengthen the inference.
It bemuses me that some people seem to fire comments off the cuff without even bothering to read (or maybe they just don’t understand?) comments already made by other posters. It’s not that difficult.
I am sure O-G admin have enough to do without having to repeat the same perfectly valid reply over and over again.
Sorry if I have offended anyone, but it had to be said.
It bemuses me that some people seem to fire comments off the cuff without even bothering to read (or maybe they just don’t understand?) comments already made by other posters. It’s not that difficult. Your comments are not so much offensive as condescending. I’ve read and understood the WG report, and the article, and all the other comments, but they don’t deal with the point at issue, which you don’t seem to have understood. So allow me to reiterate. The WG says the FFM team couldn’t have been in Syria without the express permission of the Syrian authorities. That may be a fact. But it is a fact that has no bearing whatsoever on the salient questions: 1. Was Henderson in Syria – yes or no? 2. Was he there on behalf of the OPCW – yes or no? 3. Did he write the report – yes or no? 4.… Read more »
So a comprehensive technical report, the content and conclusions of which are not disputed by a body which opposes (nb: doesn’t dispute) the findings is just ‘opinion’. Hmmm. In that case no scientific or technical report in the world is credible in its own right according to your philosophy. Perhaps you might care to tell us what ‘evidence’ you would like to see.
That is called muddying the water, and it is usually very revealing.
The evidence is in the report.
If the OPCW are to claim it a fake, then they must do so now.
Evidence is evidence, opinion is opinion, silence is a way of saying a thousand words.
Answers to your questions can be found at the link provided in the article.
Now that the long delayed liberation of Idlib has begun, we must shortly expect a Douma Mark II from those fine folks in the MSM, together with Assad maniacally searching for hospitals to bomb, and Bana being resurrected to provide a running commentary from a hidey hole in Turkey. The old favourites are always the best.
Mark
You will see from the first two items in this link (dated 9 May) that the BBC are already preparing the ground for a resumption in more allegations of Assad/Russian ‘atrocities’. They still fully endorse the legitimacy of the White Helmets as a force for good and a reliable source of information.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cg41ylwvggnt/syrian-civil-war
OMG, we’re already down to the “last toddler in Idlib.”
Jesus wept Judy. Don’t the bastards ever give up? They’re like the fecken Duracell Bunny. On and on and on…. Lie after lie ad nauseaum. Oh well, got an Empire to uphold….
As the wonderful MediaLens say ‘UK corporate media are under a curious kind of military occupation’. How else to explain the unseemly rush by the usual suspects at the Guardian; Tisdall, Freedland, Monbiot, et al, to embrace what from the very outset had ‘false-flag’ written all over it (because the use of chemical weapons could only ever harm Assads effort to overcome western backed jihadis running amok in Syria). http://medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2018/868-douma-part-1.html Rudimentary journalistic qualities like curiosity, or proper fact checking have given way to a crude form of stenography compromising what is left of their already diminished credibility, because biased intelligence data, and obviously biased at that, is bound to be found out in the long run (as illustrated by evidence that came to light following previous flag flags, from WMDs to Kuwaiti babies killed in the incubator). Yet these hacks still plough exactly the same furrow when it comes to… Read more »
https://www.stalkerzone.org/the-internet-is-ripe-for-the-dismantling-of-facebook-draft-strategy-to-decapitalise-the-web/