Man kann nicht einmal in Ruhe seinen Reisebericht fertig schreiben, denn jetzt muß es ganz schnell gehen: Nachdem der unberechenbare Diktator Saddam Hussein, ach nein, Syriens Assad diesmal, wider Erwarten UNO-Inspektoren ins Land und sogar an den Tatort sehr wahrscheinlicher Giftgaseinsätze gelassen hat, müssen die Hegemonialmächte schnell vollendete Tatsachen schaffen, bevor am Ende noch herauskommt, daß womöglich doch nicht Assads Armee das Gas eingesetzt hat. Wie in Libyen erprobt, preschen Englands und Frankreichs Außenminister schon seit Tagen mit Vorverurteilungen vor, ihr amerikanischer Kollege hat gestern nachgelegt:
“the administration has attempted to defuse calls for a military response by emphasizing the need for scientific verification that chemical weapons had in fact been used. That caution was nowhere to be found in Kerry's remarks on Monday”, meldet Foreign Policy. “White House Press Secretary Jay Carney underscored the White House view that chemical weapons were used and that Assad was responsible. "There is very little doubt in our minds that the Syrian regime is culpable," he said.”
“Wenn die Bomben auf Damaskus zu fallen beginnen”, faßt das Magazin zusammen, “Monday afternoon will be cited as the moment when the Obama administration laid out the moral case for military action in Syria.”

In derselben Ausgabe bringt FP einen weiteren Bericht zum Thema Giftgaseinsätze. Er beginnt mit einem ausdrücklichen Bezug auf die aktuelle Krise in Syrien:
“The U.S. government may be considering military action in response to chemical strikes near Damascus. But a generation ago, America's military and intelligence communities knew about and did nothing to stop a series of nerve gas attacks far more devastating than anything Syria has seen.”
Jetzt freigegebene CIA-Unterlagen belegen laut FP, daß die US-Regierung in den 1980er Jahren über Giftgasangriffe der irakischen Armee Saddam Husseins (!) im Krieg gegen den Iran nicht nur stets bestens im Bilde war, sondern sie durch Überlassung von Luftaufnahmen und Aufmarschplänen sogar kriegsentscheidend unterstützt hat. “They show that senior U.S. officials were being regularly informed about the scale of the nerve gas attacks.”

“ In late 1987, the DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency] analysts in Francona's shop in Washington wrote a Top Secret Codeword report partially entitled "At The Gates of Basrah," warning that the Iranian 1988 spring offensive was going to be bigger than all previous spring offensives, and this offensive stood a very good chance of breaking through the Iraqi lines and capturing Basrah. The report warned that if Basrah fell, the Iraqi military would collapse and Iran would win the war.
President Reagan read the report and, according to Francona, wrote a note in the margin addressed to Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci: "An Iranian victory is unacceptable."
Subsequently, a decision was made at the top level of the U.S. government (almost certainly requiring the approval of the National Security Council and the CIA). The DIA was authorized to give the Iraqi intelligence services as much detailed information as was available about the deployments and movements of all Iranian combat units. That included satellite imagery and perhaps some sanitized electronic intelligence. There was a particular focus on the area east of the city of Basrah where the DIA was convinced the next big Iranian offensive would come. The agency also provided data on the locations of key Iranian logistics facilities, and the strength and capabilities of the Iranian air force and air defense system. Francona described much of the information as "targeting packages" suitable for use by the Iraqi air force to destroy these targets.
The sarin attacks then followed.”

Wir dürfen gespannt darauf warten, wer sich letztlich als Urheber der Giftgaseinsätze bei Damaskus herausstellt, wenn in dreißig Jahren die CIA-Akten des Sommers 2013 freigegeben werden. “Verschwörungstheoretiker” und -praktiker haben jetzt noch freies Spiel.
Nein, noch eins: Wir müssen unserer Regierung klar machen, dass sie sich nicht schon wieder aus "Nibelungentreue" an einem völkerrechtswidrigen Angriffskrieg beteiligen darf.