Journalist Quits Newsweek After Being Silenced on Leaks Alleging Chemical Weapons Cover-Up in Syria
Shane Trejo
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Journalist Tareq Haddad announced last week on his Twitter account that he has quit Newsweek after they censored his story about faked chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
I have collected evidence of how they suppressed the story in addition to evidence from another case where info inconvenient to US govt was removed, though it was factually correct.
— Tareq Haddad (@Tareq_Haddad) December 7, 2019
I am seeking legal advice on how to proceed and whether I may be entitled to some type of whistleblower protection due to possibly fraudulent behaviour. At very least, I will publish the evidence I have without divulging the confidential information.
— Tareq Haddad (@Tareq_Haddad) December 7, 2019
According to documents that were obtained and published by Wikileaks, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) hid intelligence from the public report about their investigation into an alleged 2018 Syrian chemical weapon attack in Douma.
Propaganda about the chemical weapons attack was initially promoted by the “White Helmets” Al Qaeda group and then echoed by the fake news media. A member of the team sent by OPCW to Douma on Apr. 7, 2018 wrote an email expressing their concern that the report released by the organization left out lots of key information.
The email’s author expressed dismay with the report’s indication that sufficient evidence was found of the presence of “chlorine, or another reactive chlorine-containing chemical.” The whistleblower noted that “likely one or more chemicals that contain a reactive chlorine atom. Such chemicals could include… the major ingredient of household chlorine-based bleach. Purposely singling out chlorine gas as one of the possibilities is disingenuous.”
The redactions within the report were seemingly performed to deliberately mislead the public. The report claimed that it came to its conclusions ”based on the high levels of various chlorinated organic derivatives detected in environmental samples.” The author noted that they “were, in most cases, present only in parts per billion range, as low as 1-2 ppb, which is essentially trace quantities.”
A video that was shown by the fake news featured victims allegedly receiving treatment in the aftermath of the chemical weapons attack in a Douma hospital. The victims did not exhibit symptoms that were consistent with the supposed attacks, according to the investigation’s findings. A discussion about these inconsistencies was ultimately omitted from the OPCW report.
“Omitting this section of the report (including the Epidemiology which has been removed in its entirety) has a serious negative impact on the report as this section is inextricably linked to the chemical agent identified… In this case, the confidence in the identity of chlorine or any other choking agent is drawn into question precisely because of the inconsistency with the reported and observed symptoms. The inconsistency was not only noted by the fact-finding mission team, but strongly supported by three toxicologists with expertise in exposure to chemical warfare agents,” the e-mail author wrote.
The whistleblower also disputes that the containers allegedly containing the chlorine gas were dropped from the air. It may have been damaged in the immediate surrounding area due to the placement and the condition of the cylinders, but the redacted report suppressed these findings as well.
“This information was important in assessing the likelihood of the ‘presence’ of toxic chemicals versus the ‘use’ of toxic chemicals,” states the e-mail.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is gloating over the leaks, claiming that they have vindicated him from culpability in the alleged chemical attack.
“That’s what the OPCW organisation did – they faked and falsified the report, just because the Americans wanted them to do so,” al-Assad said while appearing on Italy’s Rai News 24 for an interview on Monday.
“So, fortunately, this report proved that everything we said during the last few years, since 2013, is correct,” Assad added.
“We were right, they were wrong. This is proof, this is concrete proof regarding this issue,” the Syrian president said about the disclosures exposed by Wikileaks. “Again, the OPCW is biased, is being politicized and is being immoral.”
The fake news apparently got the story wrong the first time, and now they prevent the record from being corrected. This is another sterling example of why they are the enemy of the people.
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