Is “Caesar,” the source of 50,000 photos allegedly documenting torture by the Assad government in Syria and for whom the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (which “protects” Syrians from the Assad government by strangling them economically) really a fraud like Iraq’s infamous Curveball? An article for Oilprice.com, authored by one James Durso, explicitly argues that to be the case.
“Caesar” was allegedly a Syrian police photographer who defected with the 50,000 photos, which supposedly documented the deaths of 11,000 Syrians at the hands of the Damascus government between March 2011 and August of 2013. “But problems surfaced once neutral observers looked at those photos,” Durso writes, adding parenthetically that the Caesar Report was commissioned by the ruling family of Qatar, sworn enemies of the Assads of Syria. The report was prepared by the Carter Ruck law firm, which previously represented Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also an enemy of the Assads. “Human Rights Watch examined the photos and determined that almost half are ‘dead Syrian soldiers and victims of car bombs and other violence,’ not civilians victim of torture. The remainder appeared to have died in a conflict, but the circumstances are unclear, so any claim of widespread torture of civilians is a stretch goal, to say the least.”
Durso goes on to point out that no one knows who “Caesar” is. Just as with Curveball, whose lies helped propel the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, “the U.S. is relying on evidence from a mystery man.” The rest of the article is a harsh denunciation of the U.S. sanctions, which come in the midst of an already serious economic crisis in both Syria and Lebanon, which combined will magnify the refugee problems in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, and possibly also Europe. The sanctions will also have other effects not admitted to by their advocates, including the strengthening of illicit networks that arise to smuggle in vital supplies around the sanctions, enriching those who run the networks and strengthening those in power against whom the sanctions are aimed.
Durso points to the example of Iraq, where Saddam Hussein tightened his hold on power during 12 years of sanctions. “So, the U.S. used information of uncertain accuracy from a hand-puppet source with unknown motivation to give one last shove to the odious Assad regime and to continue its proxy war against Russia, regardless of the regional consequences.” Durso concludes. “Well, why not? It worked like a charm in Iraq.”
