INTEL

Hersh Slams White House on Syria

Claims administration knew rebels could make chemical weapons.

The Obama administration allegedly knew that the Syrian rebels had the ability to make chemical weapons but did not inform the public, according to an explosive report by Seymour Hersh published online in the London Review of Books. According to Hersh, the White House did not have the intelligence to know that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government was behind the August 21 sarin-gas attack, which left thousands dead. One senior intelligence official tells the Obama administration allegedly distorted the timeline to make it look like facts gathered in the days after the attack had actually been gathered in real time. What’s more, the Obama administration knew as far back as June that the Syrian rebels had the ability to make chemical weapons—so the possibility existed that they could be responsible for the attack.