by Stephen Lendman

Once wasn't enough for Kerry. He came. He saw. He lied. He did twice. Friday was his second Colin Powell moment. It's prelude to lawless aggression.

Lies assure more lies. They used to launch wars. All wars are based on lies. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Truth is the ally of peace. It's the enemy of war.

On August 30, The headlined "Kerry Becomes Chief Advocate for US Attack," saying:

He "laid out the case. (He) mad(e) a closing argument to a skeptical jury."

Twenty-four times he lied saying "we know." He "left no doubt that the United States (will) respond with military power."

Critics called Hillary Clinton a war goddess. Kerry matches her aggressiveness. Seven months after becoming Secretary of State, he's become Obama's lawless aggression frontman.

He's his most prominent hawk. He's polar opposite his earlier incarnation. On April 22, 1971, he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He belonged to Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). He was one of over 150 honorably discharged, highly decorated combatants.

They committed war crimes. They admitted it. Kerry explained, saying:

"…at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, bl(ew) up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages (like) Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravages of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

"(T)here is nothing in South Vietnam, nothing which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America."

He called America's Vietnam involvement "the height of criminal hypocrisy."

"We saw firsthand how money from American taxes was used for a corrupt dictatorial regime," he said. "We rationalized destroying villages....to save them."

"We saw America lose her sense of morality as she accepted very cooly a My Lai." Many others like it replicated what happened.

"We learned the meaning of free fire zones, shooting anything that moves, and we watched while America placed a cheapness on the lives of orientals," said Kerry.

"We have come here....because we believe this body can be responsive to the will of the people."

"(W)e should be out of Vietnam now...."

He condemned what he called Washington's immoral war. He wanted no further part in it. He symbolically gave back up to nine medals he won. He wasn't sure how many. That was then. This is now.

In May 2011, he and five other senators co-sponsored John McCain's S. 194: A Resolution expressing the sense of the Senate of the United States military operations in Libya.

It expressed support for "the aspirations of the Libyan people for political reform based on democratic and human rights. Commends the service of the men and women of the US Armed Forces and our coalition partners who are engaged in military operations to protect the Libyan people....to achieve the departure from power of (Gaddafi) and his family so that a peaceful transition can begin to a government that ensures freedom, opportunity, and justice for the people of Libya."

America abhors what it claims to support. Lawless aggression attests to its imperial agenda. It rages out-of-control.

It prioritizes permanent wars, conquest, plunder, and exploitation. Nonbelievers are ruthlessly targeted.

Kerry ignores fundamental rule of law principles. They don't matter. They're verboten. In 2001, he supported war on Afghanistan. He did again against Iraq. He endorsed terror bombing Libya.

He supports aggressive lawlessness. He does so for all the wrong reasons. He was one of the Senate's most vocal hawks. His belligerence made him Secretary of State.

He's no diplomat. He's a war criminal multiple times over. On Friday, he said in part:

"President Obama has spent many days now consulting with Congress and talking with leaders around the world about the situation in Syria."

"And last night, the President asked all of us on his national security team to consult with the leaders of Congress as well, including the leadership of the Congressional national security committees."

"And he asked us to consult about what we know regarding the horrific chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs last week."

"That’s why this morning’s release of our government’s unclassified estimate of what took place in Syria is so important."

"Its findings are as clear as they are compelling." They're based on bald-faced lies. More on that below.

"Our intelligence community has carefully reviewed and re-reviewed information regarding this attack, and I will tell you it has done so more than mindful of the Iraq experience."

"We will not repeat that moment." Kerry doubled down Colin Powell. He did so duplicitously. He displayed rank hypocrisy. He lied saying:

Assad "used (chemical) weapons multiple times this year and has used them on a smaller scale, but still it has used them against its own people, including not very far from where last Wednesday’s attack happened."

"We know that for three days before the attack the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons personnel were on the ground in the area making preparations."

"And we know that the Syrian regime elements were told to prepare for the attack by putting on gas masks and taking precautions associated with chemical weapons."

"We know that these were specific instructions. We know where the rockets were launched from and at what time."

"We know where they landed and when. We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and went only to opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods."

He claimed American intelligence has "high confidence" in what he said. "This is common sense," he said. "This is evidence. These are facts."

False on all counts. So-called evidence is fabricated. It's fake. It's manufactured out of whole cloth. None exists.

It's invented pretext for aggressive war. Doing so is longstanding US policy. It's wars are based on lies.

Kerry's comments featured them. One followed another. He systematically suppressed truth.

He substituted a litany of lies. Despite overwhelming anti-war sentiment, he made the case for war. He did so duplicitously.

He supports lawless aggression. He wants another country ravaged and destroyed. He wants pro-Western puppet governance replacing it.

Mass killing and destruction are small prices to pay. Bombs away could start any time.

America bears full responsibility for months of conflict. It planned war years ago. Kerry duplicitously expressed "concern with the cause of the defenseless people of Syria."

"We are the United States of America," he said. "We are the country (that) tried to honor a set of universal values."

Martin Luther King explained them accurately. He called America "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world."

Kerry laid the ground for much more. He left no doubt. He's mindless of rule of law principles. He dismissed world public opinion.

He doesn't give a damn about growing opposition to waging war for all the wrong reasons.

"President Obama," he said, "will ensure that the United States of America makes our own decisions on our own timelines based on our values and our interests."

Effectively he declared war. What Washington says goes. An observer once compared US policy to holding a World Series with one participant.

Kerry represents the worst of rogue lawlessness. He defends the indefensible. He threatens world peace.

On August 30, White House.gov published a declassified summary of so-called evidence Kerry discussed.

It headlined "Government Assessment of the Syrian Government’s Use of Chemical Weapons on August 21, 2013," saying:

"The United States Government assesses with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013."

"We further assess that the regime used a nerve agent in the attack."

"These all-source assessments are based on human, signals, and geospatial intelligence as well as a significant body of open source reporting."

"Our classified assessments have been shared with the US Congress and key international partners."

"To protect sources and methods, we cannot publicly release all available intelligence."

Washington claims a "large body of independent sources indicates that a chemical weapons attack took place in the Damascus suburbs on August 21."

"In addition to US intelligence information, there are accounts from international and Syrian medical personnel; videos; witness accounts; thousands of social media reports from at least 12 different locations in the Damascus area; journalist accounts; and reports from highly credible nongovernmental organizations."

"We assess with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out the chemical weapons attack against opposition elements in the Damascus suburbs on August 21."

"We assess that the scenario in which the opposition executed the attack on August 21 is highly unlikely."

"The body of information used to make this assessment includes intelligence pertaining to the regime’s preparations for this attack and its means of delivery, multiple streams of intelligence about the attack itself and its effect, our post-attack observations, and the differences between the capabilities of the regime and the opposition."

"Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the US Intelligence Community can take short of confirmation."

"We will continue to seek additional information to close gaps in our understanding of what took place."

"We assess with high confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year, including in the Damascus suburbs."

"This assessment is based on multiple streams of information including reporting of Syrian officials planning and executing chemical weapons attacks and laboratory analysis of physiological samples obtained from a number of individuals, which revealed exposure to sarin."

"We assess that the opposition has not used chemical weapons."

"The Syrian regime has the types of munitions that we assess were used to carry out the attack on August 21, and has the ability to strike simultaneously in multiple locations."

"We have seen no indication that the opposition has carried out a large-scale, coordinated rocket and artillery attack like the one that occurred on August 21."

"We assess that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons over the last year primarily to gain the upper hand or break a stalemate in areas where it has struggled to seize and hold strategically valuable territory."

"In this regard, we continue to judge that the Syrian regime views chemical weapons as one of many tools in its arsenal, including air power and ballistic missiles, which they indiscriminately use against the opposition."

"To conclude, there is a substantial body of information that implicates the Syrian government’s responsibility in the chemical weapons attack that took place on August 21."

"As indicated, there is additional intelligence that remains classified because of sources and methods concerns that is being provided to Congress and international partners."

Fact check

No evidence whatever links Syrian forces to chemical weapons use. They've used none throughout months of conflict. They've had no reason to do so.

Credible evidence proves insurgents used toxic chemicals multiple times. They have motive, opportunity and means.

CIA operatives and US special forces trained insurgents. They've done so secretly. They've done it for many months.

Washington, key NATO allies and rogue regional partners provide arms, funding and direction.

State terror is official US policy. Salvador Option rules apply. They include massacres, mass destruction, torture, other gruesome atrocities, and toxic chemical attacks.

Pentagon contractors provided chemical weapons training. Syrian forces seized a warehouse. It contained barrels marked "Made in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)." Protective masks were found. So were drugs used when inhaling chemicals.

"The Qatari-German Company for Pharmaceutical Industries (was) inscribed on them."

Last May, Turkish authorities arrested 12 Al Nusra fighters. They caught them red-handed. They two grams of sarin nerve gas.

On May 5, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI) said testimonial evidence indicates "rebel forces" used sarin. A day later, COI suggested "no conclusive findings."

Other credible reports confirmed anti-Assad elements used chemical weapons. They've done so multiple times.

On August 29, AP headlined "Intelligence on weapons no 'slam dunk,' " saying:

Questions remain. It's uncertain "who actually controls some of Syria's chemical weapons stores and doubts about whether Assad himself ordered the" August 21 Ghouta attack, "US intelligence officials say."

"A report by the Office of the Director for National Intelligence outlining that evidence against Syria includes a few key caveats - including acknowledging that the US intelligence community no longer has the certainty it did six months ago of where the regime's chemical weapons are stored, nor does it have proof Assad ordered chemical weapons use."

One unnamed senior US official blames him anyway. At the same time, "(he or she) concede(s) there is no proof listed in the report tying (him) personally to ordering" the Ghouta attack.

"(T)here was no mention in the report of the possibility that a rogue element could have been responsible."

"All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the intelligence report publicly."

On August 30, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) headlined "Foreign Ministry: Kerry's presentation is based on old stories published by terrorists," saying:

They're "full of fabrications and lies. America "is attempting to deceive its public opinion in such a naive manner by relying on non-evidence, and that the Ministry denounces the US act of basing its positions on war and peace on what was published on social networking sites, which the Ministry views as a desperate attempt to talk the world into accepting the upcoming US aggression."

Kerry's accusations "are lies and devoid (of) truth."

Syria "challenged the US to produce one piece of true and logical evidence." It failed to do so.

"Syria never impeded or restricted" UN investigators. Kerry lied claiming otherwise.

Syria didn't delay UN inspectors access to Ghouta. They came with 48 hours of arriving in Damascus.

Kerry lied claiming Syria knew about chemical weapons use three days before the attack.

He's manipulating public sentiment disingenuously. Doing so masks US planned lawless aggression.

According to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem:

"'Any aggression on Syria would wreck efforts for finding a political solution."

That's precisely what Washington intends.

It bears repeating. America wants regime change. It wants sovereign Syrian independence destroyed. It wants pro-Western puppet governance replacing it.

No evidence links Syrian forces to toxic chemicals use. John Kerry lied claiming otherwise. So did Washington's so called "assessment."

Syria has no reason to use nonconventional weapons. It's routing insurgent fighters effectively. Its military way outmatches them.

Cui bono matters most. False flag chemical attacks benefit Washington. They benefit Israel. They benefit opposition elements. They're staged for that reason. They're a pretext for war.

Kerry effectively declared it without saying so. Cruise missile diplomacy could start any time.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

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