A new report commissioned by members of the European Parliament offers the most thorough exposé to date of the OPCW’s Syria cover-up scandal, in which the world’s top chemical watchdog manipulated an investigation to baselessly accuse Syria of a chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma. |
The OPCW team’s findings were suppressed and replaced with unsupported conclusions that aligned with the US-led narrative. When two veteran OPCW inspectors who deployed to Syria for the probe challenged the manipulation, they were silenced and later publicly defamed.
The report for the European Parliament is authored by the Berlin Group 21, which is comprised of founding OPCW Director General Jose Bustani, former senior UN official Hans Von Sponeck, Princeton law professor Richard Falk, and academic Piers Robinson of the Organization for Propaganda Studies. Its release follows the Brazilian government’s recent public shift in support of accountability over the OPCW’s cover-up scandal.
Aaron Maté speaks to Von Sponeck and Robinson about their new report, as well as the ongoing effort to challenge the OPCW’s Douma deception and seek justice for the Douma victims.
Guests: Hans von Sponeck and Piers Robinson.
Links:
New Berlin Group 21 report on the Douma scandal
Trailer for “A Symphony for a Common Man”, a new documentary about founding OPCW chief Jose Bustani, including his showdown with the Bush administration before the Iraq war and his efforts to challenge the OPCW’s Syria cover-up.
Aaron Mate at UN: OPCW cover-up denies justice to Syria victims
Audio:
LISTEN NOW · 1:03:55 |
Aaron Maté is a New York City-based journalist and producer. He hosts the news show Pushback for The Grayzone, and is a contributor to Real Clear Investigations. In 2019, he was awarded the Izzy Award from Ithaca College outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation. Previously, he was a longtime producer at Democracy Now! and a producer at Al Jazeera English.