Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama (kiri) telah bertemu dengan kakitangan Keselamatan Negara di Pejabat Oval dalam gambar White House ini diambil pada 8 Mac, 2012 dan diperolehi pada 13 Jun 2013. (U.S. President Barack Obama (L) meets with National Security staff in the Oval Office in this White House photograph taken on March 8, 2012 and obtained on June 13, 2013. (Reuters/Pete Souza – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
N.nizah – White House: Bukti terhadap Assad yang tidak ‘Melampaui keraguan munasabah’ tetapi ‘logik test’ white House berkata ia tidak mempunyai bukti “tidak dapat disangkal” bahawa Presiden Syria Bashar Assad di belakang serangan gas Ogos di pinggir bandar Damsyik, tetapi bahawa “ujian logik yang kukuh tanpa mengira perisikan” mencadangkan kerajaan yang bertanggungjawab.
“Kami telah melihat bukti video hasil dari orang-orang yang serangan,” White House Ketua Turus Dennis McDonough memberitahu CNN, bercakap mengenai pelbagai klip yang menunjukkan mangsa serangan sarin yang disyaki di pinggir bandar Damsyik pada 21 Ogos.
“Semua yang membawa kepada ujian yang biasa-rasa agak kuat tanpa mengira perisikan yang mencadangkan bahawa rejim yang dijalankan ini. Sekarang kita mempunyai gambar atau adakah kita mempunyai bukti yang tidak dapat disangkal luar keraguan yang munasabah? Ini bukan satu mahkamah undang-undang dan kecerdasan tidak berfungsi cara itu, “katanya.
McDonough membuat penampilan pada terkemuka ‘talk show’ Amerika Syarikat dalam usaha untuk mendapatkan sokongan untuk tindakan ketenteraan yang dicadangkan terhadap Syria hadapan undi kongres minggu depan di mana kebanyakan ahli parlimen seolah-olah bertentangan dengan serangan yang diketuai.
Dalam temu bual dengan NBC, Ketua Turus menegaskan bahawa “tiada siapa yang ‘rebutting’ perisikan; tiada siapa yang ragu-ragu perisikan.”
Amerika Syarikat berkata ia telah dipintas perbualan yang melibatkan pegawai-pegawai Syria di mana mereka mengambil tanggungjawab untuk serangan itu. Walau bagaimanapun, Washington tidak membuat perbualan awam.
Pentadbiran Obama juga telah merujuk kepada satelit dan risikan isyarat, serta komunikasi tentera, sebagai bukti bahawa rejim telah bersedia untuk menggunakan gas beracun hanya beberapa hari sebelum serangan yang dikatakan telah berlaku.
Namun pentadbiran telah enggan untuk membenarkan orang ramai melihat bukti yang didakwa menghubungkan Assad kepada jenayah itu - walaupun jumlah yang cukup imej satelit telah dibebaskan lebih awal oleh Amerika Syarikat untuk menunjukkan akibat serangan oleh tentera rejim Syria.
White House: Evidence against Assad not ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ but passes ‘common-sense test’ The White House says it has no “irrefutable” evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad was behind the August gas attack in a Damascus suburb, but that a “strong common-sense test irrespective of the intelligence” suggests the government is responsible.
"We've seen the video proof of the outcome of those attacks,” White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough told CNN, speaking of the multiple clips which show victims of the suspected sarin attack in a Damascus suburb on August 21.
“All of that leads to a quite strong common-sense test irrespective of the intelligence that suggests that the regime carried this out. Now do we have a picture or do we have irrefutable beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence? This is not a court of law and intelligence does not work that way,” he said.
McDonough made appearances on leading US talk shows in an effort to garner support for proposed military action against Syria ahead next week’s congressional vote in which most lawmakers seem to be opposed to a US-led strike.
In an interview with NBC, the Chief of Staff stressed that“nobody is rebutting the intelligence; nobody doubts the intelligence.”
The US says it has intercepted conversations involving Syrian officials during which they take responsibility for the attack. However, Washington has not made the conversations public.
The Obama administration has also referred to its satellite and signals intelligence, as well as military communications, as proof that the regime was preparing to use poisonous gas just days before the alleged attack took place.
Yet the administration has refused to let the public see the evidence allegedly connecting Assad to the crime - even though ample amounts of satellite imagery was released earlier by the US in order to demonstrate the consequences of the attacks by the Syrian regime’s military.
Mayat kanak-kanak dibungkus dalam selubung sebagai pemberontak Syria mendakwa mereka terbunuh dalam serangan gas beracun oleh tentera pro-kerajaan di timur Ghouta, di pinggir Damsyik pada 21 Ogos, 2013 (Bodies of children wrapped in shrouds as Syrian rebels claim they were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, 2013.(AFP Photo/Shaam News Network – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
Pakar-pakar mempersoalkan bukti Amerika Syarikat
Dengan bukti di tangan, pakar-pakar yang berjuang untuk bersetuju mengenai apa yang sebenarnya berlaku dan enggan untuk meletakkan menyalahkan.
Ia adalah sukar untuk menjelaskan mengapa Assad akan menggunakan senjata kimia ke atas rakyatnya sendiri ketika tenteranya telah lakukan dengan baik di atas darat - terutama sejak pemerhati PBB adalah berdekatan pada masa serangan itu - bekas pegawai tentera British Charles Heyman memberitahu AP .
“Kita tidak boleh mendapatkan kepala kita di sekitar ini - mengapa mana-mana komander akan bersetuju untuk ‘rocketing’ di pinggir bandar Damsyik dengan senjata kimia hanya keuntungan yang sangat jangka pendek taktikal untuk apa yang bencana jangka panjang,”katanya. Heyman suntingan ‘Angkatan Tentera UK, ‘ kajian dwi-tahunan berwibawa angkatan tentera British.
Jumlah angka kematian yang dikeluarkan oleh Amerika Syarikat juga telah dipersoalkan. Pentadbiran Obama berkata 1,429 orang telah mati di 12 lokasi kebanyakannya timur Damsyik. Dan walaupun nombor yang rapat sepadan dengan angka-angka daripada Gabungan disokong Barat Kebangsaan Syria, hanya 395 nama-nama mangsa yang dikeluarkan oleh organisasi atas permintaan.
Balai Cerap Syria yang berpangkalan di UK untuk Hak Asasi Manusia berkata bahawa ia dikira mangsa dengan nama dan jumlah semasa adalah pada 502. Organisasi mempersoalkan bilangan Amerika Syarikat dan meminta pentadbiran untuk mendapatkan maklumat mengenai apa yang angka kematian yang lebih tinggi adalah berdasarkan.
Pada masa yang sama, akhbar Bild am Sonntag melaporkan bahawa perisikan Jerman mempunyai bukti bahawa Bashar Assad mungkin tidak secara peribadi di sebalik serangan kimia. Dia juga disekat permintaan daripada komander tentera untuk menggunakan senjata kimia, media outlet Jerman melaporkan, memetik tidak dikenali, sumber keselamatan negara peringkat tinggi.
Laporan ini adalah berdasarkan penemuan daripada panggilan telefon dipintas oleh pengawasan German dikerahkan di luar pantai Syria dan dikendalikan oleh perkhidmatan perisikan BND negara.
Presiden Syria dirinya tidak disangka-sangka muncul untuk menyatakan kesnya kepada audience (penonton) Amerika Syarikat dalam satu temu bual untuk CBS, yang dijadual akan disiarkan pada hari Isnin.
“Tiada bukti yang saya gunakan senjata kimia terhadap orang-orang saya sendiri,” beliau dilaporkan sebagai berkata.
Amerika Syarikat telah menolak komen Assad.
“Ia tidak memeranjatkan kita bahawa seseorang yang akan membunuh beribu-ribu orangnya sendiri, termasuk beratus-ratus kanak-kanak dengan gas racun, juga akan dibuat mengenainya,” Timbalan jurucakap di Majlis Keselamatan Negara, Bernadette Meehan, memberitahu NBC News.
Setiausaha Negara Amerika Syarikat, John Kerry juga menolak kenyataan Assad, mengatakan pada hari Ahad bahawa “bukti yang bercakap untuk dirinya sendiri.” Komen itu dibuat semasa mesyuarat dengan Presiden Palestin Mahmoud Abbas mengenai 29 Julai semula rundingan damai Israel- Palestin, Reuters melaporkan.
Experts question US evidence
With the evidence at hand, experts are struggling to agree on what really happened and are reluctant to place blame.
It is hard to explain why Assad would use chemical weapons on his own people at a time when his troops were doing so well on the ground - especially since UN observers were nearby at the time of the attack – former British military officer Charles Heyman told AP.
"We can't get our heads around this - why would any commander agree to rocketing a suburb of Damascus with chemical weapons for only a very short-term tactical gain for what is a long-term disaster," he said. Heyman edits ‘The Armed Forces of the UK,’ an authoritative bi-annual review of British forces.
The death toll numbers released by the US were also questioned. The Obama administration said that 1,429 people have died in 12 locations mostly east of Damascus. And although that number closely corresponds with figures from the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, only 395 names of victims were released by the organization upon request.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that it counted victims by name and the current total is at 502. The organization questioned the US numbers and asked the administration for information regarding what the higher death toll figure is based on.
At the same time, Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that German intelligence has evidence that Bashar Assad may not be personally behind the chemical attack. He even blocked requests from his military commanders to use chemical weapons, the German media outlet reported, citing unidentified, high-level national security sources.
The report is based on findings from phone calls intercepted by German surveillance deployed off the Syrian coast and run by the country’s BND intelligence service.
The Syrian president himself unexpectedly emerged to state his case to a US audience during an interview to CBS, which is scheduled to be aired on Monday.
“There has been no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people,” he was reported as saying.
The US has dismissed Assad’s comments.
"It doesn't surprise us that someone who would kill thousands of his own people, including hundreds of children with poison gas, would also lie about it," deputy spokesperson at the National Security Council, Bernadette Meehan, told NBC News.
US Secretary of State John Kerry also dismissed Assad’s statements, saying on Sunday that "the evidence speaks for itself.” The comment was made during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the July 29 resumption of Israel-Palestine peace talks, Reuters reported.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. (AFP Photo/Alexander Nemenov – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin, sekutu Assad yang paling berkuasa, yang menggunakan sidang kemuncak G20 di St Petersburg untuk menuduh pemberontak menganjurkan serangan.
Putin menegaskan bahawa menetapkan duluan tindakan ketenteraan di luar satu resolusi Majlis Keselamatan PBB akan bermakna bahawa negara-negara di DUNIA yang lebih kecil tidak lagi boleh berasa selamat terhadap kepentingan orang-orang yang lebih kuat.
Pada akhir sidang kemuncak itu, hanya 12 daripada negara-negara G20 menyokong kedudukan Washington mengenai campur tangan tentera.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad’s most powerful ally, used the G20 summit in St. Petersburg to accuse the rebels of staging the attack.
Putin stressed that setting precedents of military action outside a UN Security Council resolution would mean that the world’s smaller countries can no longer feel safe against the interests of more powerful ones.
At the end of the summit, only 12 of the G20 countries supported Washington’s position regarding a military intervention.
