© Yara Ismail
Independent Middle East Correspondent Robert Fisk in one of the miles of tunnels hacked beneath Douma by prisoners of Syrian rebels
This is the story of a town called Douma, a ravaged, stinking place of smashed apartment blocks -- and of an underground clinic whose images of suffering allowed three of the Western world's most powerful nations to bomb Syria last week. There's even a friendly doctor in a green coat who, when I track him down in the very same clinic, cheerfully tells me that the 'gas' videotape which horrified the world - despite all the doubters - is perfectly genuine.
War stories, however, have a habit of growing darker. For the same 58-year-old senior Syrian doctor then adds something profoundly uncomfortable: the patients, he says, were overcome not by gas but
by oxygen starvation in the rubbish-filled tunnels and basements in which they lived, on a night of wind and heavy shelling that stirred up a dust storm.
As Dr Assim Rahaibani announces this extraordinary conclusion, it is worth observing that he is by his own admission not an eye witness himself and, as he speaks good English,
he refers twice to the jihadi gunmen of Jaish el-Islam [the Army of Islam] in Douma as "terrorists" - the regime's word for their enemies, and a term used by many people across Syria. Am I hearing this right? Which version of events are we to believe?
Comment: While both parties in the UK government and propaganda journalists may tiptoe around the war crimes committed by the coalition, the internet, as well as people on the street, are more capable of critical thinking:
See:
- About Those 'Nice, New, Smart' Missiles And The 'Chemical Weapons' Sites in Syria
- Forget WW3: What We Just Saw Happen In Syria Is The Extent Of Western Power
- Searching for truth in Douma's rubble - and one doctor's doubts over the chemical attack
- Reporter Exposes US, UK and French Government Lies About Syria
Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Humpty Trumpty? Western Reality Creation Taken to Breaking Point in Syria Strikes