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Obama denies giving proof on Syria chemicals

Obama denies giving proof on Syria chemical: AP

The US administration has denied a request by the Associated Press to provide at least one concrete evidence for the public showing the alleged chemical attack in Syria on August 21 was linked to the Syrian government.
The Associated Press ran a skeptical piece Sunday about the Obama administration’s public case for military intervention in Syria in response to a reported Aug. 21 chemical attack.
The AP’s Zeina Karam and Kimberly Dozier wrote that “the US government insists it has the intelligence to prove it, but the public has yet to see a single piece of concrete evidence produced by US intelligence — no satellite imagery, no transcripts of Syrian military communications — connecting the government of President Bashar Assad to the alleged chemical weapons attack last month that killed hundreds of people.”
The Obama administration has released videos to make its case, but the AP noted that its requests for additional evidence the government claims to possess have been denied.
The Obama administration, searching for support from a divided Congress and skeptical world leaders, says its own assessment is based mainly on satellite and signals intelligence, but multiple requests to view that satellite imagery have been denied, AP wrote in an article.
Though the administration produced copious amounts of satellite imagery earlier in the war to show the results of the Syrian regime’s military operations but it has rejected to provide such imagery on the alleged chemical attack.
“The AP has been especially skeptical of the Obama administration’s claims, a reflection of how the media’s failure in the run-up to the Iraq War still lingers,” the article said.
Last week, AP investigative editor Ted Bridis urged reporters and editors to “dive deep into questions about quantifying and understanding the US government’s justification for military intervention in Syria,” according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.
A dozen former US military and intelligence officials told Obama that they are picking up information that proves Syrian government was not responsible for the August 21 attack.
They warned US president that the CIA was providing false data on the matter and said according to their sources, the anti-Syria miltiants carried out the attack.
Obama remains trying to gather international support for its controversial plans to bomb Syria, and his rush to dispatch warships toward the Arab country was forced to stop due worldwide calls not to attack the already war-torn country.
Syria has been gripped with a deadly insurgency since 2011 when pro-reform protests turned to an all-out war by infiltration of militants and terrorist groups from across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

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