Earlier today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem all agreed to place Syria’s chemical weapons under international control, so as to avoid war. But AP reports:

U.S. officials say they will take a “hard look” at a proposal for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons to international control to avoid a military strike. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday the U.S. would consider the proposal floated by the foreign ministers of Russia and Syria with “serious skepticism” because it might be a stalling tactic. She said Syria had consistently refused to destroy its chemical weapons in the past. Harf said Kerry wasn’t putting forth a formal proposal.

In other words, the U.S. is unhappy that its bluff was called, and is desperately trying to salvage war against Syria. Why? Perhaps because it was planned a long time ago.

Brother Nathanael Kapner ■ The Jewish lobby’s push to attack Syria is to create the precedent for a much larger attack on Iran. AIPAC admits as much in its own carefully worded statement of support for the Syria attack. Both Hafez and Bashar Assad scrupulously kept the peace with Israel since 1973 but AIPAC owns this issue, it owns DC. This is their war. And their war they will get…even if Gentile US soldiers have to die. Regardless of the repercussions for American lives and interests, the Jewish Lobby that pulls the strings of its puppets on Capitol Hill will have its way: A US War on Syria leading to WW3 that’s “good for the Jews” but bad for everyone else looks like a done deal.

Leslie M. of Los Angeles stands with other opponents
of a United States military strike against Syria as she
and others protest at Times Square in New York. (AP)

Johannes Stern ■ Ashton echoed the Obama administration’s claims, declaring that there is “strong evidence that the Syrian regime is responsible for these attacks, as it is the only one that possesses chemical weapons agents and means of their delivery in a sufficient quantity.” The bald assertion that the Syrian regime is the only force in the civil war capable of carrying out a chemical attack on the scale of last month’s alleged attack outside of Damascus is not evidence of anything. As a matter of fact, the so-called “rebels” have been blamed by the United Nations for previous chemical attacks. And their allies and enablers, including the CIA and US Special Forces, are certainly capable of mounting such attacks. Such are the lies being used by the EU to justify a military attack against Syria.

Patrick Martin: Pentagon expands war plans against Syria ■ In his multiple television appearances on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff McDonough admitted that the Obama administration did not have “irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt” evidence. “This is not a court of law,” he said, a remarkable statement from someone who is promoting a war that will kill untold thousands of Syrians, soldiers and civilians alike, and prepare the way for an even more bloody attack on Iran and an eventual military confrontation with Russia and China.

Mike Rivero: BUMP BACK TO THE TOP ■ So now the White House admits they don't have actual evidence against Assad. All they have is evidence of an attack (which nobody disputes). The White House, urged by Israel, is saying it is just "common sense" that Assad did it. Of course, "common sense" make for poor policy. "Common sense" once said witches had to be burned. "Common sense" once said slavery was acceptable. In the case of the Syrian gas attack, Common Sense in fact points in a different direction.

David Swanson: Associated Press Admits White House Has No Evidence Whatsoever ■ The U.S. government insists it has the intelligence to prove it, but the public has yet to see a single piece of concrete evidence produced by U.S. 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.

Alan Grayson: On Syria Vote, Trust, but Verify ■ Over the last week the administration has run a full-court press on Capitol Hill, lobbying members from both parties in both houses to vote in support of its plan to attack Syria. And yet we members are supposed to accept, without question, that the proponents of a strike on Syria have accurately depicted the underlying evidence, even though the proponents refuse to show any of it to us or to the American public. By refusing to disclose the underlying data even to members of Congress, the administration is making it impossible for anyone to judge, independently, whether that statement is correct. Perhaps the edict of an earlier administration applies: “Trust, but verify.”

Kate Randall: Nonstop media lies in drive to war against Syria ■ The outrage felt by millions in the US and internationally over the prospect of dragging the American people into another war of aggression has been met by a mounting drumbeat for war by the Obama administration, accompanied by a non-stop media barrage of pro-war propaganda and lies. Nowhere is this propaganda more crude than on US network and cable television. For the talking heads, former government officials, retired military officers and other hacks who populate these TV newsrooms, no lie is too big, whether told with a straight face or a smirk. Not since the Nazis has a war propaganda machine been ramped up to such heights of intensity and depths of dishonesty. Having spent much of the previous week flicking through the news channels, this reporter can relay to the reader only a fraction of the misinformation that is presented as “fact” on US television. If one over-arching characteristic of this coverage is to be singled out, it is the degree to which the media uncritically accepts the government lies used to fan the flames of war — lies that the media personalities dutifully seek to shove down the throats of an increasingly distrustful public.

Market Watch: Obama in TV blitz to build Syria support

The United States and some European allies are using defense contractors to train "Syrian" "rebels" on how to "secure" chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, a senior U.S. official and several senior diplomats told CNN Sunday. The training, which is taking place in Jordan and Turkey, involves how to "monitor" and "secure" [Israeli/US] stockpiles and handle weapons sites and materials, according to the sources. Some of the contractors are on the ground in Syria working with the "rebels" to monitor some of the sites, according to one of the officials. The nationality of the trainers was not disclosed, though the officials cautioned against assuming all are American [or Israelis].

Yossef Bodansky: Did the White House Help Plan the Syrian Chemical Attack? ■ There is a growing volume of new evidence from numerous sources in the Middle East — mostly affiliated with the Syrian opposition and its sponsors and supporters — which makes a very strong case, based on solid circumstantial evidence, that the August 21, 2013, chemical strike in the Damascus suburbs was indeed a pre-meditated provocation by the Syrian opposition. The extent of US foreknowledge of this provocation needs further investigation because available data puts the “horror” of the Barack Obama White House in a different and disturbing light.

Voice of Russia: Syrian rebels plan chemical attack on Israel from Assad-controlled territories - media
USA Today: Saudis sent death-row inmates to fight Syria

John Kerry gives Syria week to hand over chemical weapons or face attack. ● The US secretary of state has said that President Bashar al-Assad has one week to hand over his entire stock of chemical weapons to avoid a military attack. But John Kerry added that he had no expectation that the Syrian leader would comply. Kerry also said he had no doubt that Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack in east Damascus on 21 August, saying that only three people are responsible for the chemical weapons inside Syria – Assad, one of his brothers and a senior general. He [lied and] said the entire US intelligence community was united in believing Assad was responsible.

Russia Today: Syria welcomes Russia’s offer to put its chemical weapons under intl control

We have yet to see secondary confirmation of the following breaking news from the second largest French newspaper, Le Figaro, but if accurate, it means the Nobel Peace Prize winning president has just engaged in yet another unsanctioned by Congress war. From Le Figaro, google translated:

● According to our information, the regime's opponents, supervised by Jordanian, Israeli and American commandos moving towards Damascus since mid-August. This attack could explain the possible use of the Syrian president to chemical weapons.

● According to information obtained by Le Figaro , the first trained in guerrilla warfare by the Americans in Jordan Syrian troops reportedly entered into action since mid-August in southern Syria, in the region of Deraa. A first group of 300 men, probably supported by Israeli and Jordanian commandos, as well as men of the CIA, had crossed the border on August 17. A second would have joined the 19. According to military sources, the Americans, who do not want to put troops on the Syrian soil or arming rebels in part controlled by radical Islamists form quietly for several months in a training camp set up at the border Jordanian- Syrian fighters ASL, the Free Syrian Army, handpicked.

● According to this expert on the region, the idea proposed by Washington would be the possible establishment of a buffer zone from the south of Syria, or even a no-fly zone, which would cause opponents safely until the balance of power changes. This is the reason why the United States has deployed Patriot batteries and F16 in late June Jordan. More here.